UNCDF launches “Labor Pains: Discovering the Financial Lives of Zambian Mothers” Research Study
For more information regarding this event please contact Uloma Ogba at uloma.ogba@uncdf.org.
For more information regarding UNCDF’s programs and activities in Zambia please contact Nandini Harihareswara at nandini.harihareswara@uncdf.org
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“This is an exciting time for women in Zambia as well as digital finance. As financial service providers are increasingly looking to expand their customer base, they may find the keys to unlocking a critical customer segment – women, through this research. Perhaps financial services can help ease the “labor pains” of being a Zambian mother.”- Nandini Harihareswara, Regional Technical Specialist - UNCDF
On Wednesday December 12, 2018, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) will be hosting an event to launch the findings from the research study “Labor Pains: Discovering the Financial Lives of Zambian Mothers”. The keynote address will be given by the Deputy Governor Administration of the Bank of Zambia Dr. Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula, reflecting on the importance of driving financial inclusion for all Zambian women, including mothers.
The research study was conducted with over 750 mothers across 4 provinces in Zambia. The objective was to map the financial lives of mothers, pinpoint the challenges they face and highlight the potential for digital financial services to address some of these challenges. The research will suggest specific financial products that would be useful to mothers and women, as well as other customer segments.
Despite the important roles that mothers play in households across geographies and income levels, Zambian women are largely excluded from the formal financial system—with only 40% women having access to any type of formal financial service.
Key findings from the research highlight discrepancies as well as commonalities in access, use, behaviour, barriers and challenges between rural and urban users and among income levels and age groups. Most mothers involved in the research understood the necessity of savings even though most still chose to save at home, clearly valued education, used and understood simple budgets, had multiple means of income generation that were sporadic and changed over time, and aspired to improve their economic well-being. All mothers supplemented their salaried or unsalaried jobs with informal sector work like selling food or worked part-time in the formal sector.
To effectively reach mothers with digital financial services, the research suggests that providers should target savings and investment products at mothers that could make their savings work for them, develop income smoothening products to cater to mothers’ multiple income streams which may be inconsistent and create digital borrowing circles that leverage mothers varied social networks.
Through this event, UNCDF hopes to see increased interest and activity on the part of the providers, Fintechs, donors, media and other stakeholders to advance digital financial inclusion for women in Zambia in the coming years.
To access the executive summary of the research, please click here.
