Financial and Digital Training of the Digital Sakhis of SARVAM

From June 10 to 14, 2019, Sri Aurobindo Rural & Village Action & Movement (SARVAM) conducted 5-day training for 50 Digital Sakhis at the Satyam Campus. The main objectives of this training programme were to provide training under the Digital & Financial Literacy Project and introduce the different modules on which the Digital Sakhis are going to work for in the upcoming year.

The first module of the training for the Digital Sakhis was focused on ‘Income and Expenses’, which helped in the in-depth understanding of these concepts. More activities were conducted in between the training for better understanding of similar concepts.

The second module was dedicated to ‘Savings and Borrowings’. Digital Sakhis learnt about the various types of savings and the types of bank accounts which they can open in banks. This module also helped them to understand the different kinds of loans which they can get form the banks. The interest rate and other details related to the loans were provided in this module for the Digital Sakhis.

In the third module, the participants were given training on ‘Digital Payments’. The various methods through which they can do digital transactions were explained to Digital Sakhis in theoretical and practical manner. Digital cards, e-Wallets, UPI, AEPS and USSD are the five different types of digital payments which were explained to Digital Sakhis in detail. Each type of payments was explained in a systematic manner. The women asked many questions during the training and it was clarified patiently by the trainer. They were shown videos and also with the help of activities they were able to understand about each type of payments clearly.

The fourth and last module concentrated on ‘Insurance and Pensions’. Various Insurance schemes available were introduced to the Digital Sakhis. The second part off the module focused on various pension schemes that are available for the people. This helped Digital Sakhis to know how they can save their money through the insurance and pension schemes that are provided by the state and national governments.

Another important aspect during the training was helping the Digital Champions to understand about the Digital Payments. Digital Champions will be assisting the Digital Sakhis in implementing the project in the villages. Digital Sakhis also were asked to sit along with the Digital Champions and work on the Digital Tablets. New Digital Tablets were given to each Digital Sakhi and they were helped to operate the Tablet. They were also trained how to use the Tablet and work in the project. In addition, Digital Sakhis were tutored on how to send messages and take photos with the Digital Tablets.

Altogether the 5-day training was very useful for the Digital Sakhis, wherein they all learnt about the four different modules of financial transactions online and also they learnt to work with the Digital Tablet. The training also helped boost the confidence of the Digital Sakhis, and they were enthused to be involved in their project actively.