Financial Literacy: Regional Wisdom and Ways

Aflatoun, India

Aflatoun began through the vision of Jeroo Billimoria, a woman from Mumbai, India. Billimoria worked with Indian street children when she founded Childline, a 24 hour telephone service for Indian children. Billimoria noticed the kids were smart and creative and felt they would make good entrepreneurs. In order to help these children break their cycle of poverty, Billimoria knew they had to learn personal finance skills. Therefore, she founded Aflatoun to fulfill this vision. Aflatoun aims to reduce poverty through finance education and help children build their skills for the future.

MelJol is Aflatoun’s first Child Social and Financial Education programme and was implemented in 2001 in Maharashtra, India. MelJol was proven to be very successful and so many children in the community were able to benefit from the program and grasp basic finance concepts. The program encourages children to plan, save, and practice important entrepreneurial skills to show the children how they can make a positive impact on their future. The curriculum services youth aged 6-18 and helps them build the necessary confidence and provides them with practical information in understanding the importance of personal financing. The success of the program in India has allowed Aflatoun to expand its financial education curriculum to other regions throughout the world including Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East and Northern Africa.

Kenya

The number of mobile phone users in Africa is skyrocketing as the continent’s telecommunications industry grows and expands to more users. Mobile banking is making it easier for people to protect their money and make banking easier. In Kenya, M-PESA, a money transfer service, is widely used. Launched in 2007, M-PESA is now being used by over 7 million Kenyans. It is widely popular because formal banks are not close to where many Kenyans live, so people would travel many miles to go to a bank. With M-PESA, Kenyans can make and receive payments in the palm of their hands.

M-PESA’s innovative technology helps the rural Kenyan populations save time and money on transport and introduces them to new technology. The popularity of the service continues to grow and help the rural populations and utilize their finances in a productive way. M-PESA is helping many of the unbanked Kenyans enter into the financial mainstream and strive towards economic stability.

Belgrade, Serbia

Through the support of USAID, the Belgrade City Library launched a financial literacy program for the local Serbians. By equipping libraries with the necessary information, a wider audience can receive the important information. Through the program, librarians in Belgrade have been trained on basic financial planning and are running workshops to help people learn more about personal finance. Over 500 secondary school youths have benefited from the financial workshops. Topics addressed in the workshops include tips on being smart consumers and tips on protecting finances.

The second portion of the financial education program comes in the form of a website which was designed by USAID for Serbian citizens. The website provides information for personal finance formation is set to inform citizens of available financial products and explain how to use the products in the best way possible. By utilizing the workshops and the website are hoped to bring further financial literacy skills to the Serbian people so they can be better informed citizens and make smarter money decisions in their futures.

Jordan

In Jordan, micro credit loans are being offered to Jordanians in most need. Through the efforts of CHF International, The Middle East Micro Credit Company (MEMCC) was formed to help low income families with credit. MEMCC is one of the biggest institutions for micro finance in Jordan, and they have made more than 22,000 loans amounting to more than $50 million.

MEMCC caters to lower income families and offers them a diverse amount of loan types. Jordanians have been able to help themselves in getting credit because of CHF and its MEMCC. By obtaining loans from a company that understands low income needs, the targeted recipients are better served and can easily meet their long term financial goals. By including low income populations in Jordan there is a greater chance for equal opportunities to prosper and aim for higher income levels. By offering services and loans to the poorer community members, MEMCC can give all Jordanians an equal chance in reaching their financial dreams and potential.

Latin America & The Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced an increase in the number of Internet users in the past few years. Master Card has recognized the power of the Internet to disseminate information and has launched its Financial Literacy program initiatives in Latin America. Its multi-lingual program, called Consumo Inteligente in Spanish, Consumidor Consciente in Portuguese and Smart Consumer in English, helps people to manage their money and make smarter decisions. The program was first piloted to benefit people in Mexico and Brazil, and has proven to be successful so but now it has expanded to Costa Rica, The Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

The websites make it possible to get information from many Latin American bloggers and to obtain insight from various Latin American country perspectives. By offering the website in a variety of languages, the desired populations can be reached easily. The financial management topics provide a solid foundation on which to build knowledge about money and how to save it. The program allows a Latin American the opportunity to gain a better understanding of essential financial topics including budgeting and managing credit.