Today, June 20, marks World Refugee Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness of the circumstances faced by refugees throughout the world. In preparation, UK Charity Comic Relief traveled with UNCDF Rwanda to Gihembe Refugee Camp in Rwanda’s Gicumbi District to learn about UNCDF’s new programme, which both Comic Relief and Jersey Overseas Aid is supporting. During our time in Gihembe, we met with women leaders and entrepreneurs, all of whom have one thing in common: they all belong to savings groups, and have all experienced the life-changing impact those groups have had.

We met Rachel, a Congolese refugee who started her own business – a barber shop centrally located in the camp. Rachel has been living in Gihembe for over 20 years, raising her three children alongside her husband, all while running her self-started business. Our conversation with Rachel began with a look into her daily routine: waking her children, cleaning the house, overseeing operations of the barber shop and cooking for her family. Rachel shared that she is determined to further grow her business by expanding the current shop to accommodate more barbers and an in-house salon for women. Being part of a savings group has helped Rachel grow her business and she has been able to take loans from the group to replace broken equipment.

“There was a very big visible gap of no barber shop in the camp, so I thought I should start one ... It meant that I could upgrade my meals at home and we are now doing well”

“There was a very big visible gap of no barber shop in the camp, so I thought I should start one. A barber shop is a booming business because it is a daily need for everyone. Children need to have their haircut and so do the young men and women, so we thought it would be a lucrative business to do. It was a real pleasure when I started getting customers. It meant that I could upgrade my meals at home and we are now doing well”, Rachel explains.

We also met with Speciose, who is a member of a savings group started by Plan International. Speciose shared with us the impact of these informal groups, noting their role in changing members’ lives through the promotion of positive saving and lending behaviors, confidence, and self-reliance. Comic Relief and UNCDF had the opportunity to film and watch one of the group’s weekly meetings in action. The group’s women – and its two male members – added and withdrew from their joint savings, all while recording their activity in personal and group logs. By the meeting’s end, it became clear that these groups are more than just a platform used to save and lend money; they also serve as venues for community engagement, friendship and importantly, women’s empowerment. “When we come together,” says Speciose, “we help each other.”

“When we come together, we help each other.”

The visit coincides with the start of a new UNCDF project, jointly funded by Comic Relief and Jersey Overseas Aid, that seeks to increase access to both formal and informal financial services and digital and financial literacy for refugees and members of the host community. By leveraging savings groups as a point of entry, our approach aims to reach over 30,000 refugees and host community members over a three-year period. The UNCDF programme that is being funded by the partnership, Expanding Access to Finance for Refugees and Host Communities in Rwanda (REFAD), hopes to see existing savings groups and businesses strengthened, new ones formed, and the financial capability of refugees and host community members significantly improved. With our global presence, the long-term goal is to apply and adapt the programme learnings to better serve refugees and host communities in countries throughout the world.

The films shared today highlight the lives and experiences of only a few of Gihembe’s incredible women and capture how an increase in financial and digital literacy and access to financial services can kickstart a future. “When you have the will,” says Rachel, “there’s a way.”