Standard Packages: Money Basics™

This programme teaches illiterate low income adults to control their expenses, get out of debt, set up short and long term goals, and save for them, anticipate expenses, make a budget and decide on priorities.

The programme consists of five independent sessions with ten to twelve activities each, so a total of around 15 hours of training. Each module has a main topic: spending, borrowing, earning, saving and planning, and can be taught in the order of the Trainer's Guide or combined differently to suit participants' learning goals, available time and level of attention. Trainers can also arrange an introduction sessions followed by review sessions.

It is available in English and French. For other languages, please contact us.

 

Learning objectives:

  1. Explore the different types of expenses, how to control them, how to track expenses and analyse shopping behaviour,
  2. Understand debts and interest rates, how to discuss and negotiate a loan, evaluate the consequences of having too much debt and find practical ways to get out of debt,
  3. Identify the various ways to get an income, how to manage irregular income, how to increase income, calculate a profit and return on an income generating expense, and explore ways to grow skills,
  4. Identify the main reasons to save, set financial goals and determine saving needs accordingly, how to find the motivation to save, how to manage risks and keep savings in a safe place,
  5. Experience the importance of planning and anticipating, how to budget expenses and income, address the difficulties of saving and budgeting, how to talk with one's spouse about money, give children good money habits and deal with extended family money issues.

Training Methods:

Money Basics™ uses a minimum of words and maths to get the main messages through: modules are divided into 10 to 30 minutes activities with stories, colourful posters, cards with drawings, etc... Calculations are reduced to a minimum and some exercises include toy bank notes to help trainees add and subtract and visualise the inflows and outflows.

Lively exercises are done in teams. Each exercise is related to the issues raised in the story and is as practical and realistic as possible. Exercises are corrected during the training.

The participants are given blank spreadsheet with drawings to help them follow their expenses and incomes. Posters are available for revisions.

How to get Money Basics™ programme?

Money Basics™ is available through our Training the Trainers workshop. During the workshop, participants get familiar with Money Basics™ trainers' guide, watch one class demonstration, work in group to adapt one activity and train to teach it in front of the other trainers.

After the workshop, participants get a free access to our Resource Centre where all training props and materials are available in Word or Excel documents and several languages so that they can print them, get the latest updates or download them to adapt them to their own clients' learning goals.

Example of instruction and material

Money Basics - Banteay Chmar (Cambodia) March 2007

Money Basics - Sisophon (Cambodia) May 2007