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The Government has announced what it has called an innovative and timely technology-based solution that seeks to ease the disbursement of PDM programme funds across the country.  

The digital wallet called Wendi enables savings and credit co-operative organisations (SACCOS) and group management, while also extending financial services to the unbanked to drive financial inclusion.  

Microfinance state minister Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo officially unveiled Wendi at Bukedea district headquarters on Tuesday.  

“With the majority of Ugandans living in rural areas, it is pertinent for the Government to find innovative ways of reaching everybody. Digitalisation is the way to go,” Kasolo said.  

He urged all Parish Development Model (PDM) programme beneficiaries to embrace Wendi; for it bridges the gap between the unbanked and the formal financial sector. 

“...And when every adult Ugandan is included in the financial sector, the door to economic development opens.”  

With Wendi, PDM SACCOS members will be able to conveniently access their money from anywhere at any time via phone. 

Wendi is the brainchild of telecommunication company, MTN Uganda and State-owned Postbank geared towards helping PDM members access and manage their finances effectively and efficiently.  

“I commend PostBank and MTN Uganda for voluntarily joining the Government of Uganda on this journey of social-economic transformation,” Kasolo said.  

To be able to access Wendi services, one has to register with a mobile number and national identification card.  

Thereafter, one can be in position to transfer funds, save in PDM groups, access micro-loans and deposit and withdraw money.  

 Prior to the launch, PDM SACCOS members from the districts of Ngora, Kumi and Bukedea were inducted and enrolled into the Wendi system.  

No more long lines

“It is very user-friendly, and we are treating it as a sigh of relief because we do not have to struggle with long lines at the banking institutions anymore,” Samuel Okiror, the chairperson of Kamaluk – Kangole PDM SACCO, said.  

MTN Uganda chief executive officer Sylvia Mulinge affirmed their commitment to extend the Wendi innovation to all regions within the country.  

“We are here to supplement on government’s everyday effort to ensure a financially empowered society,” Mulinge noted.  

PostBank managing director Julius Kakeeto said Ugandans in hard-to-reach areas were facing so many challenges while accessing PDM services, hence the creation of Wendi.  

Bukedea district commercial officer Moses Godfrey Otim commended the Government and partners for 'thinking outside the box by bridging the glaring gap in PDM implementation thus far'.  

Leaders from Ngora, Kumi and Bukedea attended the event alongside officials from Housing Finance Bank led by Angela Ndawula, the head of business and industrial banking, investment house.  

Parish Development Model at a glance 

PDM is a multi-ministerial and state-agencies approach to development as envisaged under the National Development Plan III. 

Here, the parish is the lowest administrative and operational hub for delivering services closer to the people to foster local economic development. 

The PDM programme was launched in 2022 in Kibuku district under the theme: Transformation from Subsistence to Monetary Economy through Increased Production and Productivity for Improved Household Incomes and Livelihood.

The programme targets the 39% of Ugandans who are engaged in subsistence agricultural spectrum zoned at the parish level with an aspiration to transform them into the money economy.