GOAL: To improve the health of the poorest rural communities through enhanced facilitation skills and created their own economic opportunity and increased awareness on reproductive health.

RACHA is strongly commitment to sustainability. Many problems of limited access to health care, poor household nutrition and inability to take preventive health measures are a function of poverty; this is exacerbated by social health protection systems in both Cambodia and Myanmar that are limited and fragile. RACHA therefore focuses its efforts on decentralized savings groups that are locally managed. Our Savings for Change groups do not rely on any external funding, rather they receive skills training and monitoring in the first few years.

RACHA improves economic capacity and maternal and child health through the Saving for Change methodology. People gain financial skills, start entrepreneurial ventures, build community network and resilience, and access financial services in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. Group members access the knowledge of health and corporate professionals including MNCH messages about ANC visits, anemia prevention, birth spacing, and diarrhea home care. RACHA disseminates these key messages through trainings with field staff, equipping and enabling them to be effective health promoters to their groups. Health promotion is thus not only conducted with a viable and captive audiences, but Saving for Change drives up the demand for health services through increasing referrals and the capacity of locals to access health services through strengthened financial prowess.

Saving for Change allows poor families, particularly vulnerable women-led households, to access loans quickly and reduces the dependency on moneylenders, increasing resilience against shocks. During unexpected events such as drought, flooding or medical emergencies, poor families are often ill prepared and are unable to sustain their livelihood without seeking out moneylenders who charge exorbitant interest rates that perpetuate debt and poverty. Saving for Change addresses feminized poverty and works to alleviate poverty by creating access to cash flow for entrepreneurial ventures to increase livelihood.

Another unique benefit of the Saving for Change program is the use of the interest accrued. This remains within the savings group, increasing the group capital available for income-generating activities or other expenses, which are often health-related.