Country-Level Savings Assessment Tool (Draft)

Publication Date: Aug 2007
Published by: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)
Document Type: Paper (PDF)

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How does the Country Level Savings Assessment Tool advance savings practices in microfinance?

This draft of the Country-Level Savings Assessment (CLSA) Tool aims to guide analysts and researchers who wish to undertake CLSAs, and to guide governments and donors who wish to commission CLSAs. It explains the areas of analysis covered, the methodology adopted, and the manner in which it can be tailored to the needs of the agency commissioning the CLSA.

The paper states that:

• CLSAs are financial-sector studies that identify opportunities for, and obstacles to, increasing poor people’s access to formal-sector deposit services;
• A CLSA first examines the demand for savings mechanisms among poor clients, and then evaluates the ability of the financial sector to meet that demand;
• The supply-side evaluation proceeds at three levels: micro (retail institutions), meso (financial sector infrastructure), and macro (policy);
• This methodology enables analysts to make recommendations for addressing weaknesses and building on strengths that exist at all three levels to improve the supply of deposit services available to the poor;
• CLSA focuses the attention of stakeholders on increasing access to savings services and helps them identify country-specific, locally appropriate ways for doing so;
• Without concerted efforts to make deposit services more accessible and affordable, savings may remain the "forgotten half of microfinance."

The guide also contains a description of the process used in the five CLSAs conducted by CGAP in 2005.