One of the lessons that the Bank has learned from the experience of so- cial funds is that involving poor citizens in the choices, design, and imple- mentation of projects responsive to their immediate needs may unearth new but modest sources of domestic savings for capital formation. These savings, effected mainly through the labor of the poor and the mobiliza- tion of parts of their unspent incomes, frees up public resources for other uses. This can potentially reduce the claims of the public sector on the national economy. In addition to domestic savings, the poor also learn new skills and techniques, including that of organization, which should improve their.
