LocationsUNDP and Mselen Partnership: Reaching the Unreached
July 17, 2024
The Markets 4 Change Project will continue to work with Mselen in its commitment to empowering rural women market vendors in Solomon Islands.
As we progress towards advocating for gender equality and economic empowerment, UNDP has partnered with Solomon Islands Telekom Services to enhance the livelihoods of market vendors in the Solomon Islands. This partnership, under the Markets for Change Project (M4C), aims to ensure marketplaces are safe, inclusive, and non-discriminatory, promoting economic growth and community well-being.
Markets for Change Project: A Commitment to Gender Equality and Economic Empowerment
The M4C Project is a flagship initiative implemented across Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Samoa. Its primary goal is to create marketplaces that are safe and inclusive, promoting gender equality and empowering women.
The project focuses on three key areas:
1. Improving Lives of Women Market Vendors
• Enhancing Financial and Business Competencies: The project aims to boost financial literacy and business skills among women vendors, increasing their access to credit, micro-insurance, and livelihood protection.
• Enhancing Business and Leadership Skills: By empowering women with the skills needed to lead and manage businesses, the project strengthens their capacity to succeed.
• Increasing Production and Incomes: The initiative seeks to elevate income levels for producers, market vendors, and vulnerable groups, fostering economic growth within marketplaces.
2. Knowledge Management
Improving Knowledge Sharing: The project produces relevant knowledge products and enhances information sharing for services and products available to the most vulnerable and rural communities.
3. Leave No One Behind
Ensuring Inclusiveness and Diversity: The project is committed to reaching everyone, ensuring inclusiveness and diversity in all its efforts.
Telekom -Mselen : A Pillar of Connectivity and Financial Inclusion
Solomon Islands Telekom Services, a full-service telecommunications provider, offers a wide range of services that are crucial to the partnership's success. With the largest mobile footprint in the Solomon Islands, Telekom provides mobile services, fixed lines, broadband internet, and a suite of additional services such as disaster recovery, IT desktop services, and video on demand. Importantly, Telekom's Mselen mobile money services, developed in partnership with the United Nations Capital Development Fund, aim to improve financial inclusion, enabling users to conduct transactions via their mobile phones.
Partnership Objectives
The partnership between UNDP and Mselen is designed to ensure inclusive, effective, and accessible financial and social services for rural market vendors. Specific objectives include:
• Holistic Financial Inclusion: The partnership aims to enhance financial literacy, savings, credit access, and micro-insurance for market vendors, aligning with the Annual Work Plan 2024 - Output 2.2.
• Economic and Social Impact: The collaboration seeks to create a positive social impact and drive economic development among market vendors in the Solomon Islands.
Women vendors from Gizo and Munda market came together to access the services and learn new information on the services and products
Areas of Collaboration
During a consultation meeting on 15 March 2024, at the Telekom Building, key representatives from both organizations discussed several collaboration areas:
• Working with Service Providers: M-SELEN’s team is onboarding agents in rural areas, providing essential services such as mobile top-ups, utility payments, and bulk payment disbursements.
• Engaging Social Protection Service Providers: Strategies to increase awareness and uptake of social protection services were discussed, with an emphasis on making these services accessible near vendors' residences.
• Training Opportunities for Vendors: M-SELEN will conduct awareness programs to educate market vendors on available and upcoming services.
• Volunteer Payment Scheme for Market Vendors: Exploring the integration of YOUSAVE (owned by SINPF) with M-SELEN for enhanced service delivery.
The meeting concluded with a clear roadmap for collaboration, resulting in this recent mission to Munda and Gizo Provinces.
Mutual Benefits
The partnership between UNDP and Mselen promises mutual benefits:
• Increased Visibility and Access: The collaboration will increase visibility for both organizations and ensure market vendors have access to essential services.
• Positive Social and Economic Impact: The initiative will positively impact market vendors, stakeholders, and the broader Solomon Islands community.
This partnership strengthens collaboration in promoting financial inclusion, gender equality, and community well-being, paving the way for a brighter future for market vendors in Honiara, Gizo, Munda, and Auki.
Patrina Molia.
Iqurutina Linga.
Last week, women vendors from Gizo and Munda market came together to access the services and learn new information on the services and products.
Patrina Molia: "I have heard of Mselen since last year but never paid attention to it until I participated in the Mselen Training. Now, I understand the benefits of the product, which allows me to purchase goods or pay for electricity pre-paid bills."
Iqurutina Linga: "This training helped me understand what mobile money is and how efficient it can be if all market vendors have access to Mselen. With Mselen, our money will be safe in our e-wallet and easily accessible for purchasing over the phone."
The M4C Project will continue to work with Mselen in its commitment to empowering rural women market vendors in Solomon Islands. As we move forward, we remain dedicated to our mission of improving socio-economic security and sustainable development for the most vulnerable.
The M4C Project aims to promote gender equality by economically empowering women market vendors in Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Samoa. This project, brings together various stakeholders, offers financial literacy training that connects vendors and farmers with essential service providers. This sharing of information, raising awareness, and networking opportunities have the potential to improve the livelihoods of market vendors in Munda and Gizo.
The M4C Project contributes to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the M4C project directly contributes to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It supports SDG 5 on Gender Equality, SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth, SDG 10 on reducing inequalities, and SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities. The project ensures equality and economic empowerment for all, including men, women, youth, people with disabilities, and marginalized minority groups.
The M4C project is implemented by UN Women in partnership with UNDP and with support from the Government of Australia.
For more information, please contact:
Jilgina Kimisi, Project Associate, M4C Project, jilgina.kimisi@undp.org and Vilisi Veibataki, Markets for Change Project Manager, UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji, vilisi.veibataki@undp.org, +679 3227701
Related
content
content
