Impact Stories

Financial education in PNG, key to informative choices on pay-day lending

July 15, 2019

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Many low-income working families in PNG struggle to manage everyday cash flow. A lack of savings to buffer against financial woes, such as emergency medical bills, traditional obligations, such as burials and other unexpected life expenses can drive families to resort to these moneylenders. Over time borrowers find it hard to break out of the recurring cycle of pay-day lending, often referred to as a loan trap.

“Financial Education has been life changing”

June 15, 2019

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In June 2018, Annie became one of the first students at three (Garanga, Pamua and Airahu) ACoM RTCs chosen to take part in a regional initiative to pilot financial education (FinEd). The pilot is part of an ongoing partnership between the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) and ACoM.

Financial education saving Solomon Islands

Financial education supports Garanga community to bring back life into its school canteen

March 22, 2019

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Motivated to do something about the high cost of banking, a group of tertiary teachers and students of the Anglican Church of Melanesia’s Garanga Rural Training Centre (RTC) got together to start a savings club. Their inspiration for the savings club was born out of their learnings from an Australian Government funded – Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) financial education (FinEd) curriculum recently introduced at the school.

Realities from the ground; Designing financial services around the ‘Wantok’ culture in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

January 9, 2019

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Up until 2017, only 10% of the population in the Highlands were using formal financial services. Westpac believes that understanding people, their culture, values, and the way things work for communities and linking those insights to the design of financial services can greatly improve the uptake and usage of those services. The ‘Choice Wantok’ savings account that Misa uses is a re-engineered bank account from Westpac to test new financial services that are tailored to the needs of lower income Highlanders.

Insurance helps dairy farmers in time of need

September 28, 2018

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Two days after their mother's passing, brothers Dharmendra and Jasvir visited the FCDCL office in Nausori to seek a microfinance loan to assist their family with the funeral expenses. It was here that they discovered that, while they were not eligible for a loan for funerals, their mother was covered under a recently launched insurance scheme for dairy farmers. Just two months prior to her death, Lusia had signed forms to be part of the microinsurance scheme launched by FCDCL in March 2018, in partnership with FijiCare Insurance Limited and supported by the United Nation’s Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme.