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Photo Share: Celebrating savings, Congo
Photo: Sinziana Demian/IRC
At a village savings and loan association meeting in eastern Congo last month, women cheered for a fellow member who deposited enough money into the collective's pool that week to buy the maximum number of shares – five.
The woman's money will increase the value of the common fund and will go towards loans that the village savings group gives out to its members. Loans are repaid with interest, and all money thus collected over a period of up to nine months is then disbursed to the women based on how much each one contributed to the fund.
The International Rescue Committee supports over 120 such savings groups in Congo, helping women and men save money collectively, take out loans, and learn new business skills.
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