“The empowerment of women is not only a developmental issue, it is very much an economic issue. Those institutions that recognise the changes that are happening globally and take steps to make certain that they are participating in the next emerging market, will more fully reap the economic benefits of their investment.” – Graça Machel
Over the past 10 years, the Graça Machel Trust has been working with its Pan-African network, New Faces New Voices (NFNV) to produce some impressive catalytic projects. In order to reach many thousands of women, the Savings and Village Enterprise (FINISAVE) was developed and is being pioneered by Women in Finance Uganda Network Chapter Director, Theopista Ntale.
Theopista Sekitto Ntale, NFNV Uganda Country Director
With her 20 years’ experience in the banking Theopista has seen how the banking sector does not really serve women who are not able to access the full range of services. This lead to the development of the FINISAVE model, which has been seen as a very critical tool to bring women into the banking sector. The model is intentionally designed to enhance, develop and grow women entrepreneurs, and prepare them to be bankable with the knowledge of banking services, products and their rights as consumers of the banking services. This has resulted in improved financial services for micro, small and medium enterprises and small holder farmers as well as households, through the formation and development of sustainable community savings and credit groups or investment associations.
The project had a grassroots approach that identified previously excluded individuals and trained them to able to contribute to the wider economy through financial inclusion practices. This had positive outcomes and has contributed to addressing financial literacy and inclusion as a whole, within these communities.
250 000 people have been trained in financial literacy and entrepreneurship, with over 60 percent of them being women. About an average of 100 new bank accounts opened in the Gomba and Lwengo Finance Trust Bank branches, with over 80 percent of them opened by Women. Since the inception of the project, 370 savings groups have been formed with each having 30-40 members and their collective deposits amount to over 2 billion Ugandan shillings. This initiative has enabled more and more women to become economically independent and aware of their options in the finance sector and due to the success of this model, FINISAVE has further plans to expand in the future.
The project now aims to develop a mobile application that can be downloaded from App stores on smart phones, to enhance faster transactions. The adoption of digital technologies offers a great promise and can have a double or perhaps triple effect on financial inclusion. This will foster greater coverage in locations that have expressed interest in using the FINISAVE model which will further expand the initiative of financial inclusion.
Theopista’s FINISAVE model illustrates the huge impact that creating opportunities and providing training can have a huge impact on communities access banking services. It is a perfect example of the work that the Trust is pushing under our Women’s Economic and Social Advancement programme. Read more on our work here.
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
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The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.