SEEN as potential entrepreneurs, the number of active young savers in the country under the social and financial literacy program of Aflatoun International and National Confederation of Cooperatives (Natcco) grew to a total of 287,180 last year.
Most of the active Pinoy aflatouns are in the Visayas and Mindanao, according to Ma. Lasalette Gumban, head of the children and youth program unit at Natcco.
About 90 percent of aflatoun members in the Philippines go to state-owned and state-run schools, Gumban said. Inclusive of nonactive savers, the number of aflatouns in the Philippines has reached more or less 500,000 last year.
“The aflatoun members grow their money with local cooperatives affiliated with Natcco since 2007,” she added.
According to Gumban, the total cumulative savings of Pinoy aflatouns grew to P174,132,309 as of end-2018. The Natcco expects total savings to grow to P200 million this year.
The Natcco web site explains that “the word ‘aflatoun’ is of Arabic origin and refers to ‘the explorer,’ a person who thinks, explores, investigates and acts.”
Natcco is implementing the Aflatoun concept in the Philippines in partnership with Aflatoun Child Social and Financial Education Organization, formerly Child Savings International, based in Amsterdam. The program is being implemented in select schools in the Philippines in partnership with local cooperatives, the Cooperative Development Authority and the Department of Education, the web site said.
Saving, growing
SOME cooperatives require aflatoun members an initial deposit of P20, according to Natcco Children and Youth Program Officer III Hazel Ann Mangaya. The aflatoun member can deposit a smaller or a higher amount later, depending on the financial capacity of the saver.
The aflatoun members are taught to become responsible of the school allowances their parents give them, and encouraged to grow with the cooperative any amount they can save, she explained.
“The interest rate depends on the cooperative,” Mangaya said. “Some cooperatives offer a 2-percent interest rate; others 3 percent to 5 percent.”
Based on the implementing guidelines, an aflatoun member can make his or her first withdrawal after six months from the date he or she started to save with the cooperative, Mangaya explained.
But the aflatoun can withdraw an amount anytime during an emergency, she said.
According to her, some aflatoun members who do not have enough money use part of their savings to fund school projects and expenses.
The cooperatives noticed that the number of aflatouns and the amount of withdrawals grow during holidays and graduation time, Mangaya said.
On a weekly basis, aflatoun coordinators go to partner-schools to collect the amounts the young savers are depositing with the cooperatives, she added.
Social entrepreneurs
AN aflatoun can later join a cooperative, and eventually, as Natcco dreams, become an entrepreneur, Gumban said.
The social and financial education at an early age is a preparation for an aflatoun to transition to becoming regular members of the cooperative, she explained. Natcco believes the cooperative is essential and one of the best enterprises.
“That’s the idea that we inculcate to the youth,” Gumban said. “Entrepreneurship is one of the core elements of social and financial literacy program.”
The economic empowerment of a person should start early in life, she added.
“Most of us start learning financial literacy at a later age when are already employed,” Gumban said, adding that sometimes it’s too late.
When a person begins to get financially literate at an early age, he becomes a good manager of his finances and influences others to manage their resources as well, she explained.
If most of the people are socially and financially literate, “it can change the landscape of our financial future,” Gumban said.
Aflatoun members should treat the opportunity to learn social and financial literacy as a gift that would surely create a positive impact in their life, she noted.
Natcco also saw the need for cooperatives to engage aflatouns in more social activities to expose and try to help them understand relevant issues confronting their respective communities and the nation as a whole.
“This year we will try to balance social and financial education of the aflatoun members as we have promised to the DepEd and parents,” said Leñida. “In recent year, our partner cooperatives have focused more on savings.”
Integration to curriculum
THE Aflatoun social and financial literacy program has been implemented in partner-schools nationwide since 2007, two years after Aflatoun International was founded in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Gumban said.
Teachers are trained to integrate the program to the regular classes, she said. Preserving and safeguarding the environment and saving natural resources are taught to students during Science classes as part of the integration of the social literacy component of the program.
“It’s not a separate subject,” Gumban explained. “The teachers can integrate the social and financial literacy program to regular classes in the form of games and other activities.”
The resource book for teachers was developed by Aflatoun International in the Asian context, she said. The context depends on the region where the program would be implemented.
Nearly four years ago, Natcco has put the book into four local tongues: Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Tagalog and Cebuano, Gumban added.
Recognition, motivation
AFLATOUN members are motivated to save and grow more money with the cooperatives by providing recognition to top savers, according to Hazel Ann Leñida, children and youth officer at Natcco. The top savers are selected based on the frequency of saving remittance, not on the amount.
Since an aflatoun member from a well-off family can save a bigger amount of money than his poor counterpart, it will go unfair to select top savers based on the amount, she explained.
Natcco also provides recognition to top teachers who demonstrate outstanding commitment to the Aflatoun social and financial literacy program, Gumban said. Natcco started to give recognition to top-performing teachers in 2012.
As of last year, the number of teachers trained on the integration of social and financial literacy rose to 7,581, a Natcco data showed. Natcco projects to grow the number of trained teachers to 7,900 before year-end.
Reaching more
THE program has reached a total of 1,467 schools across the country and trained 7,581 teachers in 2018, the Natcco data showed. The number of cooperatives reached by the program nationwide grew to 152 in 2018, and is tapping 12 more this year.
In 2007, the total number of active Pinoy aflatoun savers reached 267,289, according to the data. Their total cumulative savings was put at P137, 802,294. In 2008, a year after the program was implemented in the Philippines, the number of active Pinoy aflatoun savers was accounted at 12,060 nationwide.
Aflatoun International was founded by Jeroo Bilimoria in 2005. Seeking to help provide the young with social and financial as well as rights literacy, its program is currently implemented in 116 countries. Sixty percent of aflatouns worldwide are active savers.
Image credits: Oliver Samson