Savings Groups Are Building Brighter Futures for Over 35,000 Children in Mozambique

By António Massipa, Regional Communications and Advocacy Coordinator

In northern Mozambique, World Vision’s Savings for Transformation (S4T) approach is quietly changing lives, especially for children like nine-year-old Marlene, who dreams of becoming a police officer.

Not long ago, Marlene’s dream felt out of reach. Her family faced daily struggles. Her father, a subsistence farmer, could barely feed the household, and school supplies were a luxury they simply could not afford.

Everything began to change in 2022, when World Vision hosted a community awareness session on the power of savings. Marlene’s mother attended and, inspired by what she learned, joined with 16 others to form a savings group. Together, they began farming peanuts and cassava and, with the income from their first harvest, they began saving collectively.

Their group savings empowered the whole family. Marlene’s father used a small loan to buy goats and started a small meat business. As the business grew, so did the family’s income. He quickly repaid the loan and began earning enough to support his children’s education for the first time. 

Today, Marlene goes to school equipped and full of hope. Her family now eats three nutritious meals a day – no longer just one or two made of dried cassava – and the household is filled with laughter, even thanks to a modest luxury: a television bought with their earnings.

But it is Marlene’s future that shines brightest. She is thriving in school, with a full belly, a backpack of supplies, and a dream that grows stronger every day. “I want to protect my community one day as a police officer,” she says proudly.

In 2024, over 15,000 people, most of them women, had joined 613 savings groups across Mozambique through World Vision. Together, they are supporting more than 35,000 children like Marlene, proving that when families save together, they build more than income they build dreams.

In Memba alone, one of the districts where World Vision operates, approximately 140 savings groups were established, benefiting close to 3,200 members and supporting 12,100 children under the age of 18. This is a powerful reflection of how local efforts are transforming entire communities, one family at a time.