CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED

Implementing GMW in 2021 was challenging for many organisations, given the evolving sanitary situation. In a few cases, activities planned had to be changed and fully transitioned online at the very last minute. Nonetheless, organisations showed resilience and commitment to the GMW and successfully carried out activities, some exceeding expectations. Participating organisations shared a number of common lessons learnt.

Leveraging on digitalisation to reach and engage young people.

Digital tools have been instrumental in ensuring a successful campaign. For example, in Israel, financial education lessons were pre-recorded and broadcasted in schools, and they were complemented by a budget game that young people could play on their phones. This combination seemed to be very effective and managed to engage the youth. For some countries, reaching young people through social media has proven to be very effective, as it has focusing the financial education lessons on actuality topics that many young people are interested in, such as investing, insurance or sustainability.

Mix of remote and in-person activities to ensure inclusiveness.

While experiencing with new delivery methods and understanding the potential benefits of continuing with hybrid engagements in the future, some countries also recognised the need to bring back the “physical experience” dimension of GMW activities, especially for younger children or children with limited access to digital devices, in order not to restrict their participation.

Collaboration within and across countries.

Collaborations and partnerships with NGOs and advocacy groups that have a footprint in remote areas have helped some countries to ensure a wider reach and inclusive celebrations. At the same time, participants appreciated the possibility of cross-country collaborations and activities (as in the case of lusophone countries) and expressed interest for more such activities to be organised in the future through digital means.

Sharing experience.

Sharing of experiences amongst countries has also been helpful to GMW participants in preparation of the Week, and there is appetite for more such engagements to be organised, especially on ideas and innovative tools on how to implement financial education activities digitally. Regional events have also been suggested as an effective way to facilitate peer learning. Identifying national coordinators at country level has also been helpful in centralising and integrating activities and the work of the financial education community at country level.

 Uzbekistan GMW2021

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