Young financial literacy champions announced

The campaign, organised by global payments technology company Visa and the Central Committee of Vietnam Students’ Association (CCVSA), commenced in April and has seen teams of students from eight universities running “Money 101” forums where they designed programmes to teach their peers about personal money management concepts such as saving and budgeting.

The format of each forum was left to the students’ creativity in deciding the best medium and tools necessary to educate their fellow students. At the end of these forums, the eight teams were each required to submit their proposal for a financial education programme for university students.

Of the eight teams in the programme, the team from the National Economics University of Hanoi was awarded the grand prize of “Young Financial Literacy Champions”.

Taking out the second place prize of “Young Financial Literacy Experts” was the team from the Ho Chi Minh City Economic University, while the third place prize of “Young Financial Literacy Consultants” was awarded to the Finance Marketing University, Ho Chi Minh City.

“As a programme that’s intended to get students educating one another about financial issues, this year’s Practical Money Skills has certainly achieved its goals. The team from the National Economics University of Hanoi held two Money 101 forums that were fun and engaging, and generated a high level of interaction with students, while their communication plan proposed a student mentoring programme, debates, and even a reality gameshow. These students have shown they have what it takes to really drive home the importance of good financial management to their peers,” said Lorijon Bacchi, country manager, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos at Visa.

“I’m happy to say the 2013 programme has reached thousands of university students in both the north and south of Vietnam and empowered them with the knowledge they need to make informed financial decisions.

“Central to the programme’s success has been our partnership with the CCVSA, who have been guiding the students in their proposals and providing feedback at the Money 101 forums.”

Nguyen Quang Huy, one of the participating students from the Hanoi University of Technology, said the programme has provided him with practical experience he might not have otherwise been exposed to.

"Since having to organise the Money 101 forums, I've learned many financial skills that have been helpful in my day-to-day life. In fact, I’ve already been able to apply a number of the things I’ve learned to my weekly budgeting, and as a result have been able to save more money for my weekend outings such as catching a movie with my friends,” said Huy.

“Being a part of the programme has not only opened my eyes to the working world but has also been a lot of fun for me, and I'm very proud to have been able to represent my university at this event.”

Earlier this year, Visa signed a memorandum of understanding with the CCVSA, which will see the partners delivering financial literacy programmes to university students in Vietnam for the next three years. In addition, this year’s programme and its series of activities for students from across the country are closely aligned with the celebration of the 9th National Congress of the Vietnam Student Association.

In addition to the Money 101 forums, the Practical Money Skills programme is backed up by a series of high quality online resources. The official programme website (http://practicalmoneyskills.com.vn) provides useful advice from programme mascot Mr. Pocket, as well as handy financial formulas and other tools. Since launching the Practical Money Skills programme two years ago, the official website has achieved 45,000 unique visitors as well as over 2 million individual hits.

The programme’s YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/kynangquanlytaichinh) has attracted 800 subscribers and more than one million views, thanks to a series of humorous video clips made by students. Similarly popular, the CCVSA and participating teams’ Facebook pages have gained 5,500 “likes”, and have seen high levels of discussion and interaction between users.

The full list of awards from the Practical Money Skills programme