Chapter 5

Financial Literacy Campaign – Design, Development and Delivery

This material is drawn from NABARD’s internal discussion on Financial Literacy as

deliberated by the Advisory Board for FIF and FITF and the Top Management in July 2012.
This may be used as reference while developing the material/conducting the interventions
for Financial Literacy.

Issues in Financial Literacy

1. Understanding Financial Literacy

• Ability to understand finance

• Refers to a set of skills & knowledge

• So as to make informed & effective choices

• Through information, instruction & objective advice

• For improvement of financial well-being

• By addressing deep entrenched behavioural & psychological factors

2. Issues related to mindset – to be addressed through the Campaign

• For the poor and the vulnerable, a rupee in hand is worth two in the account (Money
Value, Time Value of Money and Importance of keeping money in a bank account)

• Money is earned for survival and spending (importance of saving)

• Saving is possible provided income is sufficient (importance of small value savings)

• Pension is a privilege – and not a necessity – for the poor who do not have fixed working
lives (income during old age and post productive years)

• Insurance premium is a wasteful expenditure – moreover, it’s a luxury for people who are
not credit worthy and, hence, do not normally have financial liability (insurance is a means
to unexpected adversities in life)

• Remittance has a demand but is yet to take off – banks continue to fret over KYC
notwithstanding its relaxation (safe and quick remittance)

3. Financial Literacy Campaign – its Vision, Mission, Goal & Strategy

Vision: Overall socio-economic empowerment of the poor and vulnerable sections of the
society.
Mission: Enhance the financial literacy of the poor and vulnerable sections of the
community through structured financial literacy programmes (FLPs) with stated roles and
responsibilities for all the key stakeholders associated with Financial Literacy/Financial
Inclusion.

Goal: Total financial inclusion of all sections of the society including poor and vulnerable on
sustainable basis by March 2015.

4. Suggestions for implementation of the Strategy

• Enabling environment: GoI and RBI have taken various policy measures for Financial
Inclusion and banks have been issued guidelines and time span for coverage. The Regional
Office and SLBC may call for special meetings to create an environment for the Campaign
involving the stakeholders.

• Stakeholders’ Awareness: In order to create a conducive environment, the ROs to conduct

workshops / seminars where the stakeholders should be reminded of their responsibility to
contribute to the process / campaign.

• Awareness about Financial Literacy: Creation of awareness about financial literacy as a

means to improved livelihood – this has to be done with a continuous and sustained effort.
Publicity may be done through SMS, Internet, websites, e-mails, Radio, Television, folk
theatre forms.

• Designing and Delivering Financial Literacy: Creation and designing of financial literacy
programmes/materials that would appeal to the target groups and would be sustainable.
Already available materials, particularly developed by the ROs may also be used. However,
ROs may take care not to use materials which may violate copy rights. Alternatively, they
may acknowledge the source or seek permission from the appropriate authority as the case
may be.

• Periodic Review and Monitoring: Reviewing and monitoring the impact so as to change the
products as and when required or to multiply successful pilots.(ROs may form district-wise
Monitoring Committees involving DDM and LDM as also at the state level involving major
banks).

Specific Guidelines

1. Requirement of the Programmes

• Educative, Entertaining & Engaging.

2. Areas to be covered

(The following areas must positively be covered in the Campaign)

(a) Savings Account; (b) Deposits – Recurring & Fixed; (c) Credit – micro credit; (d) Insurance
– Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna, Personal Accident Insurance Scheme, Asset Insurance etc.;
(e) Remittance; and (f) Pension – NPS, NPS-Lite, Micro Pension from Invest India Micro
Pension Services (IIMPS) Pvt Ltd.

3. Target Group

• Low income groups including marginal farmers, landless farmers, senior citizens, women,
the self-employed and unorganized sector enterprises;

• Women and their SHGs;

• People belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minority groups;

• Migrant labourers;

• People living in cut off, far flung and sparsely populated areas where formal bank branches
of brick and mortar are not economically viable;

• Stakeholders like government officials, Gram Panchayats, NGOs, bankers at local/village

level responsible for implementation of FIP, Business Correspondents (BCs)/Business
Facilitators (BFs)/BC Agents (BCAs)/Customer Service Points (CSPs)

4. Contents of the Material

• Practical Money Guide

• Kids’ Money Guide

• Basics of Budgeting& Spending

• Basics of Saving – No Frill Accounts, KYC Norms & its relaxation, Responsible Saving, Saving
for Education, Saving for marriage, Saving & Spending, how to approach the banks etc.

• Basics of Deposits – various types, deposit & interest, inflation, growing & idle money etc.

• Basics of Credit – Coverage should include micro credit, credit & interest, wise use of
credit, credit for investment vs. credit for spending, credit cards, timely & regular repayment
etc.Cashless mobile KCC in line with recently launched initiative in Tamil Nadu may also be
covered.

• Insurance – importance of social security, productive years & old age, insurance and micro
insurance schemes available.

• Remittance – digital/paperless money, online & mobile banking lesson, safety & privacy of
remittance through transfer of money, basics of password/PIN/IPIN.

• Pension – importance of social security, productive years & old age, how to enrol in a
pension scheme etc.
• Quiz Materials for children as well as adults (both illiterate &semi-literate) with incentives
viz. cash prizes.

• Why Save? Why save with banks?

• Why invest?

• Why insure?

• Why you will need regular stream of income post working life –pension?

• Why save or invest regularly and consistently?

• Why insure fully?

• Why borrow within Limits? Why borrow from banks?

• What is the difference between saving and investment?

• Why borrow for income generating purposes?

• Why repay loans? Why repay loans in time?

• Why do you need insurance?

• What is interest? How moneylenders charge very high interest rates?

5. Delivery Channels

• Print Materials – handouts, pamphlets, story books, songs etc.

• Awareness Camps

• Graffiti Campaign

To be put up in primary health care centres, maternity centres, birth registration offices, on
the buses plying in rural areas, rural bank branches, panchayat offices, Highways,
construction sites where migrant labourers work.

•Audio Visual Campaign

With a story and a plot, these materials can be telecast / broadcast on Doordarshan,
Community Radio etc. Video recording of nukkadnatakas/local folk theatre forms can also
be shown to the target population.

• Performing Arts
Local performing artists may be used to perform street plays, nukkadnataks, puppet shows
to mobilize villagers.

• Use of ICT

ICT may be used to spread financial literacy to the maximum possible extent. The scope of
engaging with villagers through SMS on mobiles maybe explored in the targeted villages.
Websites for educators, NGOs and other literate stakeholders may be created for
disseminating information about availability of financial literacy materials.

• Quiz programmes and Essay competitions

• School Curriculum & Adult Education Curriculum

• Creation of a Helpline

• Clubbing financial literacy with various programmes like Wadi and Watershed
Programmes of NABARD

• Mobile Publicity Vans

Vans moving from village to village – like election campaign – demonstrating transactions
and creating awareness.

• Use of Television Scrolls through local cable operators

• FAQ for BCs/BFs

Most of the BCs/BFs/BCAs/CSPs lack basic knowledge of banking and banking products.
They are primarily trained on how to handle POS devices.

•Financial Literacy through screening of popular films

For example, Punjab and Sind Bank screens the film ‘Lagan’ in all its allocated villages where
the villagers gather and then bank staff talk about financial products and the
benefits/security they will bring during the intervals.

6. Possible Channel Partners for the Campaign

NGOs, State Government Departments, Common Service Centres and their promotional
agencies, SHGs, Farmers’ Clubs, Watershed Development Committees, Corporates,
Individuals, Schools & Colleges, Insurance Companies/Insurance Regulatory Development
Authority (IRDA), Provident Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA), Village
Panchayats, PrasarBharti/FM Radio/Community Radio Channels, Doordarshan/Local
Channels/Cable TV Operators etc.

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