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Building Financial Literacy through Hands-on Learning |
Professor Yunus has often described Grameen Bank as a “University for the Poor” and that the loans act as an incentive to participate.
Following the practices of Grameen Bank, Grameen America is approaching financial education as an integrated part of its every day recruiting, lending and savings activities, and not as a separate academic exercise. This method provides our borrowers with some of the best financial literacy training around without requiring them to learn in a traditional classroom setting -– which for many people, is not the most effective learning environment (especially for adults whose school days are long behind them!).
One of our cornerstone efforts to provide integrated financial education is the five-day Continuous Group Training (CGT) program that each borrower completes before she is eligible to receive a loan. As the name implies, Grameen America emphasizes – right at the very beginning – that learning is a continual process when you are a Grameen America member and not an isolated activity. Topics covered during CGT include:
- The risks and rewards of taking out a loan
- Loan products
- Interest rates
- Savings products
- Credit establishment
- The value of discipline, trust and individual responsibility in the Grameen program
- The role of the Group in the Grameen lending and savings model
Grameen America has graduated over 225 borrowers through this initiative – and each one can immediately put these lessons into practice by opening a savings account (a requirement of each GA borrower) and using their loan to start or grow their small business. Moreover, CGT lessons learned are continually reinforced at required Weekly Center Meetings where borrowers discuss business issues as they arise, share best practices, and learn from their peers and the GA staff. Weekly Center Meetings are also the platform by which borrowers make weekly repayments and contributions to savings accounts and so, are an important way that GA builds a culture of savings, individual responsibility and accountability – three absolute essentials for any financially literate individual.
At the heart of all of this is Grameen America’s steadfast commitment to listen to the needs of our borrowers and serve them in the best possible way.
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