3.7.3. Promotion of financial education/literacy
In view of the fact that the problem in most cases is that most of the beneficiaries do not own mobile phones as they could not afford to purchase them on their own, options for lending mobile phones which then makes it possible to make repayments through mobile money, should be considered. Fintechs in Tanzania are already exploring these modalities, such as upgrading basic phone users to smartphone users by assessing their GSM data. In order to widen this device-lending from an upgrading model to an initial-device lending model, a better understanding of lending behavior, trustworthiness and creditworthiness of rural youth (that is, “thin filed” have no or small transactional records) is needed, and models such as psychometric scoring may need to be explored further. [87] Making the credit process as simple and accessible as possible: Many MSMEs find the process of applying for a loan or other financing to be intimidating and complicated, and this may result in MSMEs getting confused about the process or not applying to begin with. Financial institutions should be assisted to recognize this challenge and take steps to simplify the process and language to be more accessible to such businesses. Other areas of capacity building should include the way financial products are marketed and communicated.
The intervention seeks a joint partnership between the government and financial service providers in the promotion of market awareness and training on the use of financial products. While it is evident that there is a knowledge gap in financial products and services among the youth, financial service providers have not expressed interest in committing resources for conducting market awareness and training on the use of financial products. However, customer education is unavoidable if uptake is to be achieved. Hence, financial service providers should link service campaigns with educational elements to ensure consumers are well-informed about their products. This will not only increase their uptake but will also increase their usage as well as the level of satisfaction in the use thereof. 3.7.4. Design of effective digital tools is the improvement of the financial well-being of rural youth Through building their knowledge, skills, attitudes and their responsibility in terms of conducting their own financial planning. This is against the background that financial literacy represents the level of aptitude in the understanding of personal finance. It often refers to having an awareness and knowledge of key financial concepts required for managing personal finances and is generally used more narrowly than financial capability. Bundled with product information, financial education should also be used to influence the building of trust and the promotion of consumer protection, particularly where there is unfamiliarity with such products and services being offered. 3.7.5. Exploring various pathways to increase mobile phone ownership among rural youth Studies across the region suggest that mobile phone ownership is an enabler in the adoption of formal financial services. Therefore, the lack of phones (especially by rural female youth) hinders them from being financially included. To address this barrier, programs that target the youth should consider educating them on the importance of saving whatever little money they get in order to achieve the goal of purchasing even a basic phone. This will encourage them to make transactions and improve their credit score, which in turn will improve their chances of accessing credit in future. Youth in savings groups should also be encouraged to purchase phones, using the contributions they make or receive from the groups for their own personal gains. A good example of a similar initiative is the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) program which recently moved towards digitizing cash transfers made to its beneficiaries. This was being done to increase efficiency and reduce the amount of time used to make cash payments. I [86]
3.8. INTERVENTIONS TO BUILD SKILLS
AND KNOWLEDGE BASE
This intervention seeks to equip youths with the necessary skills to conduct modern agriculture and also to treat farming as a business. It is premised on the growing importance of the agriculture sector in catalyzing economic growth and the uniqueness of specific sub- sectors (e.g. horticulture industry). This implies a need for sufficient industry-specific skills at the local level. The following actions are being proposed.
3.8.1. Conduct curriculum reviews for local institutions
There are a number of institutions across Tanzania which offer technical training in agriculture. However, the curriculum is still very general and is not really in line with the nature of the industry. The major challenge with these institutions is that they are not producing “job- ready” graduates. For this reason, their curriculum needs to be reviewed to capture the fast-changing dynamics of the industry e.g. production and marketing systems to cater for the needs of the emerging middle class in the country and beyond. For example, the horticulture sub-sector industry is high-tech, knowledge-intensive and focuses on high-value crops. Based on the current [88] experiences in human skills challenges within the industry, together with the unfolding opportunities in the region and beyond, there is a need to develop local capacity skills in these areas.
42
Youth Enterprise Policy Analysis Report
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online