From manual to mobile: THRIVE 2030 digitises women's savings in Ghana

By: Francis Npong, 

Lydia Abraham, a member of a Savings for Transformation group in the Bawku West Area Programme, has praised the digitisation of women’s savings contributions in the community. Previously, Lydia explained, used to keep track of their savings manually, which often led to errors, causing confusion and undermining trust. 

She noted that manual record-keeping resulted in misplaced entries and arithmetic errors that could easily go unnoticed. This not only compromised the accuracy of financial records but also made it difficult to track progress and ensure accountability.  errors 

Lydia's group, led by secretary Asuntaba, almost suffered setbacks due to data entry errors. However, with the introduction of digitisation, this challenge has been overcome. 

As part of the Transforming Households Resilience in Vulnerable Environments by 2030 (THRIVE 2030) initiative, World Vision Ghana has supported several Savings for Transformation (S4T) groups in 12 operational areas in Ghana, including Bawku West, Builsa South, Wa West, and East Gonja, to digitise their savings activities.

THRIVE 2030 introduced the Dream Save application, a mobile-based financial tool that enables these groups to overcome data entry errors and the challenges of manual record keeping, while streamlining the savings process.

“Digitisation has eliminated the data entry errors we once encountered and improved transparency in financial management, thereby building trust within the group,” Lydia explained. 

She added, “The time spent conducting savings activities has significantly reduced. It now takes only 10-15 minutes for a group of 25 members to complete their savings, something that was impossible with manual record keeping.”

“Now, everyone knows how much they have saved, the loans they've taken, and the amounts they've repaid. We also track attendance for every savings meeting, making everyone accountable,” she continued.

Thanks to digitisation, members now receive real-time updates via SMS alerts about their personal and group savings, loan disbursements, and repayments. This has minimized the time spent in savings meetings, allowing women to focus on their economic activities and livelihoods.

Justice Tiigah, Manager of THRIVE 2030, revealed that the use of technology also creates standardised financial tracking, facilitates auditing, supports financial literacy and provides a clear financial history for each member. 

“We’ve trained almost all our Savings for Transformation groups on the use of Dream Save, and it has solved many of the issues we faced with manual data capture. The app not only saves time but also empowers women through accurate financial management, reduces financial mismanagement, builds confidence in group processes, and makes financial information more accessible to members,” Justice Tiigah noted.