Programme Éducation Financière (PEF) is an initiative by the Ministry of Education in Ivory Coast that aims to provide training and teachings on financial education. The programme targets teachers and all the pedagogical staff accompanying children in their education, students from primary to secondary school, and student’s parents and guardians.
The primary objectives of the PEF are to sensitise the beneficiaries on the good practices of finance and the use of financial services adapted to their needs. The programme also seeks to provide children and youth with foundational skills on budgeting and planning as well as to train them on saving and managing natural resources.
To date, the PEF has reached over 600 agents of the ministry that work as trainers in different regions. 20,000 teachers have been trained on credit, debt and the elaboration of personal and family budget plans. Also, 8,327 teacher-students have learned how to manage their income responsibly, and over 60,000 students have received a financial education of which 400 have also been educated in banking.
PEF and Aflatoun International are working together to support the 2019-2024 National Financial Inclusion Strategy and achieve its Education objectives. They are assisting the Education and Training departments in assessing the best approaches to integrate Financial Education into the national curricula. This support was officialised in the validation workshop of the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion in which Aflatoun International was appointed as a technical provider in the Client Protection and Financial Education Group. The programme of choice was the Aflatoun Social and Financial Education programme.
Additionally, PEF is also integrating the use of a chatbot into the daily lives of young girls and boys that participate in the programme. A chatbot is a virtual account with content provided by Aflatoun. The chatbot works on any mobile network, you can use it by chat on Facebook-messenger or WhatsApp, but it also works by text (SMS) without an internet connection. The beneficiaries receive summaries of social and financial education modules that can help them acquire knowledge, attitudes, and skills on good social practices, financial practices and the proper use of digital means of payment.
To learn more about Aflatoun’s global social and financial education movement and how you can join us, click this link: aflatoun.org/join/