2021 Lesotho Global Money Week

GMW NATIONAL COORDINATOR:

• Central Bank of Lesotho

PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS:

• Standard Lesotho Bank, Nedbank, First National Bank, Lesotho Postbank, Alliance Insurance, Metropolitan, Lesotho, National Insurance Group, Liberty, Vodacom, Econet, LetShego, Ministry of Finance, FinMark Trust, Interchange Lesotho, Public Officers Defined Contribution Fund, Stanlib

TOTAL NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS:

• 15

NUMBER OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE REACHED DIRECTLY:

• 3,000

NUMBER OF ADULTS REACHED DIRECTLY:

• 5,000

NUMBER OF PEOPLE REACHED INDIRECTLY:

• 8,000

To celebrate Global Money Week 2021, the Central Bank of Lesotho together with partners organised virtual webinars on insurance, mobile money, banking and investments, microfinance, retirement and pension, impact of COVID-19. Over 3,000 children and youth took part in the Campaign.

2019 Lesotho Global Money Week

LEADING ORGANISATIONS:

• Central Bank of Lesotho

PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS:

• Alliance Assurance, Econet, First National Bank Lesotho, Lesotho National Insurance Group, Lesotho Postbank, Letshego, Liberty Life, Metropolitan Lesotho, Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Finance, Nedbank Lesotho, Pension Fund, Standard Lesotho Bank, Stanlib, Tholoana Ea Lerato, Vodacom Lesotho

NUMBER OF CHILDREN REACHED DIRECTLY:

• 1 750

NUMBER OF PEOPLE REACHED INDIRECTLY:

• 26 000

Central Bank of Lesotho
In Lesotho, Global Money Week was celebrated in conjunction with Money Month, with 2019 marking the first year that the campaign was extended to a month. Many different seminars were organised for various groups and sections of society. These groups include factors and union workers, people with disabilities, women’s associations, public servants, business community, national assembly members, senators, high court and court of appeal judges, and senior government officials. Additionally, high school competitions on the GMW slogan “Learn.Save.Earn” were organised. These events involved competitions on music impromptu speeches and poetry. Piggy banks were given to over 200 kindergarten school children. Furthermore, an exhibition was held, and volleyball, soccer and netball tournaments were organised for out of school youths. Radio and television programs were aired on various national stations.

2018 Lesotho Global Money Week

LEADING ORGANISATIONS:

• Access Africa Initiative (AAI)

PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS:

• Greenfield Resources Pty Ltd
• Literacy for Africa AID (LIFAA)
• Segnam Group
• 6 schools

NUMBER OF CHILDREN REACHED DIRECTLY:

• 1 200

NUMBER OF PEOPLE REACHED INDIRECTLY:

• 5 700

Access Africa Initiative (AAI)
Global Money Week 2018 celebration in Lesotho saw a consortium comprising of two non-governmental organisations, Access Africa Initiative and Literacy for Africa AID, and two businesses, Greenfield Resources Pty Ltd and Segnaum Group, target rural youth in the highly populated district of Maseru. The outreach comprised of six presentations from AAI facilitators, which reached over 1,200 students over four days. The rural areas in Lesotho are marked by mountainous rural settlements that are spread out over vast areas making the provision of banking facilities difficult in these areas. The most accessible mode of banking is through mobile wallets, which can be cashed or deposited at convenient stores in the villages. The Global Money Week events paved way for a new understanding amongst rural youth on the capacity of technology to improve access to financial services, even in rural areas. To achieve this, rural schools were targeted in an awareness building campaign during GMW with a theme of ''Enhancing Financial Capabilities of Rural Youth through their Inclusion in Financial Awareness Building''. Young people were taught to treat their mobile wallets as bank accounts and were challenged to develop money saving habits. Over 1,000 students participated and over 150 opened mobile wallets on their phones, either via the Vodacom platform, “Mpesa”, or Econet platform, “Eco-Cash'. Most students already had mobile wallets, but did not use them for anything other than receiving and withdrawing money.

2014 Lesotho Global Money Week

LEADING ORGANISATIONS:

• Ministry of Finance of Lesotho

PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS:

• School

NUMBER OF CHILDREN REACHED DIRECTLY:

• 5

NUMBER OF CHILDREN REACHED INDIRECTLY:

• 5

Lesotho’s Ministry of Finance funded 4 out of school youth and 2 in school youth from Lesotho to attend the Child and Youth Finance Summit in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. The Child and Youth Finance Summit was the first of its kind to be held in South Africa and received support from government and many financial institutions. They participated in the youth session which took place from 12- 14 March. There were thematic workshops on child & youth friendly finance products and entrepreneurship development skills. The youth also participated in a live video chat with students from Romania.