Over 45,000 People Save K25 Million Under World Vision’s Savings for Transformation Initiative

World Vision Zambia has disclosed that over 45, 000 people who are part of its Savings for Transformation (S4T) initiative have managed to save about K25. 4 million from October 2023 to September, 2024.

Organization Savings Group and Financial Inclusion Specialist, Ethel Mulenga, told Money FM News in an interview that about 33, 000 of the people who have been participating in the Savings Groups are women.

Ms. Mulenga explained that the Saving for Transformation initiative is World Vision’s Savings Group model which works like Village Banking, where the organization mobilizes communities to form the Groups, who later select themselves according to their economic status and proximity, as well as what they want to achieve.

She said the participants are usually form their own groups of 15 to 25 people, who put their money together and agree on how much they can save either weekly, every two weeks or once a month, and also on the share value.

“World Vision Zambia uses Savings for Transformation (S4T) to build financial resilience by supporting community members to save together in a safe, convenient and flexible way. Savings groups are owned, managed and operated by the members, using a simple, transparent method whereby groups accumulate and convert small amounts of cash into savings.”

“They do this for a period of 9 to 12 months, after which they will share the money. They can also borrow the same money and return it with an interest that has been agreed upon. When they form these groups, they also have a constitution that they sign and agree. So, they have managed to save about K25, 425, 355. We are talking about 45, 902 people who are part of these Savings for Transformation Groups and about 33, 000 of them are women. This is for the period October 2023 to September, 2024,” Ms. Mulenga explained.

Ms. Mulenga added that this is a stepping stone in terms of financial inclusion for the community members especially in rural areas where people are not able to access a lot of financial services from the commercial banks.

“They save and give each other loans and through that transaction they are making some profits, so they make about K10 million profit. We have been doing this as an organization for over a decade,” she added.
Through S4T Groups, men and women in poor communities set up their own groups which enable them to save money together in small amounts and lend to each other when needs arise, such as family members’ illness, children’s education, and falling income due to droughts.