Adele Atkinson, PhD, OECD Policy Analyst, Financial Education and Consumer Protection Unit, presentation from the workshop launching the Financial Education Financial Literacy Program in the Russian Federation, Moscow, April 4, 2011

1. Designing and
implementing
financial literacy
programs !
Adele Atkinson, PhD
Policy Analyst
Financial Education and
Consumer Protection Unit
10th March 2011

2. What role for financial education?!
• When a consumer interacts with financial
services, they need to be both protected
and informed
• Consumer protection and harmonised
prudential frameworks are essential to
promote trust in the markets and
safeguard individuals
• Financial education helps individuals
make informed decisions
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3. High level principles on financial education!
• Government leadership ensures credibility
• Coordination at national level: ideally
through a national strategy
• Responsible involvement of private sector
& public private partnerships
• Bottom up and top down approaches
• Start early and in schools
• Ensure sufficient resources
• Evaluate
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4. Implementation!
A national strategy provides the best
opportunity to apply these principles,
ensuring:
• National recognition of the issues
• An agreed vision of the solutions, intended
benefits and wider, economic implications
• Scale – reaching enough people to have a
national impact and doing so on a scale
that reduces unit cost
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5. First steps
!
• Identify the issues at national level
• Data (surveys, consumer complaints,
financial difficulties)
• Map existing resources and initiatives to
avoid duplication:
• Who are the providers?
• What materials and pedagogical tools do
they use?
• Have they identified efficient practices?
• Where are the gaps?
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6. Design appropriate programmes
!
Take financial education to the public:
• Make it easy to access, appealing, engaging
• Use trusted sources; publicise well
• Tap into teachable moments to reduce the time
between teaching and action
• Use environments that support learning
• Incorporate financial education widely
• Use simple and engaging messages and tools
• Provide participants with goals or a plan of
action to change behaviour
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7. The importance of evaluation!
Evaluation and Monitoring go hand-in-hand
(Good) evaluation can tell you whether:
• Particular programmes have been effective
• The same programmes could continue to
be effective with new audiences
• Certain programmes meet a specific
objective more effectively or efficiently
than others
• Certain objectives are better met by other
means
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8. Evaluation is not widespread!
There are a number of hurdles:
• Willingness to scrutinise provision and
potentially identify ‘weaknesses’
• The variations in design, delivery and
content of financial education provision
• The range of target audiences
• The skills and experience of potential
evaluators
• The money, time and other resources
needed to undertake evaluation
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9. Evaluation and the OECD INFE!
The INFE has therefore developed:
• A summary of existing evaluation evidence
• A critique of current evaluation practice
• Guides for designing and implementing
robust financial education evaluations*
• General principles on evaluation – to be
developed into OECD recommendations
• A dedicated area on the secure website to
discuss evaluation issues
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10. Detailed Guide!
A 14 page guide with case studies, explaining:
• What evaluation is
• How it fits with programme objectives
• The steps involved:
– Planning
– Implementing
– Reporting and using findings
• Various additional considerations
• Where to find evaluation resources
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/ 10
3/49/47220488.pdf

11. Guide to Evaluation!
And a 5 page guide as a reminder to>
• Plan the evaluation carefully
• Find a reliable evaluator who ….
i. Matches methods to objectives; using
existing tools where possible
ii. Considers who should participate, ensures
confidentiality
iii. Analyses the results cautiously
iv. Reports the findings objectively
• Use the results
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/ 11
3/47/47220527.pdf

12. Some key take-home points
!
• Significant sums of money are spent on
programmes that may be inefficient
• A good evaluation will be cost-effective
• Think carefully about what you expect
• If resources are limited, prioritise: evaluate
one aspect of the programme robustly, don’t
try to do too much at once
• Seek objective outcome measures linked to
the aims of the programme
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13. Thank you!!
Comments and questions are welcome
adele.atkinson@oecd.org
www.financial-education.org
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