Project Regions Impressions

Experience German Sparkassenstiftung’s work from a different angle

Following his trips through Ghana, Laos and Vietnam in 2012, the photographer Philip Ruopp collected impressive images in the Caucasus and in Central Asia in 2015 on behalf of German Sparkassenstiftung. Close to the people, he experienced the different cultural, religious and political environments in German Sparkassenstiftung’s partner countries. The photographs not only portray people’s everyday life, but they also give direct insight into German Sparkassenstiftung’s project work.


Ghana

Nation-building relies on education. German Sparkassenstiftung is therefore assisting the Ghana Co-operative Credit Unions Association (CUA) with the establishment and sustainable development of its own training academy known as the 'Credit Union Training Center (CUTRraC). Having worked successfully in Ghana since 2010, German Sparkassenstiftung has since extended its activities to The Gambia next door. By providing demand-oriented, affordable and methodologically meaningful training services, CUTraC aims to strengthen the Credit Unions and other microfinance associations and so enable them to deliver financial services to a wider range of people, especially in rural areas.

Photographer: Philip Ruopp, (c) German Sparkassenstiftung


Laos and Vietnam

Depositing money safely, getting a loan, buying insurance and transferring payments – and all with the smallest amounts of money. For low-income earners, making ends meet on a day-to-day basis is a major challenge. A large network of microfinance institutions that supplies these people with needs-oriented financial services is crucial to financial inclusion. In Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, German Sparkassenstiftung is assisting its project partners to build up and expand a microfinance network. The aim is to improve living conditions in rural households and also strengthen micro and small entrepreneurs.

Photographer: Philip Ruopp, (c) German Sparkassenstiftung 


Caucasus

In project countries with a Soviet past, people have little faith in banks or the financial sector. Responsible finance – which implies a fair balance of interests between financial institutions and their customers, staff and business partners on the one hand and their shareholders and donors on the other – thus commands centre stage in project work in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The key components in this context include financial education, consumer protection and the creation of a range of responsible financial services.

Photographer: Philip Ruopp, (c) German Sparkassenstiftung


Central Asia

HR development and training as well basic financial literacy and savings mobilisation are at the heart of German Sparkassenstiftung's work in Central Asia. In Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, German Sparkassenstiftung is helping to strengthen the banking sector by professionalising training structures.

In Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most populous country with approximately 30 million inhabitants, project support focuses on micro and medium-sized enterprises, on national economic development and on the creation of a national financial education strategy.

Photographer: Philip Ruopp, (c) German Sparkassenstiftung