Sou Sou Banking in Trinidad: Example of an Informal Mutual Aid Society

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Sou Sou Banking in TrinidadExample of an
Informal Mutual Aid Society
Ralph Holcomb, MSW, Ph.D. Fulbright Lecturer, Soc
ial Work Programme

• Credit, Savings, and Mutual Assistance

Department of County Human Services
International Group Seminar, April 27, 2006
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Overview of the Hour

• Trinidad Economic and social context
• What is sou sou banking?
• Assessing sou sou
• Economic benefits
• Social benefits
• Survey results
• Improving sou sous
• Questions and answers

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1. Overview of Trinidad and Tobago
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Demographic Overview

• Size Slightly Smaller than Delaware
• Population 1 million
• Growth rate -.74/1000
• Migration rate -10/1000
• Infant mortality rate 24/1000
• Unemployment 8
• Per capita income US 8900
• Poverty 21
• Inflation 6.8

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Economic Overview

• Economic characteristics of Small Island
  Developing States (S.I.D.S.)
  
• Ideally suited for small populations and
  pre-capitalist subsistence economy
  
• Common history of imperialist economic agenda
  sets island up for
  
• Rapacious exploitation
• Enormous economic disparity
• Small middle class
• Racist ideologies

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Economic Overview, Cont.

• Few exploitable resources
• Lack of natural resources
• Lack of diversity in economy means greater
  exposure to vicissitudes of the world
  marketplace
  
• Brain drain
• Development strategies
• Tourism
• Micro-enterprises and micro-loans

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Overview, cont.

• Social Characteristics of SIDS
• Emanating from imperialist culture
• Racism
• Traditional gender and sexual orientation
  attitudes
  
• Central social welfare system (British model)
• Gender and unemployment
• Environmental pressures
• Strengths
• Natural helping systems
• Fantastic home-grown arts
• Great human diversity

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Quick History

• Pre-European contact
• Indigenous trading
• Arawaks and Caribes
• Imperial hegemony
• Exploitation of indigenous peoples for mining
• African slavery for plantations
• East Indian indentured servants for plantations
• Modern US hegemony

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Liberation and Modern History

• Self-governance, economic dependence
• Dr. Eric Williams
• Yankee Go Home
• Repudiation of Monroe Doctrine
• British social legacy
• Strong centralized state safety net
• Strong class and racial overlay

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2. Sou Sou Banking
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Mutual Aid Society

• Core function of social welfare is mutual
  assistance.
  
• Characteristics
• Voluntary, common interests, similar condition,
  symptom, experience, heritage
  
• Function
• Economic assistance, cultural preservation,
  social interchange, mutual protection

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Overview

• Rotating Credit Association
• Practically universal phenomenon
• Why join?
• Inhibited from seeking credit in more formal
  institutions
  
• Structural (lack of opportunity)
• Personal (lack of desire)
• Desire for a more structured way to save
• Social desire to participate in a mutual aid
  endeavor
  

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How it Works

• Example
• Two group roles
• Banker
• Member of group
• Decide on rules
• How much, when, where to pay
• When to take the hand
• Bankers remuneration (the box)

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Thinking about Sou Sous

• Early Hand No-interest Credit
• Can help build individual wealth
• Helps individuals through hard times
• Late Hand Enforced Savings
• Overcomes barriers to saving on ones own
• No interest on savings

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Descriptive Results

• 120 respondents ( 10 response rate)
• 81 Female (53 female in population)
• 84 Staff ( 75 staff in population)
• Race/ethnicity
• 41 Afro-Trinidadian
• 27 Mixed
• 21 Indo-Trinidadian

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Descriptive Results, continued

• Of those who had ever joined a sou sou bank
• One-third were members of a sou sou at time of
  survey
  
• Respondents averaged two sou sous ever joined
• Modal amount contributed 200
• 92 contribute monthly, the rest contribute
  weekly
  
• 13 had been burned in a sou sou
• 71 will join another sou sou

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chart
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chart
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Crosstab
?2 p 24
Crosstab
?2 p 25
Crosstab
Non-significant ?2
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Chart
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3. Analysis of Sou Sou Banking
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Why Utilize?

• 88 Savings
• forced to save
• Examples of items saved for
• Carnival costume, emergency cash, car insurance,
  Christmas savings, childrens school expenses,
  home appliances.
  
• 8 interest-free loan (credit)

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Criteria for Joining a Sou Sou

• Trust
• Some will only join if the sou sou is family
• Others will only join if they run the sou sou
  themselves or it is run by a trusted banker
  
• Need
• Desire to be part of a social group
• Desire to help a friend
• Avoidance of loan or bank hassle

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Helpful Comments

• Trust
• Look for strength of character and commitment
  among members
  
• Small family or work units perform well
• Look for a firm and strict banker
• Consider written payment contracts or
  commitments. Also, all should know everyones
  name and address
  
• Rules and Exceptions
• Flexibility is important, but only in extreme
  circumstances
  
• Work out ahead of time if member non-payment is
  the bankers or the hand recipients
  responsibility
  
• Confidential hand payment date

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Final Thoughts

• Excellent means for meeting personal goals, if
  members are trustworthy
  
• Good for group cohesion mutual aid
• Helps Individual members strengthen social ties
• Surprising finding suggestion that youth may be
  participating as much as elders

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3. Notes on Survey Methodology
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Notes on the Web Survey Method

• Free
• Easy
• Used FrontPage
• UWI Webmaster loaded

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Dillman Discussion

• Error Reduction
• Coverage, Sampling, Measurement, Non-response
• Coverage
• Quite Limited
• Very low among populations of interest to social
  work
  
• Implications for sampling

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Dillman discussion, cont.

• Non-response
• Technological frustrations
• The intersection between survey psychology and
  computer technology
  
• Technological SNAFUs
• Consent form
• Scroll bar, drop-down menus, clicking inside text
  boxes
  
• Others?
• Work-arounds
• Show first question on screen

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Dillman discussion, cont.

• Measurement Error
• Unequal delivery of item stimuli
• Different platforms, web browsers, screen
  configurations

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Questions?