Indian School of Microfinance for Women through its Citi Center for Financial Literacy (CCFL) has formed a network of partner organizations named National Alliance for Financial Literacy (NAFil) to take financial literacy as a movement across the country.
Objective
The objective of NAFiL is to generate awareness and spread knowledge on financial literacy among 1 million poor women in the year 2009 all over India, through different micro finance organizations across different states.
Vision
Poverty to Prosperity through Financial Literacy
Mission
- Empowering poor through financial knowledge and skill
- Way to come out of poverty
- Enabling poor to bring prosperity
Way Forward – Financial Inclusion
The Functional and geographical coverage of the Financial Literacy is being enlarged taking in to account the emerging needs of Financial Inclusion including the role of business facilitators, banking correspondent, technological innovations / financial counseling etc. Further the level of Financial Literacy has to be progressively updated / enhanced and broad based to focus upon emerging needs of knowledge building and skills. In addition efforts will continue on going basis to revalidate / actualize the attitudinal change in the ultimate beneficiaries and intermediate functionaries of SHGs, MFIs, NGOs, Banks, Financial institutions and other service providers like micro insurance and micro pension etc. An integrated package on finance literacy (with other social issues) may also have to be supplemented with brief particulars of developmental / welfare / employment scheme of the Government for a holistic development approach.
In order to address Financial Inclusion in a comprehensive manner it is advisable to attempt for building up synergy and convergence with various agencies working in this regard. With this end in view ISMW / NAFil is in the process of seeking membership, resource partners for financial and or technical collaboration. The Resource partnership base of the NAFil is being thus expanded to seek representation from…
- At lease one organization (MFI / NGO/SHG federations / Associations) from each of the State of the country
- NABARD / Public & Private Sector Banks
- State Cooperative Banks / Institutions & other Financial Institutions
- Training, research and educational institutions
- Policy making and Regulatory authorities
- Public/Private sector insurance, micro finance, saving / investment and other such organizations
- Funding agencies / Foundations providing financial / technical aids / assistance
National Financial Literacy Drive
National Financial Literacy Drive was launched in Mumbai on 14.10.2008 to reach 1 million women in the year 2009. The event was a grand success which provided a unique platform, perhaps for the first time in the country, to more than hundred top officials representatives almost all the stake holders of Financial Literacy and Inclusion namely RBI, NABARD, IBA, IIBF, PFRDA, Banks, Financial Institutions, Insurance and Investments Companies, Training, Research and Educational organizations along with those of MFIs, NGOs, SHG Federation and the actual beneficiary of Financial Literacy. In one way it was an exemplary initiative of public private sector partnership to forge an effective collaboration towards Financial Inclusion. It was most heartening to find that all cross section of the participants not only praised our efforts in this direction but were also eager to join with the National Alliance for Financial Literacy (NAFiL) and build on synergy and convergence in their efforts for the purpose.
NAFiL will also serve as a knowledge sharing network on financial literacy at the national level. It is proposed to set up coordinating centers at the state level which in due course may be extended even to the district level to monitor, exchange and share experiences, new ideas, innovations, best practices and in taking financial literacy as a movement in India. For this purpose ISMW/NAFiL in addition to the current activities (of Training Needs Assessment, Concept Sharing Workshops, Campaigns, Training of Trainers & follow up), propose to organize financial counseling centers, Finance Camps, Financial Portals & conduct certified courses for financial literacy, and Business Facilitators to begin with.
Ten microfinance organizations have already joined with ISMW to promote NAFiL, which includes…
- SEWA Bank, Ahmedabad
- Friends of Women’s World Banking, (India), Ahmedabad
- Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD), Orissa
- Village Welfare Society (VWS), Kolkatta
- Self-Help Promotion For Health and Rural Development (SHEPHERD), Tamil Nadu
- Mahila Shram Sewa Nyas (MSSN), Indore
- Bullock Cart Workers Development Association (BWDA), Tamil Nadu
- Chaitanya, Rajgurunagar, Maharashtra
- Sarba Shanti Ayog SSA/Sasha, Kolkatta, West Bengal
- Rural Development Organization (RDO), Lamsang Bazar, Manipur
Further, Institutions like IIMS Dataworks and Invest India Micro Pension Services and many more (35) microfinance organizations are willing to become members / resource partners of NAFiL. The aim is to reach one million poor women in 2009.