Women’s World Banking (WWB) President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian would like to announce the launch of WWB’s newest initiative to encourage women of the Dominican Republic to become better money managers, to build savings, and to create a more secure future for themselves and their families. The launch event, to be held at the Museum of Arts and Design on October 19, 2011, will feature a panel discussion about the groundbreaking soap opera titled Contracorriente, presented by WWB network member bank Banco ADOPEM. The television show, to be broadcasted by Telesistema, a national channel of the Dominican Republic, will explore the ways in which media can positively influence financial behavior and will run in tandem with the Banco ADOPEM’s national campaign to encourage savings.
The 16-episode soap opera has been produced by Puntos De Encuentro, a Nicaraguan non-governmental organization, to improve financial literacy and money management among low-income Dominican families. The series will showcase dramatic storylines, while also introducing themes of savings and financial security. The show features the Ortizes, a working class family encountering financial challenges, conflicts within the home and startling changes within themselves. According to Mercedes Canalda de Beras-Goico, Executive Vice President of Banco ADOPEM, the financial education storyline, “will encourage Dominicans to save money through formal financial institutions and invest remittances in their families and communities.”
WWB, in partnership with Banco ADOPEM, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Reach Global, and Puntos de Encuentro, have collaborated for two years to create the show and supporting elements of the project. In parallel to the airing of the soap opera, WWB and ADOPEM will carry out a national savings campaign and financial education training set to launch in November 2011.
Along with increasing the number of people who both open and become active users of savings accounts, the project further seeks to prove the importance of tackling the underlying power relations within households. WWB research has exposed that women in the Dominican Republic prioritized savings more than men because they face different realities and risks such as being left by their male partner and having to be the sole breadwinner or saving for unexpected health emergencies. The television program is part of the Women’s World Banking initiative “Safe Places to Save” sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and designed to help microfinance institutions—including Banco ADOPEM—introduce savings accounts to low income clients.
Telesistema, owned by the Corripio Group, is the national TV channel most-watched by ADOPEM’s clients. WWB and Banco ADOPEM are optimistic about the ability to optimize outreach to the target market through the broadcasting of the series twice a week, beginning on October 24, 2011 and running through to February 25, 2012. An integrated marketing campaign will launch in November with a combination of TV and radio commercials and outdoor visuals, as well as a complementary and linked promotional effort for the series.
Reach Global, a strategic international education delivery firm, joined the project to deliver financial/savings messages and to develop the financial education training curriculum. They have completed a guide for the training of financial education trainers and a DVD pack of scenes to be used during sessions. The scenes will highlight key messages from the seven financial education training modules. The DVD pack and the Trainer’s Guide will be field tested and adapted for use in the Training of Trainers at the ADOPEM NGO of Santo Domingo in January 2012. By spring 2012, at least 300 Banco ADOPEM clients will receive training on the seven-session curriculum that covers everything from prioritizing expenses to using savings passbooks.
ICRW will spearhead the measured evaluation of the combined impact of the series and the marketing campaign on women’s attitudes, perception and knowledge, household financial management, financial communication, and savings. The evaluation will focus on how and in what ways change was achieved among target populations. The goal of the evaluation is to provide results that will further social marketing efforts in the microfinance industry. As the project gears up for its launch in the Dominican Republic, all parties involved hope that Contracorriente will serve as the inspiration for the creation of similar projects in other countries where there is a need for women’s financial empowerment.
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