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“I dropped out of school just after starting my secondary level, there was no point – where was I going to get school fees? What about exam registration fees? Dropping out to help my mother work and to take care of my younger siblings was my option”, said Ashley Marime clenching her jaw, clearly trying to hide her emotions.
The 19-year-old girl from Mwenezi district of Masvingo Province is just one of many young people who rely on farming profit to access education and have been heavily affected by climate change.
Over the years, climate change has proved to be a hindrance to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals including access to education. Drought and increasing temperatures have been leading to poor harvests which in turn have negatively impacted education attainment.
Barriers to education as a result of climate change continue to be witnessed in the country, particularly affecting girls and increasing their vulnerability. As a result, some opt to get into early marriages, while others migrate to neighbouring countries to look for opportunities.
Hope renewed
Six years after leaving school, Ashley is looking forward to returning to class again. She has not abandoned her dreams of being a nurse.
Ashley’s mother, Chenai Marime, is now in able to earn enough to put her daughter through school.
In 2024, Chenai Marime joined the ‘Zvinoda Kushinga’ lending and savings group, commonly known as ‘mkando’ in her community.
Village savings and lending groups (VS&L) are small, member-run groups that provide saving opportunities and low-interest loans from savings. They provide an alternative to formal banks for low to non-income earners and can help communities invest in themselves.
Six months after joining, Chenai uses her first share-out profits to put her daughter back in school.
Ashley is glad to go back to school and is looking forward to more opportunities, now that her mother has a livelihood through the savings group.
Village savings and lending groups are an integral component of the ‘Building climate resilience of vulnerable agricultural livelihoods in southern Zimbabwe’ project launched in 2020.
In 2023, the government-led project scaled up technical assistance, business planning, and management training to smallholder farmers, particularly women in Masvingo, Manicaland, and Matabeleland South Provinces.
Through the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender, Community, Small to Medium Enterprises Development the project trained 142 government extension officers on the establishment and management of village savings and lending groups as part of the drive for financial inclusion and making rural communities bankable.
As part of this, the trained officers mobilized community members and farmers with the perspective of the groups as not only driving financial inclusion but as a key value chain financier and enabling access to low-cost, sustainable credit by rural livelihoods.
In 2023 alone, almost 5,000 people participated in 386 saving and lending groups, with more than three-quarters of them women. More than half of these (52%) were reported to be saving in South African Rand (ZAR) and the remaining in USD.
By December 2023, nearly two million rands and USD 170,000 had been contributed by 160 groups. Each member saved an average of R1,600 for the Rand groups, and almost $200 for US dollar groups.
Following the share-out of funds to participating households, more than half (54 percent) invested in cattle, goats, and poultry, almost half (44 percent) in agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and seeds, almost a third (30 percent) in school fees for children, 17 percent in farming implements and 14 percent in income generating activities.
Mrs. Anna Mary Mutawa, chairperson of Zvinoda Kushinga Savings and Lending Group said the initiative is insurance for her children’s education.
“I am assured every year that I can send my children to school, even if I get short of school fees before share-out, I can always borrow from the group and pay my children’s school fees,” she said.
Anna Mary bought goats that have already started reproducing, this means her family can have nutritious meals and sell some when they need money.
“I now have goats. I am proud. I can also sell these if I need money for anything including my children’s school fees. I don’t have to wait for one income” added Ms Anna her face beaming with pride.
UNDP promoting financial independence for rural communities
Access to reliable credit is one of the major challenges affecting smallholder farmers, especially women, in Zimbabwe. In the cultural context, most women do not own assets and have no access to education limiting their access to bank loans.
UNDP uses VS&L as a financial inclusion strategy for those who are often not excluded from traditional financial systems.
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development (MLAFWRD) in partnership with UNDP and financial support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) embarked on a journey to empower vulnerable agricultural communities with management and financial leadership to make them resilient in the face of climate change.
