Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using (a) savings groups and (b) other asset-based community development strategies to complement his wider humanitarian aid objectives.

Community-led approaches are effective and sustainable ways to provide assistance. People in crisis often rely on social support networks and the informal economy to survive. From savings groups and informal credit systems to community food-sharing, these systems can often be more resilient and trusted than formal ones.

This is already integrated in our approach; in Yemen our Food Security Safety Nets programme supports Village Savings and Loans Associations to improve individual and community resilience. Our Building Resilient Communities in Somalia programme supports Self Help Groups which include savings and lending alongside wider interventions to foster leadership, social cohesion, and collective action to tackle community challenges and improve livelihoods.

We continue to build our knowledge and evidence of these approaches as we support broader reform of the humanitarian system to ensure a more people-centred, inclusive and locally-led response.