Equipped with the knowledge in Village Savings & Loan Association (VSLA) methodologies, our Village Agents are now trained in Economic Activity Selection Planning and Management (EASPM) so that in turn they can train a group of VSLAs. These Village Agents (VAs) are residents of the villages within which Join My Village implements its projects. With the training, Join My Village is assured that these VAs can manage the groups beyond JMVs time.

“Yes! We have been trained in the VSLA methodology and now we have the capacity to save and borrow from our own money, but what to do with the borrowed money and how to do it has been a challenge for us,” says Mrs. Victoria Dzanjo a VSLA member from Santhe village. The woman said this while speaking on behalf of VSLA groups that were graduating to get trained in EASPM which some groups are already benefiting from the training.

Some women started their business on their own without atraining and now they are doing better, but giving them a EASPM training offers them a greater opportunity to learn basic skills related to earning, spending, budgeting, saving and borrowing.

An economic activity is a small activity operated at or near home, uses family labour and whose purpose is to raise family income. JMV thought of conducting such training because it offers a good start for our VSLA groups who have little knowledge in managing their small earned finances.

“A business is a business no matter how small or big it might be. We have been telling our VSLA members to save and borrow but we had to get stack when asked on how they make choices for their business to increase their household income because we too had no ideas on that. We thank Join My Village for taking us across the bridge after we have come to it. This training has come just at the right time when many of our VSLA women are using their small businesses to increase their household income,” explained Rose Chidzawa our VA from Tembwe village.

So far Join My Village has trained 52 Village Agents that will help train more than 3000 women in Economic Activity Selection Planning and Management. Some of these women are already doing their small businesses which are already changing their lives and that of their families.

The flow of information in Kasungu has been made easy with the training of Village Agents. Village Savings and Loan is a tool box that can bring developmental activities to our people in the rural places which have little access to important information. They are the mouth for JMV and now that they have been trained in EASPM, we continue having hope for a better future of our communities.