By Mong Jimenez, Field Communications Specialist
Pitch: In Aklan, kids as young as 5 years old are learning and practicing thriftiness. They set aside a part of their school allowance each day and save it with other kids who are members in their savings group. World Vision organized this group so children can develop the value of saving money at an early age.
Philippines – At an early age, kids can absorb many lessons that are available in their surroundings. It is important that they learn good behavior and values that can be useful when they grow up.
In a community in the province of Aklan, kids as young as 5 years old are learning and practicing thriftiness. They set aside a part of their school allowance each day and save it with other kids who are members in their savings group twice a month.
World Vision organized this savings group in the community to instill the value of saving money to children through the program Community Managed Savings and Credit Association for Kids (CoMSCA Kids). CoMSCA started as a program for adults. It aims to improve the livelihood condition of families by providing a venue where parents can save and borrow money during emergency need.
In the Philippines, there are over 700 CoMSCA Kids groups with more than 12,000 members already.
The CoMSCA Kids group in Aklan has just started in 2015 and it is already making a favorable impact to the members’ behavior. The parents observed that their child would rather save a spare from their allowance than buy it with the usual junk foods or toys outside their school. 12-year-old Jemelyn, the leader of the savings group in Aklan, shares that her members are always excited to attend in their CoMSCA meeting. “The members are planning to distribute the saved money before the opening of class next school year so we can use it to buy our school supplies,” she says.
