Lessons learnt create behaviour change

Stories

Lessons learnt create behaviour change

Raksmey is 9 years old girl who lives with her parents and two brothers. Raksmey said she used to spend all her pocket money and never thought of saving any of it as she did not understand the value of money or the importance of saving. This was until she participated in Cufa’s Children’s Financial Literacy (CFL) Program at the local school, after which, she realised what a difference saving money could do for her now and for her future.

It was just over 8 months ago, in December 2018, when the local Cufa Project Officer visited Raksmey school to teach the young students about financial literacy. The CFL program is integrated into the regular school curriculum and encourages students to develop lifelong savings habits at an early age. The program utilises a custom-designed interactive app, which is in the local language on a tablet, provided by Cufa. Technology is combined with a story book about Ronnie Riel’s adventures and a lesson book illustrating the importance of saving to best engage the students to learn and reinforce the valuable learnings.

After her lessons, Raksmey realised that she could start to save her pocket money so that she could buy a bike. Not only did Raksmey realise what she could buy for today but at such a young age she thought about her future and saving to help her achieve her goal of being a nurse. So excited was she about the potential that she shared these learnings with her parents, and they bought her a piggy bank to help her save.

Raksmey has been so motivated by the learnings that she has shared the Ronnie Riel’s stories with her cousins and her parents. Raksmey continue to put money that her older brother, who works in a garment factory, and her parents give to her, in her piggy bank.

We look forward to sharing more about Raksmey’s journey in future newsletters.

These are some of the results we have produced in the past 3 years of this valuable, life changing program