This report focuses on the effects of CARE’s POWER/PROFIR (Promoting Opportunities for Women’s Economic Empowerment) project on the financial health of village savings and loans groups in Cote d’Ivoire and Rwanda. The project is a collaboration between CARE Canada, Access Africa, and MasterCard Foundation. CARE International is one of the world’s leading organizations in the promotion of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) in Africa, reaching more than 3.5 million people in 26 countries. CARE’s POWER project aims to determine the relative benefit of formal financial links for savings groups, households and individuals, and banks in Burundi, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Rwanda. However, this report only focuses on the two latter countries. For Rwanda, CARE‘s POWER project is called PROFIR (Promoting Financial Inclusion in Rwanda). [49 pages]