International life skills and financial education body helps over 13 000 children

By Hopewell Chibvongodze

Harare, April 30, 2024 – Aflatoun, an international life skills and financial education programme, has trained over 13,000 beneficiaries including 8,000 girls and 4,000 school leavers and people with disabilities, an official has said.

Aflatoun social and financial education chief executive, Roeland Monasch, told a Zimbabwe economic empowerment intervention progress sharing 2024 exercise on Monday in Harare that his organisation offers social and financial education to millions of children and young people worldwide, empowering them to make a change for a sustainable future covering over 100 coun­tries.

He said 700 million children are living in monetary poor households, 258 million children are out of school and over 600 million adolescents between 10-19 years are financially illiterate.

Aflatoun’s desire is therefore to ensure that all children and young people have access to social and financial education, empowering them to make a positive change for a more equitable world while fulfilling some Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

“Long-lasting and sustainable solutions will only be realised if children and young people are fully equipped with the tools needed to engage with the chal­lenges of the future.

“Aflatoun International’s Life Skills and Financial Education have proven to be effective in increasing children and young people’s self-efficacy and confidence; in raising awareness of their rights, improving social behaviour, and enhancing financial attitudes. It is one of the most well-researched international life skills programmes globally,” he said.

Aflatoun curricula cover children from six to 24 years which are, Aflatot for three to six years old, Aflatoun for six to 14 years, Aflateen for 15 to 18 years old, and Aflayouth for 16 to 24 years.

Aflatot offers early childhood education for sustainable development, Aflatoun builds on a child’s natural cu­riosity and teaches them about their rights, saving and starting enterprises. Aflatoun non-education is for vulnerable chil­dren, including those not attend­ing school.

Aflateen stimulates young people to question their identity and learn about money and the economy, preparing them for a com­plex and turbulent job market while also addressing topics on gender ine­quality, sexual and reproduction health and rights and human rights.

Aflayouth is aimed at helping individuals un­derstand their goals in the labour market and make informed choic­es about their options in educa­tion, jobs, and entrepreneurship.

“Five core elements of our curricula are personal understanding and exploration, rights and responsibilities, saving and spending, planning and budgeting and social and financial enterprise,” he said.

The organisation has been recognised by HundrED in a global collection of leading innovations in K12 education and also ranked 23^rd among the top global NGOs by NGO Advisor.