Research

Pact's Women's Empowerment Program in Nepal: A Savings-and Literacy-Led Alternative to Financial Institution Building [PDF]

Since 1999 Pact's Women's Empowerment Program (WEP) has strengthened the capacity of 6,500 savings and credit groups with 125,000 women members in rural Nepal. This impact evaluation discusses how the program reached so many groups so quickly; the quality of the groups it trained; and the impact WEP had on the women who are members of these groups. The study was written by Jeffrey Ashe, Visiting Scholar at Brandeis University, and Lisa Parrott, Technical Advisor in Microfinance at Freedom from Hunger. It was financed by USAID's Office of Microenterprise Development, Freedom from Hunger, the Overbrook Foundation and the Small Enterprise and Education Promotion (SEEP) network.