Community-led urban transformation: Community Savers in 2023

Community Savers and CLASS are a cross-class alliance between an informal women led poverty action network and a tailored professional support agency which the UI and the Dep. of Urban Studies and Planning has supported and partnered with since 2017.

CLASS annual report

Community Savers affiliates are majority women-led neighbourhood associations that take action to reduce poverty and inequality in their local areas. They join together through the Community Savers movement for a stronger collective voice on social, economic, and climate justice.

Read about some of the community-led urban transformation they are engaged in here

The building blocks of the Community Savers movement are women-led and community-based savings clubs. The Community Savers methodology and theory of change is an adaptation of a 30-year strong social movement called Shack/Slum Dwellers International.

Community Savers leaders direct the movement through a variety of co governance mechanisms, working together with CLASS staff and trustees.

They follow a learning-by-doing methodology, where regular reflection and evaluation is critical. They conduct an annual impact evaluation between January and March; and their new report captures their outcomes and learning between January and December 2023. 

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