Poverty is a constant issue in Kanyawegi.  In 2007, a community financial assessment helped GIVE to understand that villagers in Kanyawegi had limited access to financial education and banking services. With the help of a locally based sister organization, GIVE worked with the community to develop a banking system that would provide villagers with a community bank – a safe place to keep their savings, along with ongoing financial education seminars, so that members could learn how to budget and save, so that they could become more financially secure.

The Kanyawegi Community bank provides jobs to the local community members who run it.  The bank has been the pillar of economic development growth in Kanyawegi for over two years. With over 140 open saving accounts, it continue to provide a safe and secure place for Kanyawegi community members to save their money without having to spend time and money travelling to a bank in the next largest city. Every account member is encouraged to have a business goal they are working toward, and stick to a regular savings pattern in order to help them reach that goal. In 2009, GIVE began a pilot microcredit project – something the community had been requesting since the inception of the bank two years prior. Membership in the Kanyawegi Community Bank continues to grow and the community feedback is particularly positive.