Why reinvent the wheel? Use existing tools that work

Microinsurance Innovation Facility – As more institutions enter microinsurance, it is efficient to make use of existing tools that work, in order to minimize the resources needed to develop successful tools. An encouraging example comes from Seguros Futuro.

When Seguros Futuro wanted to expand its education efforts it decided to incorporate insurance education in the annual general assemblies of its cooperatives. Instead of designing a new educational game, Seguros Futuro adapted an existing game called Treasure Pot, developed by the Micro Insurance Academy, which had already been tried and tested in different countries.

In Seguros Futuros’ adapted game, each participant receives ten candies and draws a card that represents an emergency or good fortune. In the first round, participants who draw an emergency card must pay the indicated number of candies, and participants who draw a good fortune card retain their candies. In the second round, participants have the option …

RBAP-MABS Outlines Financial Education for Branchless Banking During the 8th Citi-Financial Times Financial Education Summit

The 8th Citi-Financial Times (FT) Financial Education Summit, the most established annual international forum on financial literacy, was held on November 28-29, 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia. With the theme “Empowering the Disadvantaged: Inclusive and Innovative Approaches to Financial Capability”, the Summit focused on how to increase the uptake of financial education initiatives at grassroots levels – microentrepreneurs, migrant workers, and low-income youth – and also explored the use of technology and media in scaling programs and reducing the cost of delivery.  The roles of national frameworks and multi-stakeholder partnerships in addressing large-scale financial capability and consumer protection needs were also addressed.

In one of the panel discussions, the United States Agency for International Development-supported Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines-Microenterprise Access to Banking Services Program presented its Financial Education for Branchless Banking Project, an initiative implemented in partnership with MasterCard Foundation and Microfinance Opportunities. The presentation highlighted how …