Culturally appropriate and innovative communications proves key to amplifying our message of financial inclusion for all.
Culturally appropriate and innovative communications proves key to amplifying our message of financial inclusion for all.
A Good Life is the inspiring memoir of Good Return’s very own founder, Guy Winship. Within its uplifting pages, the memoir highlights how Guy wanted to use Cambodian puppet art, The Sbek Thom, to deliver Good Return’s messages in a way that was both appropriate and culturally specific. To this day, at Good Return, we continue to strive to find new and innovative forms of communication to achieve our ultimate goal: to enable women, the marginalised and their families to access opportunity and build financial security.
One of our biggest campaigns to date has been the 'Let's Talk Money: Little by Little' campaign produced by the National Bank of Cambodia and Good Return, and supported by United Nations ESCAP. The goal of the campaign is to build financial confidence and money management skills for Cambodians and encourage shared financial decision-making between men and women. Phase 1 of the campaign included a 4-part video drama series, 24-episode radio talkback show, social media and face-to-face workshops to reach 3 million people throughout 2021 and 2022. Dramas are a highly popular form of media for Cambodian audiences, and the campaign uses the story of a couple starting their own business to share vital messages about saving, budgeting and planning for stronger futures. Only last month, the continuing success of this campaign became clear when the drama series was selected and screened as an official selection of the 12th Cambodia International Film Festival!
Good Return’s Diana Tjoeng, NBC’s Reaksmy May and film star Ma Rynet discuss the wider campaign goals before the screening of the LTM drama series at the recent Cambodian Film Festival.
Phase 2 officially launched in 2023 and focuses on low-income women garment workers in Cambodia, with a particular emphasis on strengthening their skills in the aftermath of the pandemic and factory closures. Currently, there are 850,000 people who work in Cambodia’s $7 billion garment industry and 80% of these women have no access to financial and social security nets such as unemployment benefits, parental or sick leave (United Nations, Cambodia. Sreysros Keo 2021). Moreover, lockdowns during Covid-19 resulted in the closure of garment factories across the country and left tens of thousands of low-paid garment workers without income (Reuters, Yon Sineat, Matt Blomberg 2021). On the other hand, over the past decade digital literacy has been steadily on the rise in Cambodia and Cambodia now has one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world, with 20.8 million mobile connections or 124 per cent of the population (Phnom Penh Post 2021).
Working within this unique social, political and economic context, Phase 2 has seen the Good Return team strive to think of new and innovative ways to engage our participants and create content that is relatable to garment factory workers. Veronica Lewis, Good Return’s Financial Education Officer, explained that ‘We are really excited to have engaged a graphic designer to create a comic which explores digital safety - this is a particularly important topic today for young people who are using digital apps for their money management’. Accordingly, the comic tells the story of a worker who gives her bank account details and pin numbers to family members (and even her pet dog!), using humour and an engaging storyline to explore how to safely manage this situation. Ultimately, Diana Tjoeng, Good Return’s Asia Regional Manager, explains that ‘the comic is a way to share important information in a more fun, colourful and creative way - fitting with the approach of the wider campaign that strives to use stories to connect and educate’. The team were also grateful to local partners, the Financial Inclusion team at NBC and the Cambodian Women for Peace and Development trainers, who contributed their unique ideas to the comic and helped to further contextualise the content.
Building on the staggering mobile phone penetration rates in Cambodia, the team have also been working to incorporate the My Money Tracker mobile application and Facebook groups into the program, so that participants can follow up after face-to-face training with further discussion and practical activities. This new approach was piloted with a group of women in April, and the learnings from the pilot will be used to rollout face-to-face training sessions with our partner, CWPD, in the coming months. Ensuring that our participants feel supported and have the opportunity to give feedback is a cornerstone of the program. Moreover, Phase 2 has also been a fantastic opportunity to reflect on the successes and challenges of Phase 1, and update the Phase 2 curriculum and content accordingly - demonstrating our ongoing commitment to our monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) processes.
Congratulations to the Good Return Team who have been working on this innovative program!
In addition to NBC, the ‘Let’s Talk Money: Little by Little’ Campaign would not have been possible without local sponsors including Prince Bank Plc., Phnom Penh Commercial Bank Plc., and Maybank (Cambodia) Plc, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Catalysing Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme funded by the Government of Canada andAccenture Australia. The campaign is also supported by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Association of Banks in Cambodia (ABC), Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA), Cambodian Women for Peace and Development (CWPD), Cambodia Women Entrepreneurs Association (CWEA), SHE Investments and Prudential (Cambodia) Life Assurance Plc.