access financial literacy program proposal
DESCRIPTION
A three-year growth strategy for a financial literacy program created for ACCESS Development Services\' Sakh se Vikas livelihoods project. ACCESS has organized ginger farmers into a producer company, yet the farmers require numeracy training to eventually manage this venture.TRANSCRIPT
FINANCIAL LITERACY PROGRAMA THREE-YEAR GROWTH STRATEGY
Grace BaranowskiACCESS Development Services
Overview of Workshop Content Credit linkage strategies Numeracy Addition, subtraction, multiplication,
division Symbol budget Teaching skills
Why does ACCESS need this? ACCESS has developed advanced
agricultural practices to increase ginger yield.
ACCESS expects farmers to manage their own Producer Company in the future.
Yet this requires financial skills that the farmers lack.
The members and directors of the PC are the ginger farmers themselves.
Review of Pilot WorkshopJuly 5, 14, 15
Pilot Program Overview
8 women from 4 SHGs
5 consecutive days One lesson per day Carefully planned
curriculum
12 women, 6 SHGs 3 nonconsecutive
days Consolidated
lessons Workshop as much
a class as a laboratory
Original Plan Actual
July 5 – Credit Linkage Strategies
4 banker-borrower skits: women council the banker whether or not to grant the loan to the borrower
Assemble credit linkage necklaces
To test comprehension and build confidence, I asked for a volunteer to explain the lesson to the teacher.
July 14 – Numeracy and Arithmetic
Introduced number system with Snakes and Ladders
Reviewed numbers on chalkboard
Completed basic arithmetic exercises with seeds and cardboard cartons
In spite of little prior experience, the women learned quickly and helped each other.
July 15 – Budget and Teaching Skills Reviewed number system and basic
arithmetic. Introduced symbol-based budget. Discussed techniques for teaching peers.
Symbol Budget
Food Clothing Transportation Medicine Education Festivals/Weddings Livestock Housing Costs
The women demonstrated teaching skills by presenting budget examples to the class.
Total Reach of Pilot Program
Represented Self Help Groups (SHGs)
Number of Members
Ambika 15
Avri Mata 18
Durga 20
Lakshmi 18
Parvati 12
Satnam 12
Total 95
How to Complete Pilot Program1. Train 8 partner NGO staff members.2. Partner NGOs meet once with the SHG
leaders to reinforce workshop lessons and schedule the next stage of lessons.
3. The 12 leaders of the 6 SHGs teach their 83 peers in 6 separate workshops in the villages.
Schedule for Tier I and NGO TrainingsTime Activity
11 – 2 pm Lesson 1 (credit linkage)
2 – 2:30 pm Lunch
2:30 – 5:30 pm Lessons 2-4 (numeracy and arithmetic)
5:30 – 5:45 pm Chai
5:45 – 7:45 pm Lessons 5-6 (multiplication and division)
7:45 – 8:15 pm Dinner
Participants stay overnight Lodging at partner NGO office space.
9 – 11:30 am Lesson 7 (symbol budget)
11:30 – 11:45 am Chai
11:45 – 2:30 pm Lesson 8 (teaching skills)
2:30 – 3 pm Lunch
Quantitative Evaluation Strategies How many participants have
discontinued lending from unsafe venders 3 months after the workshop?
How many participants can correctly complete the basic math that the budget booklet requires?
How many of the participants are still using their personal budget 3 months after the workshop?
Growth Strategy
Tier I refers to the training of SHG leaders.
Tier II refers to the SHG leaders training peers.
Three-Year Participant Breakdown
Year of Project 0 I II III
Targeted SHG Leaders (2 per Group)
12 62 62 64
Targeted SHG Groups 6 31 31 32
Targeted SHG Peers 83 248 248 250
Total Trained 95 310 310 320
Progressive Total Members 95 405 715 1035
Progressive Total Groups 6 37 68 100
Participant Benefits
Avoid losing money to the village moneylender or other unsafe lending options.
Knowing one’s income prevents unnecessary spending.
Participants said keeping a budget would keep them from getting cheated.
If each participant is in contact with 3 families, each containing 12 people, one person could transfer information to 54 people.
Cost of Program
Total cost of program is under Rs.215,000.
Cost per participant is about Rs.213.
Year of Project
0 I II III
Cost per Year
17,259.25 65,800 65,800 65,800
Progressive Cost Total
17,259.25 83,059.25 148,859.25 214,659.25
Future Growth – Gender Relations Originally composed for an all-female
audience – female literacy rate less than a third that of men.
The SHG ratio is currently 80/20 male/female.
Encourage participants to consider questions of gender roles throughout workshop.
Push for a quota of female PC directors.
Future Growth – Math Education Math can only be introduced in a matter of
days. Partner NGOs will incorporate math lessons
into monthly meetings and check that participants have kept their symbol budgets.
One partner NGO has already agreed to have participants keep their own SHG records.
Partner NGOs will also encourage participants to play math games on their own.
Future PC sustainability requires this project.
Without financial skills, the farmers won’t be able to manage the PC business operations.
This program also addresses the education gap between men and women.
Low cost brings high impact.
Thank you!