Impact of Community-Based Savings Groups on Socio-economic Development

The overall objective of the study was to examine the impact of Community-Based Savings Groups (CBSGs) on Socio-Economic Development of their Members in Nemba Sector Gakenke District in Republic of Rwanda. The specific objectives were to determine how CBSGs benefited their members find out the level of socio-economic development of members and assess linkages between savings groups and socio-economic development.Hence this study covered the 2000-2019 period and used a descriptive cross-sectional design where both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. The sample size was obtained using Slovin’s formula from 6563 members of different CBSGs. Therefore 377 respondents provided information through questionnaires. Hence primary data was collected using questionnaires focus group discussions and interviews. Secondary data was collected from CBSGs’ records and documents complemented by previous reports journals and books.The researcher in a pilot group tested and retested the collection instrument in order to check the reliability and validity of data. Each respondent’s questionnaire was coded recorded and analyzed with SPSS 20.