This expert post from executive director Jeroo Billimoria explains why Aflatoun chose a campaign as the growth and expansion strategy for their social and financial education programme, and what the benefits of this approach have been to date.

Can children manage money? How can they best be taught the importance of saving money and other resources? These are questions Aflatoun is answering through its Campaign for Social and Financial Education. From its 2008 launch in Amsterdam by Princess Maxima of the Netherland, the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, the campaign has pursued one key goal: to provide high quality social and financial education to 1 million children in 75 countries by the end of 2010.

Why did we utilize a campaign to expand and disseminate the Aflatoun programme? We did it to build a movement to convince people that primary school children can and should save. Aflatoun piloted its social and financial education programme in 10 countries to show that it worked in diverse contexts and that children participated and benefited from the programme. Now at the campaign’s midpoint, the Aflatoun programme is now reaching over 540,000 children in 26 countries.

As a methodology, the campaign has had the following benefits for Aflatoun:

First, it has created a movement of practitioners around child finance and child savings. It has increased connections among organizations working on the issue and created communities of practice at a regional level. As new partners join the Aflatoun programme, they are linked to others with whom they are able to share learning and resources.

Second, it has increased the effectiveness of Aflatoun’s advocacy. At a very local level, association with an international movement has improved our partners’ ability to raise funds and obtain permission to deliver the Aflatoun programme in schools. At a national level, the strength of Aflatoun’s international network was one of the factors contributing to the Egyptian government’s recent decision to integrate the Aflatoun programme into the national education system.

Finally, the campaign has drawn a broader array of organizations and stakeholders into Aflatoun activities. Banks, foundations, academics, charities and governments are all included in our movement. Having a variety of stakeholders increases the number and diversity of voices and perspectives brought to bear on our work, and demonstrates to us that simply running a programme is not enough to fully achieve Aflatoun’s vision. Rather, achieving social and financial empowerment for children requires structural changes in policy and practice that can only be achieved with the broad coalition of organizations that our campaign is fostering.