Oxfam: Saving for Change

Oxfam's Saving for Change program, operating in five countries (as of 2008), supports village groups that act as community banks, and provides villagers with a safe place to save and easy access to loans.  Calling it the "future of community finance," the program has created large numbers of savings and credit groups in the poorest regions of the world who share their savings and make loans to each other with their own resources instead of taking out a loan from a bank, credit union, or microfinance institution.