Farzana Kashfi, BRAC, Bangladesh

BRAC’s Social & Financial Empowerment of Adolescents (SoFEA) program offers a holistic approach to financial services, supplementing savings and credit products with a “club,” where adolescent female clients have a safe place to meet and access books, games, life skills courses, and livelihood training. Results from the pilot test indicate that, on average, clients participating in the SoFEA program feel a stronger sense of control over their loan, are more likely to continue with the program, and are able to successfully increase the size of their loan.