Through KUPAS or Kelompok Usaha Perempuan Sejahtera, women-led economy business group which locally adapted from the principles of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), women working in the informal sector are turning irregular incomes into savings, business capital, economic security, and opportunities to lead.
Every morning, before the sun has fully risen, women waste pickers in Tegallega, Bogor, and Bintara Jaya, Bekasi, are already walking the streets, collecting plastic bottles, cardboard, and other discarded items that still have market value. The heavier what they bring home, the greater their chance of meeting their families’ needs that day.
Yet for years, their earnings were almost always spent on the same day. The next morning, life began again from zero. For Santi, women member of KUPAS in Tegallega, saving seemed like something only people with extra money could afford.
Change did not begin with a large loan or a complicated financial system. It began with regular meetings and a willingness to set aside IDR 5,000.
Trust as the First Form of Capital
Through the women-led economy business group or KUPAS, members learn to establish shared rules, democratically elect group leaders, record income and expenses, and save according to their means. In Tegallega, members began setting aside IDR 5,000 to IDR 10,000. For many, it was the first time that part of their income was not immediately spent, but saved for the future.
The group’s funds are kept in a cash box secured by three locks, with each key held by a different person. This simple mechanism ensures that no single individual controls the group’s money. Consistent meetings, transparent rules, and shared accountability gradually turn uncertainty into trust.
This design is particularly relevant for women working in the informal sector. They do not have to wait until they have a stable income, assets, or “extra money” to begin building financial resilience. They can start with an amount they can afford, through a system they understand and collectively own.
When Women Shape the Decisions
As savings accumulate and capital becomes available, the group can provide loans to its members. One of most important change through KUPAS is not simply access to funds, but the fact that for the first time, the women members themselves can determine and decide who can borrow, how much they can borrow, and how the loan should be repaid.
Group meetings become spaces to voice opinions, assess business plans, resolve challenges, and make decisions with real consequences. This is where the strength of the VSLA model becomes visible. It is not simply a financial instrument, it is a space where women can practice leadership.
Leadership does not always begin with a formal position. It can start with holding one of the keys to the cash box, keeping accurate records, facilitating a meeting, or having the confidence to say whether a loan should be approved. Through this process, women are empowered to become savers, borrowers, capital managers, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers.
When Small Loans Open New Possibilities
The capital managed by the groups becomes productive investment. For Santi in Tegallega, the capital loan from KUPAS allows her to open a small coffee stall. In Bintara Jaya, members have used loans to gain their household income through small-scale businesses, such as purchase sacks and weighing scales to increase their stock of recyclable materials, become street vendors to sell fried snacks, or start breakfast stall selling nasi uduk.
Nurhayati in Bintara Jaya used a KUPAS loan to purchase a freezer. Accoding to Nurhayati, The equipment allows her to store ingredients and expand the variety of products she sells including beverages such as es mambo and es kulkul.
For families living on uncertain daily incomes, access to group funds also creates safer options when unexpected needs arise. Medical expenses, school costs, or a damaged pushcart can force families to borrow from mobile lenders or informal moneylenders at burdensome costs.
KUPAS offers another pathway, a lending mechanism managed close to the members themselves, based on rules and trust they have built together. Economic resilience does not mean families will no longer face shocks. It means they have more choices when those shocks come.
The Evidence Behind the Story
As of July 2026: 212 members | 10 groups | 91% women | IDR 47.2 million in savings | IDR 165.88 million in loans | 90% repayment rate | IDR 242 million in first- and second-phase business capital disbursed
Businesses supported through the groups include food trading, groceries and LPG sales, recyclable-material collection, waste banks, hydroponics, farming, egg-laying poultry, fish and maggot cultivation, catering, and snack production.
These figures reveal something often overlooked in development policy and financing: women working in the informal sector are not simply vulnerable groups. When appropriate systems are available, they can save, manage loans, maintain repayment, and grow small-scale businesses.
The challenge is not a lack of capacity. It is limited access to financial mechanisms that are suited to irregular incomes and the realities of their lives.
Connecting Economic Resilience with Gender Equality
KUPAS goes beyond savings and lending. Twenty gender equality sessions have been conducted to discuss women’s rights, more equitable sharing of responsibilities, the double burden of earning an income while caring for a family, and women’s participation in decision-making.
This matters because access to money does not automatically lead to empowerment. Women also need a voice in determining how money is used, how businesses are developed, and how household risks are managed.
Conversely, leadership training without an economic foundation is often not enough to shift women’s position within households and communities.nVSLA helps connect the two: access to resources and the power to make decisions.
Capital Alone is Not Enough
KUPAS approach offers an important lesson: one-time capital disbursements are not enough to create sustainable change.
Some groups have had to adjust their business plans because of limited access to land. The risk of livestock and asset theft has also influenced their business choices. Savings and capital therefore need to be accompanied by business mentoring, financial record-keeping, risk management, and sustained gender facilitation.
For the model to scale, it is important to preserve the elements that make it work: flexible and affordable contributions, transparent governance, member-led decision-making, revolving capital, and patient, context-sensitive mentoring.
Investing in Women’s Social Infrastructure
For donors and decision-makers, the women-led economy business group provides a strong case for viewing VSLA as more than a savings-and-loans activity.
It is an investment in the social and economic infrastructure that low-income women need to withstand crises, build assets, reduce dependence on costly debt, and have a greater say in decisions that affect their lives.
VSLA does not replace social protection or formal financial services. But it can serve as a practical bridge for groups that have historically struggled to access either, including women waste pickers and other informal workers.
Change can begin with an amount that seems remarkably small. As Santi puts it, “Saving is actually for people like us who have just enough money, so that something is left for tomorrow.”
From IDR 5,000, savings grow. From savings, businesses grow.
From businesses, choices and security grow. And when women manage that process together, something even greater takes root: leadership and resilience built from within the community itself.
