By Andrew Mkonda

Lilongwe, October 1, Mana: World Vision Malawi has distributed bicycles and phones to Village Saving and Loan (VSL) Promoters, Dream Save Promoters, and Building Secure Livelihood volunteers championing the Building Secure Livelihood model.

On Monday, World Vision District Programmes Manager for Lilongwe Harold Munthali said that the model aims to promote mindset change, build household economic development, and save culture.

“The Dream save is about digitizing all VSL activities, where we are shifting from manual record keeping to digital. The system has a built-in calculation where communities do not need to do any calculations during saving, sharing out loans, and even during share out.

“Members receive text messages through their phones once they have done all the VSL activities. It is a very safe system, reduces labour and saves time among other benefits,” he said.

Vice Chairperson for Lilongwe District Council Hardwell Jami thanked World Vision for the initiative saying as the world is going digital, no one should be left behind.

Jami said the initiative will go a long way in improving the livelihood of the people in the rural areas and at the same time promoting saving culture among the people.

In this initiative, one volunteer looks after three to five groups and so far over 145 groups have gone digital.