Girls Money Savvy 

Girls Money Savvy through Sport is the Beyond Sport 2020 Global award winner project for the Collective Impact for gender equality together with other three organizations in East Africa namely PAMOJA, Soccer without Borders and Moving Goal Post from Kenya and Uganda respectively. The funders are Beyond Sport and Laureus Sport for Good.

BACKGROUND:

Girls Money and Digital Savvy Initiative is a successor of Girls Money Savvy through sport initiative a Sport–Aid Development Trust Project. It is the remodelled initiative based on the findings and the developed best practice document which is as the result of its implement during the 2020 to 2022 periods supported by Beyond Sport and 2023 supported by Federation for International Basketball Associations (FIBA). The Girls Money Savvy Initiative was part of the 2020 Beyond Sport Collective impact on gender equality winning project together with PAMOJA in Uganda, Moving Goal Post and Soccer without Boarders in Kenya.

Girls Money Savvy through Sport reached to 3600 girls and boys including children with disability drawn from rural schools and communities, and Peri-urban areas.

The remodelled Girls Money  and Digital Savvy Initiative  is designed to disrupt girls/women entrepreneurships to increase access to financial capital and develop other 4 of five that is; Natural capital, Human capital, Social capital, manufactured capital and financial capital. At the centre of the five types of capital is digital literacy that is the vehicle for doing business in the 21st century.

VISION STATEMENT: A country that has both women and men equally participate in entrepreneurship, capacity building and access capital for social economical emancipation.

MISSION STATEMENT: To collaborate with local and international partners to  up skills and reskill girls /young women in business acumen that integrate up to date digital entrepreneurships knowledge and access to 5 types of capital , and mentorship with the ultimate result to ending intergenerational poverty by 2030.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

Gender inequalities’ main driver in Zambia and Africa at large has been the lack of business capacities in girls and young women has been perpetuated by lack of  capital that is define in 5 types  capitals  and digital skills to cope up with 21st century skills needed in the business and industry. The traditional stereotypes prevent girls/women to learn new skills and participate in current business demands. The end result has been extreme poverty and gender based violence most often result in death and social-economic injustices such as low wages.

GOAL:  To up skills and reskill girls /young women in business acumen that integrate up to date digital entrepreneurships knowledge and access to 5 types of capital , and mentorship with the ultimate result to ending intergenerational poverty by 2030.

Zambia’s Vision 2030, a long-term plan outlining the goal of achieving prosperous middle-income nation status by creating an enabling environment for sustainable socio-economic development, the country seeks to “eliminate gender inequalities in social economic development” and improve “educational attainment and eliminate gender gaps at all levels of human and social economic development.( Zambia-Gender-Assessment-Report-2023_May-12.pdf)

The Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP) 2022—2026 identifies human and social development as fundamental to inclusive development, and as a central ingredient to help catapult the transformation of the country. To capitalize on the human growth of its citizens, and to successfully contribute to the country’s development, the government must prioritize interventions which seek to “tackle gender-based violence, teenage pregnancies, child abuse and violence against the vulnerable” and implement policies to promote gender equality by addressing “issues related to the participation of women in decision-making positions at all levels of governance and sustaining and improving gender parity in education.”

RATIONALE:

The advanced   information technology has disrupted economic actors. The efficiency from the persistent use of the internet leads to not only the creation of new jobs but also the disappearance of other jobs. In this respect, female labours in the informal sector and are  mostly   vulnerable  due  to  limited skills , and  face  increasingly difficult situations, especially for those who  lack skills  and  internet access  to  empower themselves. Thus, advanced   digital technology indirectly makes low skilled women more vulnerable.  Women who do not have digital access survive by participating in traditional economic sectors that rely more on social networks, experience, and less on special skills.  The  presence  of  traditional  markets,  for example,  is  the  evidence  of  women’s  existential  struggle in Zambia  to survive  amidst their  limited skills and rapid progress to advanced digital technology.

The five-capital approach in the livelihood strategy indicates the vulnerabilities of female labours in the informal sector (Natural capital, Human capital, Social capital, manufactured capital and financial capital). Low digital access makes it difficult for women to improve the five capital that arguably increases economic activities. Women’s  weaknesses  in  developing  their  digital  skills  lie in access  to capital  (low  financial inclusion),  gender bias  (low technical  skills  in  information  technology),  and  cultural constraints such  as concerns on neglected  domestic activities due to the use of internet.

The Girls/Women Money and Digital savvy Initiative through Sport is design to disrupt this common trend that deprives females with the potential to participate in profitable business that is conducted using available digital platforms.

VALUE ADDITION IN THE EU:

Zambia reformed its education curriculum that has at its core entrepreneurship and technology. The national Qualification Authority is reviewing the framework to include the micro credentials to standardise and to be in tandem with regional and international standards.  Therefore, in line with NQA framework will encourage the beneficiaries to be trained in line with NQA framework. At the moment the Zambian University and colleges are still grappling w.ith technology and its application. It is in this vain that, will sing Memorandum of understanding with European Universities and colleges to provide the micro credentials in digital entrepreneurs

THE ROLE OF SPORT IN THE INTIATIVE:

The financial and digital literacy football and basketball tournaments is organised to create a platform engagement, sharing business experiences and exhibit their products and services. The Football and Basketball entrepreneurs form teams that compete against each other for a prize money. The companies participating in the exhibition pay subscription fees that is used to support the tournament and prize money. The companies are given advertising slots at the tournament venue as a reward.  The businesses such as insurance brokers and companies, banks and financial institutions display their products and services that entrepreneurs can choose from to scale up their business undertakings. The platform is used also as a platform for lobbying the government to provide an enabling business environment for girls and women  by enacting policies that makes access to cheaper capital and taxes for Small and medium enterprises. The investment venture capital seize this opportunity to identify the entrepreneurships ventures to invest in capital and other services for entrepreneurs.

INNOVATION:

Using professional education institutions  both local and European institutions to provide the Micro credentials to accredit the entrepreneurs , enables the entrepreneurs to have employability’s status and demonstrate-able capacity to the investors of their business. The use of Sport as a platform exhibition of their product and services, and sharing of best practices, and for the companies to sell their products and services to the entrepreneurs create an ecosystem that feeds into each other sustaining equal benefits as the entrepreneurs access capital and capacity building at the same time the companies make profits from the capital investments into the entrepreneurs.

THE INITIATIVE ACTIVITIES:

1. creating awareness on the use of available digital platforms

2. lobby for financial inclusion of the females business persons

3. Building capacities in financial  and digital literacy

4. Providing financial  and digital literacy mentorship

5. Linking/providing  the females  business  entrepreneurs access to financial capital

6. Providing continuance entrepreneurship development capacity building that is blended. That is traditional trainings and digital trainings such us tailor designed to address specific areas of Financial and digital literacy needs.

7. Providing business  webinar  for continuance entrepreneurship development capacity building

8. Creating the online hub  for financial and digital literature

9. Sharing quarterly entrepreneurships best practices stories and financial literacy newsletter

10. Sharing of best practice through exchange business program.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

1. Engagement meeting with National Qualification authority by December, 2026.

2. Engagement meeting with Key stakeholders that includes the banks, financial institutions and Entrepreneurs by December, 2026.

3. Creating the online hub for financial and digital literature by December, 2026

4. 1000 girls and women trained per year for 5 years by December, 2026.

5. 1000 Girls/Women trained specific business related micro-credentials that is; agriculture, retail business, Carpentry and Joinery, Electrical, cookery and tailoring by December, 2026.

6. 1000 Girls and young women developed business concepts for funding by December, 2026.

7. 1000 Girls and young women received mentorship by December, 2026.

8. 1000 Girls and Women owning businesses/employed in business by December, 2026.

9. 200 Girls and women received the revolving fund for their businesses by December, 2026.

10. Four  business  webinar  for continuance entrepreneurship development capacity building done by December, 2026

KEY DELIVERABLES:

1. The initiative is shared with all key stakeholders and they understand their role therein.

2. The financial and digital  hub is create , functioning and entrepreneurs are interacting with it

3. Girls and young women are register with colleges for Micro Credentials in specific field of their business concept.

4. The banks  and financial institutions Memorandum of understanding signed and the entrepreneurs are able to access business capital

5. Memorandum of understanding signed with EU colleges/university to deliver digital literacy and Micro Credentials to the entrepreneurs

6. Girls and Young women received mentorship and running their businesses

7. The businesses insured and covered  specific losses associated with business

8. The entrepreneurs receiving the continuance development training through structured webinar

9. Engagement meeting organised with the government and key stakeholders to review the financial policy for the SMES.

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Education  Support Program:

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We support the  vulnerable children access education by  paying for their school fees and provides school requisites,that includes ;Books,uniforms and  tuition

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Participatory school Governance:

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This program aims  at  involving the learners to participate in the governance of the school and participating in the decision making processes.

The learners get involved through the use of the social accountability tools  such as the score card and scoreboard initiatives.

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the learners and community stakeholders participate through the structures  called community action groups and Peer leader Action Groups

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