The ownership of assets is a key stepping stone on the path to well-being. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), assets are important because they generally constitute the foundation of wealth for African families and communities. This dissertation attempts to understand the impact of an asset building intervention on rural households in SSA. Modeled after IDA programs in the U.S., the intervention includes incentives and structures for saving, financial education, peer support, and asset specific training. This intervention addresses some of the crucial concerns that have been discussed in savings research concerning barriers to savings for poor people.

The study uses a longitudinal, quasi-experiment design to investigate impacts of the intervention. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Propensity Score Matching (PSM), and Difference-in-Differences (DiD) are used in the data analysis. The study results show statistically significant impacts on wealth and expectations outcomes for the participants, which findings have great importance in considering an asset-based approach for development. However, impacts on wellbeing outcomes are not statistically significant.

Overall, results in this study show that asset building interventions might be a possible policy solution for improving the economic well-being of poor households in SSA. Asset-building interventions provide an opportunity for matched saving, which might encourage the poor to save. In addition, asset development accounts can provide the opportunity for governments and international organizations to channel resources for development directly to poor families. These could be viewed as incentives for poor families to drive their own development.