UniSA students participating in the Community Service Learning Project have the opportunity to assist with projects promoting Good Shepherd Microfinance's No Interest Loans (NILS) to persons on low incomes. Typically this includes persons vulnerable to financial exclusion and predominantly women and children.
No Interest Loans (NILS), aside from having no interest, also have no fees and no charges. People can borrow up to $1500 for essential items which can include white goods, furniture, car repairs/registration, medical costs, education/training costs and more. The loan length is usually 12 months. In SA clients can access these loans at partner organisations, known as client support providers or the Good Money store in John St, Salisbury. NILS is available nation-wide and is backed by the state and federal governments and NAB.
Potential projects
Volunteer Recruitment Project (Psychology)
GSM SA is in the process of undertaking a local campaign, working with our national marketing team, to increase the visibility of NILS at various partner providers; community organisations (e.g. Anglicare SA, Salvation Army, The Food Centre etc.) across the state. It is proposed that this will increase uptake of NILS and discourage those in receipt of a low income, with no access to mainstream financial products, from using high-cost credit options, such as payday loans or rent-to-buy services. In order to enable an increased number of clients to apply for NILS, as quickly and efficiently as possible, our community partners will need to increase their volunteer workforce. GSM will undertake a volunteer recruitment project to support this need. A psychology student can assist with this recruitment project as the skills and attributes of these volunteers will be crucial to the success of this project. The volunteers recruited need to have the ability to empathise with clients who may present in crisis situations (i.e. victims of family violence, homelessness, sudden loss etc.), be non-judgemental (when assessing personal finance documents), have the intellectual capacity to process and review bills, bank statements, debt documents etc. and have the technical skills to utilise the online application portal. The successful student will work alongside the Program Support Officer to devise the recruitment strategy, screening, training, hand-over (to community provider), and support and retention plan for this project.
SA No Interest Loans Campaign (Marketing)
A marketing student can assist in supporting the GSM teams to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of this SA NILS marketing campaign which is due to launch in August 2019. A student will work alongside the Program Support Officer to provide support in campaign-related administrative and marketing activities, but will primarily be focussed on the planning and execution of an impact assessment to inform the continued development of our SA NILS marketing strategy.
The student will have an enthusiastic 'can do' attitude with good time management skills and a high attention to detail.Customer-service skills and confidence in making and receiving calls (low volumes expected) and sending and replying to email correspondence will be essential to the role alongside intermediate skills in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook, MailChimp or Survey Monkey as well as strong computer and keyboard skills for data entry.
Location
Students will be based at the Good Money Store in John St, Salisbury. It is anticipated that some work will be able to be undertaken remotely, with at least one day a fortnight in the Salisbury office between Mon-Thurs. There will be an element of research and consultation to these roles and this may involve visiting providers and other stakeholders at their workplaces. This will occur in collaboration with and at mutually agreeable times to the Program Support Officer. GSM will support any expenses involved in this travel.
Community partner
Microfinance Manager SA/NT
Good Shepherd Microfinance
kdavies@gsmicrofinance.org.au
0406 075 025
