Ghana Financial Literacy Programme

Thematic Area:	Financial Inclusion & Microfinance
Duration:	2017 - 2019
Client:	World Bank Group (WBG) / IFC
Region:	Africa
Country Coverage:	Ghana

Project Overview

The primary goal of the Project is to increase the availability of regulated and sustainable credit to consumers and the small-scale business sector in Ghana through (a) support to improve the existing collateral registry and secured transactions framework; and, (b) support to improve and strengthen the credit reporting system. Frankfurt School was selected by the WBG/IFC to design and implement a communications strategy for the Financial Literacy and Public Awareness Campaign in close cooperation with the Bank of Ghana. The Assignment focused on the use of the existing financial infrastructure: credit bureaus and the collateral registry. It promoted responsible lending and borrowing, while addressing some of the most common issues that consumers and micro, small and medium-sized (MSMEs) have regarding their personal and business finances.

Within this Project, our Frankfurt School experts contributed to the fourth UN sustaianble development goal (SDG 4) on Quality Education as financial consumers now have access to information and are aware of the benefits of using the collateral registry and credit reporting system. The Project has achieved the following activites and results:

A nation-wide market research activity was carried out with focus groups, where several client groups and interviews with financial institutions took place in order to identify the communication preferences and knowledge about the topic; and,

A national working group with 16 relevant stakeholders of the public and private sector was established to monitor and supervise the campaign during and after the Project.

An awareness campaign informed consumers about new tools available to access credit through the collateral registry and credit reporting system and to promote responsible lending and borrowing. This was delivered through professional trainings, targeted radio interviews and discussions, and radio spots in six local languages. Together, the use of these channels enabled information to reach a large part of the Ghanaian population.

The increased communication and public awareness on financial literacy, led to the following achievements within the project timeframe:

The number of consultations and claims in the credit bureaus increased by 31.4%;
The number of loans provided by financial institutions on the basis of movable collateral doubled; and,
30 journalists were trained on the importance and benefits of using the collateral registry and credit bureaus, which led to the publishing of several press articles across different media outlets such as radio, newspapers, and TV.