In many countries children and young people do not have the knowledge and skills to actively participate and contribute to their societies, which are often characterised by weak education systems, poor social services and limited employment opportunities. Aflatoun International’s Social and Financial Education allows them to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and inequality, turning dependence into independence.

Aflatoun International has been very successful providing children and young people with the tools to build a better future. By becoming socially and economically empowered they are inspired to discover their talents and stand up for their rights, enabling them to make a positive change to their lives. With the
support of a strong network of 275 non-governmental organisations and 35 governments, we reach 8.6 million children and young people each year in more than 100 countries.

We continue to need the input of our partners to shape and tailor our curricula to the specific needs of their regions and hope to see a large stimulus for the innovation and expansion of our programmes. The new strategy presents the framework and priorities for Aflatoun International over the next five years, working towards our vision. In this new strategy, we strive to build on our achievements and create new momentum.

Our goal for 2020:
There will be international recognition of the need to empower every child and young person with social & financial knowledge and skills. The Aflatoun Child Social & Financial Education Programme will be recognised as the ‘gold’ standard of social & financial education programmes, which will have scaled up and reached at least 20 million children and young people by 2020.

In order to achieve this Aflatoun International, in close collaboration with the Aflatoun Network, has three strategic
priorities:
I. Advocate Social & Financial Education for every child
II. Deliver quality Social & Financial Education & Skills Programmes
III. Accelerate scale-up of Social & Financial Education

The first objective focuses on the importance of Social and Financial Education in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals and advocacy at the national and international level through a global movement of all partners. There is also a strong need to build the global Aflatoun brand to support our strategic intend and strengthen the network.

The second objective aims to improve the quality of existing curricula, and ensure its relevance and effectiveness, by linking it to emerging issues, such as migration, climate change, peacebuilding, girls’ empowerment and youth employment. In order to deliver quality education teachers complete an intensive training course.

The third objective endeavors to accelerate the scale-up of Social and Financial Education while ensuring quality and maximising our reach through a strengthened network. To this end, we will employ complementary strategies to support integration into national curricula and campaigns addressing societal challenges. With a focus on new innovative delivery channels, we will expand our e-learning opportunities to increase reach of children and young people.
We aim to achieve our intended impact by strengthening and expanding our network; by harnessing strategic partners at the regional and global level; through offering evidence based programmmes, which have been well-researched and assessed by standardised monitoring and evaluation tools; by embracing the potential of technology and developing more e-learning options to increase reach and impact, and by continuing to improve our efficiency and effectiveness by adopting a high-performance organisational culture.

Aflatoun International has enormous potential. Grounded in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and building on our foundational strengths - the concept of Social & Financial Education, the high-quality curricula, the unique partner network and the innovative social-franchise model - we believe that Aflatoun International has an important role to play in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals and our work directly contributes to four of these: No Poverty; Quality Education; Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Reduced Inequalities.

Building on a strong network of partners, generous donors to both the network and the international secretariat, dedicated supporters and talented, dedicated staff we believe that we are now ready to move closer to our vision of socially and economically empowered children who act as agents of change in their own lives for a more equitable world. Our method enables children and young people not only to survive, but to thrive in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.