In communities across Haiti, informal savings and credit associations known as sabotay or sol continued to function as vital financial lifelines in 2020, providing access to lump-sum savings and small loans for families and small businesses that had no relationship with formal financial institutions. These community-based financial arrangements, rooted in African rotating savings traditions, demonstrated remarkable resilience even as the broader economy deteriorated.
A sabotay or sol typically involves a group of trusted community members who each contribute a fixed amount of money at regular intervals. Each member in rotation receives the full pot, providing access to a larger sum than any individual could save on their own. The system requires no collateral, no formal documentation, and no interest payments — only the social trust that binds the group together.
In the economic crisis of 2019-2020, these arrangements provided emergency capital for small businesses that needed to restock inventory, households that faced unexpected expenses, and market women who needed working capital to maintain their trading activities. Several members of savings groups reported that their sol payment had kept their business alive during the most difficult months of the political crisis.
Financial inclusion researchers studying Haiti’s informal financial sector noted that the sabotay and sol systems represented a form of community banking that had evolved over generations to meet the specific needs of populations excluded from formal finance. Rather than trying to replace these systems, they argued, development efforts should seek to build on and complement them.