Cement block banking in Gambia

In December 2020, the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF), UrbaMonde and UrbaSEN signed a partnership agreement to undertake a scoping exercise to explore experiences of citizen financing mechanisms for affordable housing delivery.

This short study – available in French and English – documents and disseminates 10 experiences, programs and projects of affordable housing production in Africa. Using bibliographic research and in-depth interviews, this work made it possible to analyze the capacity of projects and partners to be part of the public and private funding chain, and to mobilize the so-called “citizen finance” .

This week’s focus is on Gambia’s cement block banking. The company Amiscus Horizon (AH) started operating and pioneering the concept of cement block banking in 2014. The concept ”Cement Block Saving Scheme” is a ”pay-as-you-go-model” whereby clients save and buy cement blocks on a monthly basis.

To find out more about the program in English or French, follow the links below.