YouthSave Blog
Blog Post: Colombia Wins Global Money Week Award
By Alejandra Montes and Dasha Kosmynina, Save the Children
At the second annual Child and Youth Finance International(CYFI) Summit awards ceremony last week in Istanbul, Colombia received an award for Global Money Week 2013, a week long set of activities in which “children and youth from across the world learn about saving, banking, giving back to the community and sparking their entrepreneurial spirit,” organized by the CYFI movement. According to CYFI, 80 countries, 185 institutions, and 1 million children officially participated in over 1000 organized activities throughout Global Money Week, which ran from March 15 to 21, 2013.
Blog Post: A simple solution for complex needs: How BoK used pilot findings to focus on what really matters
Image courtesy of Save the Children
By Rani Deshpande, Save the Children
Measure twice, cut once
YouthSave’s bank partners began creating their youth savings accounts in 2010, with extensive market research that obtained firsthand information about the savings habits, needs, and preferences of young people. But using these data to design the savings accounts was not enough; the resulting product prototypes still had to be “road-tested” in order to confirm that we had correctly a) interpreted the market research, b) translated it into product designs that met youths’ needs, and c) put in place the right marketing, back-office and sales systems, policies, and delivery channels. In three countries – Ghana, Kenya and Nepal – YouthSave’s bank partners did this through time-bound pilots in a limited number of branches. These pilots yielded valuable lessons that ensured the products’ success when they finally rolled out network-wide in 2012.
Blog Post: Getting to know you(th): How piloting allowed HFC Bank to sharpen its value proposition for young people
By Corrinne Ngurukie, Save the Children
Measure twice, cut once
YouthSave’s bank partners began creating their youth savings accounts in 2010, with extensive market research that obtained firsthand information about the savings habits, needs, and preferences of young people. But using these data to design the savings accounts was not enough; the resulting product prototypes still had to be “road-tested” in order to confirm that we had correctly a) interpreted the market research, b) translated it into product designs that met youths’ needs, and c) put in place the right marketing, back-office and sales systems, policies, and delivery channels. In three countries – Ghana, Kenya and Nepal – YouthSave’s bank partners did this through time-bound pilots in a limited number of branches. These pilots yielded valuable lessons that ensured the products’ success when they finally rolled out network-wide in 2012.
Blog Post: Kenya Postbank's pilot experience
A youth account holder in coastal Kenya discusses what she likes and dislikes about SMATA with a pilot evaluation team member.
By Corrinne Ngurukie and Rani Deshpande, Save the Children
Measure twice, cut once
YouthSave’s bank partners began creating their youth savings accounts in 2010, with extensive market research that obtained firsthand information about the savings habits, needs, and preferences of young people. But using these data to design the savings accounts was not enough. The resulting product prototypes still had to be “road-tested” in order to confirm that we had correctly a) interpreted the market research, b) translated it into product designs that met youths’ needs, and c) put in place the right marketing, back-office and sales systems, policies, and delivery channels. In three countries – Ghana, Kenya and Nepal – YouthSave’s bank partners did this through time-bound pilots in a limited number of branches.
Blog Post: Latest Quarterly YouthSave Newsletter is Out!
We are pleased to announce that the YouthSave project has just released its latest quarterly newsletter highlighting recent blog posts, reports, speaking engagements, upcoming events, and other relevant information from YouthSave consortium members and our partners over the last three months. To access this quarter’s newsletter click here.
Highlights from the Newsletter:
YouthSave has been making the rounds and sharing insights, updates and lessons learned with others in the field. Here are a list of recent events and speaking engagements that we have participated in:
Podcast: In The Tank: Player One Has Escaped Poverty
Marking the release of Half the Sky: The Game, New America's Jamie Zimmerman and Greta Byrum discuss the potential for social cause gaming and mobile games to raise awareness and spur behavior change toward girls' and women's social and economic empowerment.
Blog Post: Child finance meeting brings voices from around the world
Image: Courtesy CSD
By Katie Stalter, The Center for Social Development
Researchers and practitioners from around the globe met at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis this week to make strides toward increased financial awareness of children and youth.
The Child & Youth Finance International (CYFI) meeting, hosted by the Center for Social Development, drew 45 attendees who represented organizations and institutions in 10 countries.
It was significant to hear the different voices represented at the table during this meeting, said Jared Penner, head of CFYI’s Education Division. “We are a global network, so we want people from different regions bringing their perspectives.” He said the meeting yielded some clear priorities for the group and helped set mandates for moving forward.
Blog Post: Youth and Their Health in Ghana
Image credit: World Bank
By Lex Nowak, New America Foundation
The Center for Social Development (CSD) has recently releaseda research brief titled, “Youth and Their Health in Ghana”. The brief offers baseline data on youth’s health in an effort to expand our knowledge on the impact of savings programs on youth health because, “[a] key aspect of youth savings is the potential impact it could have on youth development”.
CSD examines a number of health factors “critical for young people’s ability to safely transition from adolescence to young adulthood, including health perception, protective factors (including parental connection and parental monitoring), risky health behaviors (including attitude toward sex and HIV prevention), and access to health facilities.”
Blog Post: When demographics shift the way we think about youth finance
By Tanaya Kilara, CGAP
The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion recently released fascinating demographic data through the ‘Mapping the Invisible Market’ project, as part of their Financial Inclusion 2020 Campaign. It sketches a picture of the world in 2020 building on existing economic and demographic data, and draws implications for financial inclusion.
I do a lot of work on youth. Some of the data really caught my eye and even challenged some of my assumptions about priorities for youth financial services.
Keeping Youth Financial Services from Becoming Risky Business: Highlights from YouthSave's Risk Monitoring Strategy
By: Courtney James, Save the Children
While the YouthSave project strives to enable youth to take charge of their own futures by creating viable savings opportunities, it is also proactively working to mitigate any potential risks that may be associated with providing youth the opportunity and tools to save, by developing risk management strategies to continuously assess, mitigate, and monitor potential risks.
