The session builds upon 2023 Interledger F|M awardees, Esther Mwema and Jon Adam Chen’s creative project, 'Sikhula Sonke: Living Archives of Afrofuturist Village Banking.’

Through exploring the practice of village banking in southern Africa, the session will introduce audiences to the grassroots, locally embedded approach to financial inclusion and open payments. Providing a rare opportunity for audiences to learn from community leaders of village banks in South Africa and village banking experts from Lusaka, Zambia, the session will be host to novel perspectives rooted in African practices of financial inclusion.

The session will provide an opportunity for the village banking community members featured in Sikhula Sonke to share their knowledge and achievements through participation in the Indigenous system of a rotating savings and credit association, including how it has empowered themselves and their communities to improve their quality of life. In addition, community leaders will share their involvement in the unique Sikhula Sonke project. The discussion with community leaders from Khayelitsha and Lusaka, Zambia will be combined with audio storytelling and will promote the knowledge that already exists within communities in the host city of Cape Town, South Africa. The session will prompt listeners to re-evaluate how to think about money and wealth.

For more information on the Sikhula Sonke project, visit the website: https://www.sikhulasonke.net/