By Wallace Mawire
More than 200 participants, mostly women on 21 March, 2025 gathered in Highfields community in Harare to commemorate the Global Money Week 2025 and the lnternational Women’s Month observed globally in March.
The event was marked by a keynote address on behalf of the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, presentations on financial literacy from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Lenderspark Finance including exhibitions, access to financial services and loan opportunities
The Global Money Week event was also marked by a financial inclusion training focusing on women and youth including a mental health and financial wellness coaching session.
The event was organized by Lenderspark which partnered with Pamumvuri, a registered Private Voluntary Organization (PVO) in Zimbabwe, working in the areas of mental health, drugs and substance abuse, suicide prevention and social entrepreneurship.
Other partner organizations included the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), government of Zimbabwe, City of Harare, First Transfer Secretaries and Click Drive.
Global Money Week is an annual global celebration aimed at promoting financial literacy, inclusion and empowerment among individuals, particularly those in undeserved communities.
The 13th edition of the week commemorations took place from 17 to 23 March, 2025 under the theme :Think before you follow, wise money tomorrow.
Women’s Month often celebrated in March is dedicated to honoring the achievements, contributions and history of women globally.
A spokesperson for Pamumvuri said Women’s Month and Global Money Week are two distinct observances that can intersect in meaningful ways in promoting financial literacy, empowerment and inclusion for women and girls.
The event focused on empowering women and informal traders with the knowledge and information to make informed financial decisions and access credit to grow their businesses.
In Zimbabwe, Highfields is home to a vibrant community of informal traders and entrepreneurs who face challenges such as limited access to formal finance services, lack of financial literacy and barriers to securing credit.
The event is aligned to the Global Money Week themes focusing on promoting financial literacy, enhancing access to credit, empowering women entrepreneurs, fostering financial inclusion, building trust and community engagement, including promoting cross-cutting issues that have a bearing on financial success highlighting the link between mental health, substance use and financial success.
Lenderspark Finance General Manager, Bernard Gambe said his organization acknowledges the challenges faced by many citizens in the communities, particularly women and youth who seek to overcome systematic barriers.
He said it is essential to highlight the connection between financial empowerment and mental well-being.
Gambe said many in communities face struggles with addiction or other social challenges and financial literacy is integral to recovery and resilience.
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Harare Metropolitan Province C. Tawengwa said the week is not just a celebration of financial literacy, but a call to action for all to reflect on financial habits, to challenge societal norms that mislead and to empower citizens with knowledge and tools to build financial resilience.
David Zahwe, RBZ Principal Bank Examiner said government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of France adopted the national financial inclusion strategy focusing on 10 target groups namely women, youth, MSMEs, smallholder farmers, people with disabilities including the elderly and pensioners.
Zahwe said financial literacy initiatives embarked on include Global Money Week activities, financial literacy thematic working group formulation, road shows and community engagements conducted, financial literacy in education curricular adopted including visits by schools to the Reserve Bank and vice versa.
Zahwe said the Global Money Week is an annual financial awareness campaign aimed at inspiring children and young people to learn about money matters, livelihoods and entrepreneurship.
He said the idea was initiated by Child and Youth Finance lnternational (CYFI) in 2012.
Zahwe said Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in celebrating Global Money Week in 2015.
He said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in the national coordinator of the commemorations and has been participating in the activities since 2018.
