The heat is already starting to build as Monica Dzonu begins her daily rounds. Dressed in a brilliant blue uniform of Ghana's distinctive credit union cloth, she walks briskly beside a busy two-lane highway on the outskirts of Takoradi in Ghana's western region. She stops in at the small businesses that dot the side of the road. Most are housed in rudimentary buildings or old shipping containers. There is a kiosk selling cell phone accessories, a building supplies dealer and an auto repair business. At each stop Monica accepts a deposit or loan payment. She issues a receipt, updates a passbook and moves on. By the end of the day she will have made more than 100 stops.

Just two years out of high school, Monica is a community mobilizer for Axim Road Credit Union - the trusted face of the credit union in the community. Each day she collects money and markets the credit union to prospective members. And while she may seem young for this responsibility, she is actually a credit union veteran. Monica started her credit union career on her first day of high school when she joined the youth savings club at Bompe Secondary School.

The undisputed flagship of Ghana`s youth savings clubs, it boasts 700 members, the majority of the students at the school. The students make daily deposits to their savings accounts and in the process they learn the value of savings, how to manage their personal finances, and for many, leadership and financial management skills.

For Monica, the club was the ticket to a good job after graduation, but it also had a big impact on her home life. Through her involvement in the school club, she was able to convince her aunty to join the mother credit union, Axim Road. Her aunt began to save, and eventually qualified for a loan which she used to set up a roadside stall selling soft drinks. Monica herself was able to save the money she needed for books and school fees, ensuring that she could complete her high school education. In Monica`s words, the credit union "eliminated poverty at home."

Agnes Miamba agrees completely. She is a single mother with five boys and one girl who makes a precarious living as a petty trader in a crowded market in Takoradi. From her stall she sells padlocks, door locks, hair dye, medicine - whatever she can. She is proud of her children`s academic accomplishments, and determined that they will all get an education. The school savings account ensures that school fees get paid `"even when I am on the rocks," she says. These days it is her son Phillip, in his second year at Bompe Secondary, who is the savings club member, but when she has a little extra Agnes also makes deposits in his account - insurance for the next time that her business drops off.

The visionary behind the savings clubs in Ghana is Abba Smith, former chair of the Credit Union Association of Ghana (CUA), and headmistress of Bompe Secondary. It was a visit to Canada in 1998 that inspired her efforts. She saw Canadian credit unions working to bring in young members and it made her reflect on the situation in Ghana. At that time the average age of a credit union member was 45, and she envisioned a declining future for the movement. At school she saw bright students forced to drop out for lack of school fees. The club she designed and launched in 1999 addressed both issues. She was supported by the Canadian Co-operative Association which has provided funding for the venture, as well as youth interns that have assisted in promoting and managing the effort. The first was Vera Goussaert, now Executive Director of the Manitoba Co-operative Council.

Back at Axim Road, General Manager Alexander Sackeyiffo needs no convincing of the club`s value. He employs half a dozen savings clubs grads, including some of his senior managers. And he has seen the impact that the clubs have on his membership. Monica`s story is not unusual where an adult was inspired to join the credit union by a youth savings club member. As well, each year as many as one third of the graduating students at Bompe Secondary use their accumulated savings to open accounts at Axim Road or other credit unions around the country. For Abba Smith, those small deposits represent nothing less than a bright future for Ghana`s credit union movement.

- by John Julian