This case study provides an example of how Saving Groups have become one of the key project activities for returnees' economic and social reintegration, promoting economic, social and cultural solidarity among communities. Participating in a saving group has permitted returnees to improve their financial inclusion –having access to savings, credit and micro-insurance- and diversify and strengthen their businesses. Saving groups also improve connectedness and social cohesion among host communities and returnees.

Saving Groups is one of the livelihood components of the integrated project ‘Assistance and Resilience to vulnerable returnees and their communities in Ethiopia’ (ARV-RC), implemented by the Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) with the support of the Danish Red Cross (DRC) Regional Migration Program.
The project focuses on supporting vulnerable returnees' reintegration at individual and community levels. Assistance includes providing essential items on arrival, access to livelihood opportunities and mental and psychosocial support.

Saving Groups have been launched in two regions, Amhara and Oromia, in the remote kebeles of Debark and Shirka, offering returnees the possibility to join a self-help group that provides members with access to savings credit and a social network of mutual help.

Files: Case Study Ethiopia Saving Groups (ENG) | Estudio de caso Etiopia (ESP) | Etude de cas Etiopia (FR) |

• Cross-cutting themes: gender, associations, IGA, microcredits and micro-financing, rural, urban, migration,
• All: Case studies,
• Organization: Ethiopian Red Cross Society, Danish Red Cross
• Year of publication: 2022