ZAZU and FSDZ release report on 4-months pilot delivering financial literacy through mobile phones

ZAZU and Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Zambia release report on 4-months pilot delivering financial literacy through mobile phones.
Last week, ZAZU and FSDZ launched a report on a 4-months pilot project to increase financial literacy through the use of mobile phones. The report is a result of a partnership between the two organizations aimed at delivering a host of financial literacy courses to Zambians via mobile phones. The courses are intended to increase how much people know about finance and thereby improve their confidence in accessing financial services.
The courses cover a variety of financial topics including income, budgeting, loans, savings, insurance and mobile money. They were piloted on the Copperbelt Province reaching over 6000 people in Luanshya, Masaiti, Mpongwe and Ndola districts. The courses, which were delivered in English and Bemba, were accessible for free using Unstructured Structured Supplementary Data (USSD) and toll-free voice calls, giving users access by calling ‘619’ or dialing *619#. The technology is compatible with any mobile phone in existence across all mobile networks in Zambia.
FSDZ CEO, Betty Wilkinson said “Financial education is very important because many people in Zambia are not knowledgeable or confident enough to manage their finances well. The whole purpose of this financial literacy platform is to help people understand the basics of their finances and discover what they can do to improve their financial competences individually”. Ms. Wilkinson further explained that FSDZ’s partnership with ZAZU was an experimental programme designed to assess whether Zambians are comfortable enough to learn about finance using their mobile phones.
The report shows that up-take was far better than expected with over 15, 000 courses started across a very diverse demographic of people from smallholder farmers to traders. The report also indicates that the platform was easy to use and speedily assimilated by the target audience. ZAZU founder and CEO Perseus Mlambo said, “Having proved the potent power of using technology to simplify how people understand and interact with financial services, we are incredibly excited about the future of this platform. When we think about financial services in Zambia, we see great potential to get more people banked and bring more transparency to the industry. This platform was just the start and we are now in the advanced stages of expanding it to a greater learner base.”
Going forward, ZAZU intends to massively increase the numbers of people accessing financial education and develop more unique courses on financial literacy. These courses will vary from insurance, to investing, consumer protection, tenders, credit, interest, equity finance, etc. and each course will be developed by individuals or companies that are considered leaders in that field. ZAZU is currently receiving and considering partnership opportunities with progressive entities in Zambia.
This is according to a statement issued by FSDZ Senior Communications Officer Eneya B. Phiri

Post Views:
1