Boosting women’s enterprises: JP GTA facilitates access to financial products and services in Malawi
9 NOVEMBER 2023
The JP GTA facilitated a dialogue session in August 2023 that brought together members of six Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) from Traditional Authority Chizuma in the district of Kasungu in Malawi with three financial institutions: Vision Fund Malawi, FCB Bank and the National Economic Empowerment Fund. Similar dialogue sessions were held between VSLA members and four financial institutions in July 2023 in the district of Mangochi.
In collaboration with the Community Development Office of the district of Kasungu in Malawi, the Joint Programme on Gender Transformative Approaches for Food Security and Nutrition (JP GTA) facilitated a dialogue session in August 2023 that brought together members of six Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) from Traditional Authority Chizuma with three financial institutions: Vision Fund Malawi, FCB Bank and the National Economic Empowerment Fund.
The JP GTA organized similar dialogue sessions between VSLA members and four financial institutions in July 2023 in the district of Mangochi.
Access to products and services of formal financial institutions is key to women’s and youth’s financial inclusion and, in turn, economic autonomy. Despite this, only few women and youth VSLA members are able to access them. It is in this context that the JP GTA in Malawi is facilitating dialogue sessions between VSLA members – mainly women and youth – and financial institutions.
Women and youth VSLA members are constrained by their limited capital resources and the inability to raise additional funds. The session provided insights into financial loan products that are suitable for women, with the aim of growing individual businesses and establishing corporate enterprises to improve their families' livelihoods. Empowered by training in leadership and decision-making, the women took collective action by identifying enhanced financial literacy as a prerequisite for obtaining loans.
During the session, the VSLA members engaged with three financial institutions, expressing concerns about difficulties in accessing and servicing loans. Issues discussed included generic loan offers, unsuitable loans for women and rural communities, stringent collateral requirements, high interest rates and a lack of proactive education on loan processes in rural areas. The financial institutions presented case studies of women's groups in similar situations who successfully accessed and repaid multiple loans.
Lezita Mtalimanja, Chairwoman of Chisomo VSLA, shared her thoughts on the dialogue session: “I’m delighted that the project [JP GTA] organized this dialogue session. We look forward to the financial institutions’ training on the loan products they introduced us to today, to kickstart our business plans by December. We are ready to take these loans, and our VSLA has a strong history of timely repayments of loans from other sources.”
In Malawi, the JP GTA is working towards enhancing the economic autonomy of women and youth through improved financial inclusion. To do so, the JP GTA is working with governmental institutions and regulatory bodies, VSLAs and financial institutions, and rural households and communities in the districts of Balaka, Blantyre, Chikwawa, Kasungu, Machinga, Mangochi, Nsanje, Phalombe, Salima and Zomba. VSLAs are central to this process as they are key to ensuring access to financial services for villagers who generally do not have access to formal financial products and services.
Image credits: ©FAO/Chisomo Mdalla
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