Having actually worked in one of "these places" (in microcredit in Uganda and evaluated programs in Kenya) I can tell you that providing a safe place to bank is one of the best ways to help people. I suppose the first step is to define what you mean by "these places".

If you're talking about a war torn country or a country that is ruled under a radical ideological agenda (e.g. Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Iran or North Korea) and/or with high inflation, yes, I'd agree that savings probably aren't really going to be important to them.

For the vast majority of developing countries however, most are not starving on a day to day. However, they may make a lot more money one day but none the next - so it's this variance that creates risk and why financial services of all types (credit and savings) help to smooth out the risk. To get a sense of the risk, try imagining yourself living in a room without locks in a neighbourhood with a high level of crime - what would you do with any extra cash you had? Contrary to popular belief, the poor often have an immense capacity to save - in the microcredit I worked at, there were those who joined to borrow small amounts of just so that they could access the network and save.