Financial Education for Parents

Financial education provides parents with practical tools to manage their scarce resources so that their children can grow up in a safe environment and the household is able to cope with emergency expenses. Financially literate parents are more likely to be able to pay rent, buy healthy food, and afford opportunities that can greatly benefit their children.
Despite the positive effect of financial education, a large part of the adult population is financially illiterate according to the latest Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Global Financial Literacy Survey.

The Covid pandemic has exacerbated the financial difficulties of many families. UNICEF estimates that an additional 150 million children have been plunged into poverty as a result of the pandemic, making it even more important that parents have the knowledge and tools to make prudent financial decisions.

Support families to make better financial decisions

While many parenting programmes provide tips on nutrition, health and caregiving, very few provide financial education. Moreover, few existing financial education programmes are tailored to the needs of families.
The Human Safety Net aims to understand how far parenting programmes not only convey essential messages about health, nutrition and early learning, but also support families in making better financial decisions. We have partnered with Aflatoun International to review financial education elements in existing programmes for parents of young children. Aflatoun International offers financial education to children in more than 100 countries.

Download the study

Developing financial literacy training modules with UNICEF

The study developed by Aflatoun International provides the basis for a partnership with UNICEF to develop and test a financial literacy training module, including topics such as ‘identifying sources of income’, ‘smart saving’, ‘budgeting’ and ‘borrowing money’. Pilots have taken place in Italy and Indonesia. In addition to traditional face-to-face delivery, the project is exploring other delivery channels (radio, TV, social media and messaging). It will also explore innovative ways of connecting financial education with child welfare programmes. The partnership was made possible by a joint contribution of Generali and employees donations relating to We SHARE, the group’s share ownership plan.

And integrating them within the For Families programme

The Human Safety Net will integrate financial education modules into its For Families programme together with its community of NGOs around the world. The aim is to develop financial literacy modules adapted to the needs of parents which can be rolled-out globally.

Photo credits: Veronika Pilatova and Aflatoun International