Community transformation through livelihoods project
Handyman and community member James Dising from Siwai District - South Bougainville, was nothing short of praise for the changes he has seen in his community through the New Zealand Government (MFAT) funded Wellbeing Outcomes to End Violence, Enable Livelihood and improve Nutrition (WOVEN) project in his community.
He especially thanked the Savings for Transformation (S4T) and Marketing Component of the WOVEN project and described the impacts the project had on himself and members of his community.
"For years and people living within my community had no knowledge of saving money and we struggled, it was more difficult when we were sick and had to go to a health center for medical help or when we had to pay school fees for our children, traveling into town was even more difficult as that too was another expensive exercise,” recalled James.
The S4T project model of the WOVEN project establishes and empowers saving groups that are member-owned and composed of a small number of people who save together in a safe, convenient, and flexible way that allows improvement of the quality of life in a household through education, farm inputs, and payment for access to health amongst other vital needs.
It is one of the four components (Savings for Transformation, Marketing, Nutrition and Gender) under the WOVEN project. The main objective of the S4T component is to equip households with financial tools, information, and networks to grow their businesses and improve their families’ wellbeing.
Initially starting in 2021, the S4T project model has already been transforming lives in an impactful manner for the people in Central Bougainville (Kieta and Panguna) and South Bougainville (Bana, Buin, and Siwai), where the project is being implemented.
For 41-year-old Jennifer Penias, the S4T project impacted and transformed her and her family's lives, and the obvious smile in her eyes told of how appreciative she was of the project. She spoke fluently, describing how her life and her family's lives had improved since they came to know and became members of the S4T group in their community.
"I feel so privileged and blessed to be part of the S4T group in my community, I had no idea about saving money and never used to have enough to send my children to school, buy things I need, and do other basic things for my family. After the introduction of the S4T group 2 years ago, my husband and I including our children all now know how to save money, we have reaped the benefits of this and have since never looked back," said Jennifer with pride in her eyes.
Jennifer is a member of the Panagiro S4T group in Siwai District in South Bougainville. The group started with 15 members in 2021 and now has an increase of 51 members.
According to the Panagiro S4T group savings records, in 2021 and 2022 the group saved and shared K27 thousand and K48 thousand, respectively (est. total USD 21,150). This helped build trust amongst the communities, brought them together, and helped them to understand the importance of saving money to sustaining themselves and their households, thus achieving the S4T goal of supporting groups in financial assets, in group social capital, and self-reliance.
"After the training conducted by World Vision through the S4T component on how to save money, my husband and I saved enough to build a new house and also had enough to send our two children to school," said Jennifer.
Similar sentiments were shared by 29 -a old Esther who had been saving money for her daughter's school fees.
"I completed my grade 12 and got an offer to further my education. However, I could not because of school fee problems have been here since, this is why I'm so pleased that we have the S4T group in our community because now I can save money for my daughter's school fees as I do not want her to have the same problem I had. Being part of the S4T group and after attending the training by World Vision, I can say that I'm not stressing and worrying too much like before and for that I'm grateful," said Esther proudly.
Proud beneficiaries of the S4T project, three communities of Siwai District, South Bougainville, had nothing but praise for the impact the S4T component of the WOVEN PROJECT Continues to have on their family life, household and community. They are excited to save money and complete the third cycle this year.
The WOVEN project is funded by the New Zealand Government (MFAT) through World Vision PNG.