Second phase of Banking on Change Project launched

Barclays Bank has given a grant of 2,613,156 dollars for the implementation of the second phase of the Banking on Change (BoC) project which is expected to increase the wealth creation potential of the youth in beneficiary regions.

The new phase of the project would cover 5,400 youth in 2,700 groups comprising men and women between 15-35 years.

Apart from training members in financial literacy to maximize its benefits, the project would also make the process of linking Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) that have been established under the project to the banks less cumbersome.

Mr. Prem Shukla, Country Director of Plan Ghana, made this known at the launch of the second phase of the BoC project at Bole in the Northern region on Thursday. The project is designed to increase the quality of life and well being of rural households by providing access to savings and credit in the poorest communities of Ghana.

It resulted from a strategic partnership between Care International and Plan Ghana with sponsorship from Barclays Bank UK. During the first phase of the project which began in 2009 and ended in 2012, a total of 3,897 Village Savings and Loans Associations were formed with a membership of 100,379.

Of this number, Mr. Shukla said, 80.61 per cent were women who were directly benefiting from the project in the Volta, Central, Greater-Accra, Northern, Upper West and Upper East regions. He said the cumulative savings mobilized during the first phase was GH¢ 4,644,583 which was an indication of a surge in the savings culture of the beneficiaries.

The Plan Country Director said the BoC initiative was a battle against poverty and therefore urged the government to join in the project at both the regional and grassroots levels to scale it up nationwide.

In an address on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama, a Minister of State at the Presidency, Mr. Fiifi Kwetey, said the collaboration between the three partners that gave birth to the project was commendable and urged other non-governmental organizations to emulate them.

He called on government agencies to strengthen their collaborative efforts with Plan Ghana and Care International to implement projects that would improve upon the lives of the poor and marginalized in the nation.

He said if the citizens were able to access financial resources and meet their basic needs a lot of the problems in the society would have been solved. Mrs. Patience Akyianu, the Managing Director of Barclays Bank, said many factors such as low and unpredictable income made it difficult for the poor and disadvantaged to access services of commercial banks while the banks because of risks often see no business reasons to reach out to the poor.

She however said a determination and commitment of Barclays Bank and its partners to change the quality of life of poor communities spurred them to record the success story that was being told about the project. She said the partnership would continue to build on its successful model for linking the VSLAs to the formal financial system through access to group savings with local Barclays Bank branches.