Thursday, 10 December 2009
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World Bank Australia & NZ Help Pacific Islanders Christmas 2009
The Christmas holiday period is typically a time for Pacific Islanders living in Australia and New Zealand to send money back home to their families. Earlier this year, the Australian and New Zealand governments, supported by the World Bank, set up the sendmoneypacific.org website to assist Pacific communities avoid expensive fees by finding the cheapest way of transferring their money. This month, following ongoing regional efforts to lower the cost of remittances, the World Bank, in partnership with the New Zealand government, has released a Money PACIFIC 2010 calendar aimed at helping Pacific households better handle their budgets and provide information on the various financial services available to them.
A series of community focus groups found very low levels of financial literacy in New Zealand’s and Australia’s Pacific diaspora as well as back in the Islands. Tailored to the Pacific context, the calendars were developed to address the issue at a household level by offering monthly financial tips on remittances, loans and savings. More importantly, they are also interactive – incorporated into each calendar is a detachable sheet of stickers to be used as a reminder on days where household bills are due.
“The majority of the Pacific population remains outside the formal financial system," said Tomas Ernst, Project Officer in the World Bank’s Pacific office. "As we work alongside the private sector to expand financial infrastructure to include the unbanked, we must also ensure that we are empowering consumers to understand and seek out low-cost products.”
The calendars are expected to reach a massive proportion of the Tongan and Samoan populations both in New Zealand and in the Pacific, with 35,000 to be distributed in total. In Tonga alone, distribution is anticipated to cover up to 57 percent of households. The calendars have been provided free of charge to countless schools and churches across the three countries for circulation, and are being sold to individuals and families for $1 each to assist with local fundraising efforts.
The G20 and regional Finance Ministers have underscored the importance of building financial capability, especially during these challenging economic times. The 2009 Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) action plan fully endorsed the Money PACIFIC concept—which among other goals, aims to halve the number of Pacific Island households without access to financial services by 2020.
World Bank 12-09-09
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