VICOBA / Savings Groups
VICOBA, modeled the way it actually works.
Run every savings group's cycle — meetings, shares, social fund, internal loans and share-out — on one record, with a coordinator view across the whole network.
- Meeting #18
- Shares & social fund recorded
- Group fund · Umoja Women
- TSh 8.4M
- Coordinator network
- 126 active groups
Built for the VICOBA cycle
A VICOBA is more than a savings account
Most savings software treats a VICOBA as a bank account with members attached. It is not. A VICOBA (a VSLA) runs in cycles: members buy shares meeting by meeting, contribute to a social fund and pay fines, lend to each other from the pooled fund, and share the fund out at the end. Model it as a flat account and the cycle, the separate records and the share-out all fall back onto a coordinator's spreadsheet.
- A group runs in time-boxed cycles
- Not an open-ended account
- A pooled fund the group builds
- Recorded on a real ledger
- The fund is shared out at cycle end
- By the group's own rules
Before, and with, Ustawi
Drag the slider: the same group, kept in a members' book versus kept in Ustawi.
| Asha M. | 24 | 1.2M | paid? |
| Neema K. | 20 | fund?? | 900K |
| Rehema J. | 18 | fine? | #REF! |
| Zainabu A. | 25 | — | ask chair |
From group registration to cycle close
A group moves through the same governed stages every cycle — from registration and setting the share value, through the meetings that build the fund, to the share-out that closes it. Each stage is a screen in Ustawi, not a step on a coordinator's notepad.
Tap a stage to stop on it. Hover pauses the animation.
Manage every group
Each group has its own profile — the cycle, the members, the savings, the loans and the fund — with a coherent fund overview where the numbers actually reconcile (cash + loans outstanding + social fund = the total fund).
| Member | Shares | Loan | Outstanding | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asha M. | 24 | TSh 1.2M | TSh 640K | Current |
| Neema K. | 20 | TSh 900K | TSh 450K | Current |
| Rehema J. | 18 | TSh 800K | TSh 460K | Attention |
| Zainabu A. | 25 | — | — | Good standing |
- Cash / availableTSh 3.1M
- Loans outstandingTSh 4.2M
- Social fundTSh 1.1M
- Total fund assetsTSh 8.4M
Every member has a complete record
For a coordinator managing thousands of members, each one needs a full record — their shares, social-fund contributions, fines, loans and attendance — in one place, across the cycle.
Run every meeting
Meetings are the heartbeat of a VICOBA — savings, repayments and new loans all happen there. Ustawi runs the meeting as a structured session: attendance, savings, repayments, fines, social fund, and the minutes, all captured as they happen.
- 1Attendance
- 2Previous minutes
- 3Savings
- 4Loan repayments
- 5New loan applications
- 6Fines
- 7Social fund
- 8Other business
- 9Minutes approval
Shares, social fund and fines — each recorded separately
These three mean different things, so Ustawi records them separately for each member. Shares are savings that drive the share-out; social-fund contributions are a group safety net; fines are group discipline — not a form of saving. Keeping them distinct is exactly what a flat account gets wrong.
The core of the fund; drive each member's share-out
Contributions for emergencies / welfare, recorded separately
Late or missed obligations — recorded, not a saving
Track the fund on a real ledger
Not a single running balance — a real fund ledger. Every transaction carries a source, a member, a meeting, a category and a timestamp, so the fund can always be explained line by line.
| Date | Member | Transaction | Debit | Credit | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Sep | Asha M. | Shares | — | 30,000 | 4.820M |
| 18 Sep | Neema K. | Social fund | — | 5,000 | 4.825M |
| 18 Sep | Mwanaidi S. | Loan disbursement | 600,000 | — | 4.225M |
| 18 Sep | Rehema J. | Loan repayment | — | 80,000 | 4.305M |
| 18 Sep | Zainabu A. | Fine | — | 5,000 | 4.310M |
Balances in TSh; every line ties to a member and a meeting.
Internal loans from the group's pooled fund
A VICOBA member borrows from the group's own pooled fund — this is not the same as an institution's group loan with joint liability. Ustawi records the internal loan against the fund it comes from, on the group's own terms.
Share value, interest and rules are set by each group's own constitution — not a universal VICOBA rule.
Every group in one view
A coordinator dashboard for every group at once
Ustawi is VICOBA software for coordinators — the NGO, MFI, network or federation staff who run many groups, not a single consumer group. Above every group sits one view of the whole network: the groups, the members, the savings, the internal loans and the cycles closing soon.
From network to member, level by level
Everything in Ustawi hangs off one structure. A coordinator can start at the whole network and drill down to a single member's transaction — or roll a single meeting's savings back up to a programme total.
See your whole programme
This is where Ustawi goes beyond a single-group app. Coordinators, NGOs and federations can see savings, lending, participation and repayment performance across the whole network — and drill from a national total right down to one group's cycle.
| District | Groups | Savings | PAR30 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kinondoni | 24 | TSh 41.2M | 3.1% |
| Ilala | 19 | TSh 33.8M | 4.6% |
| Temeke | 17 | TSh 28.4M | 5.2% |
| Mwanza | 22 | TSh 37.9M | 3.8% |
Programme data cut by region, district, coordinator, cycle and status.
See your own groups and cycles in one coordinator view.
Work where the groups meet, even without network coverage
Savings groups meet where they are — often where the network does not reach. Ustawi runs the meeting offline: attendance, contributions, repayments and member transactions are captured on the device and synced when connectivity returns, with a recoverable exception queue so nothing is lost.
- Attendance27 / 30
- Shares collectedTSh 360,000
- RepaymentsTSh 420,000
- Social fundTSh 135,000
Nothing is lost when the signal drops
Its own model, on one platform
VICOBA vs Group Lending
These are different models, and Ustawi supports both. A VICOBA is a savings group building and sharing out its own fund; group lending is an institution lending to a group. Confusing the two is exactly the mistake most software makes.
| VICOBA / savings group | Group lending |
|---|---|
| Savings-led | Credit-led |
| Cycle-based | Loan-based |
| Members build a common fund | Institution provides the loan |
| Shares are central | Loan amount is central |
| Internal lending from the pooled fund | Institutional lending |
| Cycle share-out | Loan repayment to the lender |
| Group fund ledger | Loan portfolio |
Connected across the Ustawi platform
VICOBA sits inside the wider platform — sharing the field, member and accounting foundations with the apps around it.
The credit-led model — distinct from VICOBA savings groups.
Explore app →The field coordinators who run the groups on the ground.
Explore app →The same offline-first field model for follow-up.
Explore app →Where group fund movements can post to accounts.
Explore app →The institution's core lending, alongside group savings.
Explore app →Built for teams managing savings groups
VICOBA at scale is a coordination job. Each kind of team sees the part of the programme it needs.
Monitor hundreds of groups across districts and programmes.
Manage groups, coordinators, cycles and consolidated reporting.
Track group savings, internal lending and member activity.
Keep group records organized from registration to cycle close.
See programme-wide savings, lending and participation.
Built for the way savings groups actually meet
A VICOBA is people in a circle, a cashbox, and a shared commitment to save and lend to each other. Ustawi does not replace that — it gives the group and its coordinator a reliable record of it: the shares bought, the loans made, the fund built, and the fair share-out at the end of the cycle.
Getting live
How we get you live
A structured rollout, from mapping your groups and cycle rules to running live cycles across the network.
- 01Discover
Map your groups, coordinators, cycle rules and share-out method.
- 02Configure
Set share values, contribution types, loan rules and share-out per group.
- 03Migrate
Bring existing groups, members and cycle records onto the platform.
- 04Test
Validate meetings, ledger, internal loans, offline sync and share-out.
- 05Train
Bring coordinators and field staff up to speed on the workflow.
- 06Go live
Run live cycles across the network, with support on hand.
See VICOBA / Savings Groups in a live demo
Request a DemoFrequently asked questions
Yes, cycle management tracks a group from cycle open to close and share-out.