Trickle Up

In Indigenous communities in Chiapas and Oaxaca, women living in extreme poverty face significant barriers: distrust of credit, limited access to financial information, and leadership concentrated in the hands of a few.

Trickle Up's Toolbox for Strengthening Local Savings and Credit Associations (ALAC) responds with a participatory approach designed to be facilitated by local women leaders themselves. It is part of CRECE, a project funded by MetLife Foundation & Fundación MetLife México, implemented in Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Yucatán.

The toolbox includes six practical tools covering responsible credit, purposeful saving, expense management, shared leadership, and a community social fund for emergencies. Every activity starts with what women already know and makes that knowledge the foundation of collective learning.

What makes this methodology unique? Its gender-transformative approach. The tools do not just teach financial skills; they actively challenge power dynamics within groups. Leadership rotation, for example, is built on the belief that everyone can lead and that groups grow stronger when decision-making is shared.

In contexts where climate change disproportionately affects rural and Indigenous communities, collective organization and financial resilience mean much more than money. They foster autonomy, protection, and shared power in the face of uncertainty.

As part of Sembrando Alianzas, an initiative enabled by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Trickle Up Mexico participated in a gathering in Mérida with organizations that promote community savings processes in southern and southeastern Mexico.

It was a peer gathering: genuine listening, shared methodologies, and learnings that only emerge when organizations sit down to have honest conversations about what works and what still needs improvement in how we serve participants.

Our deepest thanks to Andrés Lira from Fundación León XIII and José Antonio Torre from Fundación Ko'ox Taani for their openness and generosity in this exchange. Conversations like these remind us that the work of accompanying communities always has something to teach us.

Placing a smartphone in a woman’s hands does not guarantee that she can use it to strengthen her livelihood or expand her opportunities.

Ownership is not the same as meaningful use, and use is not the same as agency. To use technology in ways that strengthen livelihoods, women need:

✅ reliable control over technology
✅ opportunities to practice and build confidence
✅ sustained affordability
✅ supportive social environments

Our latest research with explores what it takes to move beyond digital inclusion and build true digital agency for women.

Read Lauren's latest thought piece: https://buff.ly/FTJKxaT

Why Access Alone Doesn't Create Agency - Trickle Up Our latest research shows that meaningful digital inclusion depends not simply on having a smartphone, but on having the agency to use it.