Chapter 5: Saving Groups in Burkina Faso

Savings groups capture an important component of social capital between their members. The World Bank's development report presents increased social capital formation as a major strategy for poverty reduction. According to Putnam (1993), it increases a community's productive potential in several ways by promoting business networking, sharing prospects, equipment and services, joint ventures, faster information flow and more agile transactions (Wilson, 1995). It thus creates local economic prosperity (Coleman, 1988, 1990; Fukuyama, 1995; Putnam, 1993). The social capital approach can contribute both to poverty eradication and social stability, as well as to economic development. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s concerns about the problems of poverty, exclusion, inequality and their impact on human rights could be addressed through this approach.