Newsletters

volume 3, number 8

August 2009

Your monthly Aflatoun Talk has arrived!

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Dear Friends,

August greetings from Aflatoun!

August Headlines

This August we celebrate the launch of a new Aflatoun Country programme in Ghana with our partner WADEP (Women and Development Project). With Ghana as the latest addition, the Aflatoun family has now expanded to 25 countries!

This month, Aflatoun announces its new membership in the SEEP Network

We would also like to thank JP Morgan Fund for funding the start-up of Aflatoun Programme in The Netherlands.

Augusts' The Aflatoun Network Talks features a quote from Lehlohonolo Moea from the Lesotho Postbank (LPB), a majority state-owned bank, is the first Postal Bank to implement the Aflatoun Programme directly.

Also, we highlight our commitment to the UNCRC this month with a reminder on A Child's Right under Article 24-can you guess what it is about?

Finally, thanks and welcome to all the new Aflatoun partner organizations joining the Aflatoun movement worldwide-thanks to you we are on track to reach our 2010 Campaign goal of 1 million children in 75 countries.

Read all about it in the August Aflatoun Talk!

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Aflatoun Goes Live In Schools in Ghana

As of this month, Aflatoun is live in 16 schools in the Volta Region in Ghana. The programme will be implemented through Aflatoun clubs that will be set up in these schools. Contextualization of the Aflatoun workbook to a Ghanaian context has already started, aiming to be finalized by the end of September.Having already received a Training of Trainers, our partner in Ghana, Women and Development Project (WADEP) will send its own trainers to provide training for its partner organizations in the Northern and Southern regions of the country. WADEP are collaborating with multiple stakeholders, such as the Dutch INGO SNV World in Ghana as well as Plan International-Ghana.

JP Morgan Funds Startup of Aflatoun Programme in The Netherlands

Plan Netherlands, Aflatoun's Programme partner for The Netherlands, has secured funding from global partner JP Morgan to start the implementation of the Aflatoun Programme in Dutch primary schools. Theyhave already begun a pre-pilot of the Aflatoun Programme andisaimingto go live in schoolsby the end of 2009. A new website has already been unveiled for the Aflatoun Programme in Dutch to introduce children to key Aflatoun concepts like savings, spending and enterprise: Aflatoun Plan Station. Thanks to JPMorgan for their continued support to Aflatoun Programmes in both developingand developed countries.

Aflatoun & The SEEP Network

Aflatoun is happy to announce its new membership in the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network, a community of practioners from around the world working in the areas of micro-finance and micro-enterprise development. Aflatoun is cooperating with a variety of SEEP working groups, such as the Savings Led Working Group and the HIV/AIDS and Micro-Enterprise Development Working Group, and has participated in July 2009's HAMED working group conference on "Paving the Path to Savings". The key Aflatoun concepts that may be of interest to other SEEP members are the Aflatoun Savings clubs, the linkages to formal financial institutions, and the micro-enterprise activities among programmes. Aflatoun is looking forward to learning, sharing and connecting more SEEP members.

Aflatoun in the Spotlight

This month, Aflatoun was mentioned in an article on children's literacy in Businessweek. The article features the research of Professor Lewis Mandell, Senior Fellow of the Aspen Institute's Initiative on Financial Security,who has conducted the most comprehensive evaluations of the effectiveness of financial education to date. His results show that financial education on its own is not sufficient; it needs to be backed by activities and opportunities to actively engage with financial systems. He will be assisting Aflatoun in developing the evaluationsystemand looking at Aflatoun's Programmes in India.

Also online is this blog by a Kiva volunteer who visited FINCA Peru's programme and saw Child Social & Financial education at work. It also features some quotes from children on what they hope to do with the money they have saved.

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The Aflatoun Network Talks

"When a Child is born, we will send his or her parents an Aflatoun sticker and a card [on which it is] written "social and financial literacy to your new born baby starts today."

Lehlohonolo Moea - Lesotho Postbank (LPB)

 LPB is a member bank of the World Savings Banks Institute, with which Aflatoun has a global partnership. LPB will carry the growth of the Aflatoun Programme forward in Lesotho and is combining Aflatoun's learning with access to savings accounts for children.

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The UNCRC - It's a Child's Right

The Aflatoun Talk section on children's rights reminds us all of one "Article" or Right quoted in child-friendly language from the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Augusts' child right is Article 24: You have the right to practice your own culture, language and religion - You have the right to the best health care possible, safe water to drink, nutritious food, a clean and safe environment, and information to help you stay well."

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A final word of Thanks to new Aflatoun partner organizations!

Stay up to date with Aflatoun on Facebook and Twitter...

You can friend, follow, or comment on Aflatoun via Facebookor via Twitter

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Aflatoun: Every Child has the Right to Social and Financial Education.

If you have any ideas, questions, resources to contribute or wish to visit an Aflatoun partner programme in your country you can always contact: Info@aflatoun.org