alt Hacker NewsAt my mother's workplace, there was a group of coworkers who each donated an amount of money per paycheck. Each paycheck, one coworker would get the lump sum that was collected for that paycheck. Similar concept to the one described here. They called it "susu" or something to that effect. If I remember correctly, it got messy when people would leave the workplace or when, occasionally, someone would get robbed on the way home.
I read the book Poor Economics[0] around when it came out, and it described something similar.
For people who don't have access to banks, they form "savings clubs" where there will be, say, 12 people who put in $100 per month, and one person takes the pot every month. The idea is that if you keep the money yourself, then you're socially pressured to spend it when there are holidays or guests, but if it's locked up in the savings club, you can't spend it, and then you get a big lump sum to spend on a large purchase that would be otherwise hard to save for.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Economics