Empower communities by improving their communication skills and providing the tools community leaders, agencies, and resource people need to enhance the adoption of positive practices in the community. Motivate people living in Uganda, through media and interpersonal communication channels, to adopt practices that will lead to healthier and more productive lives.
Assist organisations to develop and implement advocacy campaigns which enhance social development throughout Uganda. CDFU provides the following services: Behaviour change needs assessment and strategic design Communication campaign design, planning, and management Production of information, education, and communication IEC materials - the organisation has an in-house design unit that creates posters, flip charts, comic books, leaflets, radio programmes including drama serial programmes , and spots.
Technical assistance on communication planning and evaluation Community mobilisation: CDFU works with districts, leaders, community-based organisations, and networks to mobilise communities for health and development programmes. CDFU's approach emphasises participation of all key stakeholders throughout the process, often using entertainment-education approaches to engage communities in order to promote positive behavior and social change, and utilisation of services.
In addition, CDFU has helped establish networks of volunteers that provide information, refer people to services, and promote sustainability of programmes. Training and skills development in BCC, IEC, and social mobilisation Pre-testing materials and formative research, including focus groups and in-depth interviews Monitoring and evaluation of communication interventions Distribution of materials Network building and support Group and organisation facilitation Event planning and management.
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Vivian Mortey, Head of Transformation at Opportunity Ghana spoke in detail about this policy in a radio episode. Addressing FSPs, she outlined redress compliance requirements required by the Bank of Ghana, which include internal policies on recourse and units to manage the system, the issuance of traceable complaints, and the adoption of regular reporting on resolution of complaints to regulators.
Clients were also encouraged to seek redress as laid out by the Bank of Ghana and directed towards accessing existing complaints channels and how to navigate these systems. Responsible borrowing remains a client protection issue in Ghana fueled by over-saturation in the market, high instances of loan stacking, limited credit bureau utilization, and low client understanding of loan terms.
Radio episodes sought to familiarize the public with these measures and increase knowledge on two levels: educating clients on borrowing and dealing with loan defaults, as well as advising financial service providers on over-indebtedness mitigation. Yaw Gyamfi, Executive Director at GHAMFIN, expanded on factors that lead to loan repayment challenges in the radio campaign, including limited client understanding of loan contracts and borrowing for non-revenue generating projects such as weddings, hospital bills, or home improvements.
He also emphasized the role clients can play, encouraging them to better control their debt by understanding loan contracts and making use of loan officers for advice on available options if they default.
The goal of YouDeservetoKnow was to reach as many listeners as possible and to test out the effectiveness of radio as a means of communicating with clients. The English language audience on Citi FM averaged , listeners per episode, while the Twi version of the campaign aired on Adom FM , garnering an average of listenership close to , per episode. Though coverage was extensive, the audience of these radio stations is concentrated in urban areas, whereas rural clients are harder to reach due to limited radio station access.
To complement the live shows, five-minute radio dramas were created with a variety of characters experiencing the consumer protection risks identified at the outset. While highlighting risks, each drama also ended with lessons that consumers could take away. Each week, the program would begin with a short radio drama introducing the relevant theme, followed by an interview between the radio station host and an expert. The campaign spanned 13 weeks with three episodes dedicated to each of the four themes with a final compilation episode.
Pre-recorded jingles aired in tandem with the radio dramas. Outreach efforts for YouDeservetoKnow began with a launch event in Accra attended by financial inclusion leaders and media representatives. Due to its placement on leading radio stations, the campaign received extensive media coverage, appearing in prominent news outlets such as Pulse , Graphic Online and Citi Newsroom.
The marketing approach for the campaign primarily utilized social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter. The aim was to engage listeners not only with audio broadcast on radio, but also with visual multimedia content posted on social media in advance of each broadcast. Working with a Ghanaian media firm called NoKhroma Collective, a combination of animated videos, illustrations, and calls-to-action were created to drum up interest in the radio campaign.
Additonally, working with survey company Geopoll , we sent SMS blasts to 16, mobile subscribers in Ghana, encouraging them to tune in. Through a unique mobile-based methodology, Geopoll estimated ratings at the end of each episode, giving further insights on reach and themes of interest. With an average listenership of , people per episode during the span of the campaign, responsible borrowing, recourse and fraud were the most popular episodes on Citi FM.
Adom FM generated an average listenership of , people per episode, with fraud and transparency as the most popular. Currently, only 38 percent of Beninese adults have access to a formal bank account. The growth of DFS has been inconsistent, with mobile money reaching 40 percent of the adult population, and only 16 percent in rural areas.
Consumers still face issues of fraud and incomprehensibility as regional and national regulatory bodies lack enforcement mechanisms for consumer protection violations. Since this scandal, the Ministry of Finance implemented a zero-tolerance policy, employing regulatory safeguards such as tightened licensing requirements to hold financial institutions accountable.
But as unauthorized microfinance institutions are increasingly saturating the market, regulatory bodies are finding it challenging to maintain supervisory control.
Unlike the approach in Ghana, this campaign experimented with outreach tactics to reduce the cost of reaching different audiences across a fractured media landscape. Partnering with local journalists who worked for a variety of radio stations and news outlets in multiple dialects was a key part of our strategy to create additional content that would live beyond the radio episodes.
Percentage of adult population with mobile money account in rural areas. The report found transparency, fraud, recourse, and responsible borrowing as the main challenges affecting consumers in Benin. The large number of unlicensed FSPs in the Beninese market poses a risk to consumers, as they struggle to differentiate between licensed and unlicensed providers. Consumers understand that legitimate providers collect savings deposits before granting loans to clients.
Clients have expressed confusion about how to identify licensed providers and report fraudulent activities. The lack of basic information about terms and conditions of financial products emerged as one of the main issues clients face, according to our research.
Of 1, clients surveyed, 33 percent reported not knowing how much they would pay for their loan in total, and only 12 percent reported knowing the interest rate on their loan. In addition, 17 percent were surprised by costs related to the loan process, and 15 percent did not know the exact amount of one of the fees paid. With low literacy rates in Benin, providers face an added challenge of effectively explaining terms and conditions so that clients fully grasp the commitment they are making.
With the introduction of digital finance to Benin in , active users of these services increased from two percent to 40 percent in , bringing along fraud as a major challenge. Client Voices Benin also revealed that clients struggled with recourse mechanisms. Eighty-six percent of clients reported that their provider did not inform them of where they could complain if they had a problem. Among those who knew where to complain, there was still confusion about which entity is responsible for resolving problems with the FSP.
Although 14 percent of the survey respondents reported wanting to file a complaint, only four percent did. In , Consortium Alafia introduced a nationwide recourse mechanism to better assist clients in voicing grievances about financial service providers, particularly small- and medium-sized FSPs. The mechanism was designed to receive and categorize all complaints from clients by 1 simple complaints directed to a specific person at an MFI, and 2 serious issues or unresolved complaints redirected to the association for resolution with the MFI.
Benin is in the early stages of implementing a credit bureau and few institutions report consistently. Building the credit history database has been slow because of customer consent legal requirements to collect this information. Without reliable information on credit history, providers must rely on other methods to determine creditworthiness of potential borrowers, however a systemic check is still lacking.
Under the principle of transparency, providers should disclose loan terms and conditions so that clients can make informed decisions. However, clients also have the important responsibility to borrow wisely, by borrowing for projects that will allow them to repay without difficulty and by avoiding loan stacking i. The campaign also featured one-minute public service announcements to share institution contact information that consumers could use to lodge a complaint or verify that a provider is licensed.
For eight weeks, the radio station hosted two live episodes each week in both languages. With guidance and insights from local media consultants, 19 Beninese journalists, speaking various dialects, were selected to compete in the creation of unique educational content, aired on their respective radio shows.
To kick off the competition, the journalists attended a one-day training on the Client Protection Principles and Client Voice findings. They were then tasked with creating minute radio productions on one of the four themes of the campaign: fraud, transparency, recourse, and responsible borrowing. Journalists were also challenged to find innovative ways to further educate consumers.
A panel of in-country judges made up of NAC members selected the winners of the competition during an award ceremony in Cotonou, Benin, attended by regulators and representatives of financial service providers. In total, participating journalists submitted over 54 entries, in four languages French, Goun, Mina, and Dendi. The winning entry from Jessica Gauthe included two radio programs, one television news report, a Facebook Live event at the Dantokpa market, and content shared on Facebook and WhatsApp.
The journalist competition allowed us to multiply our outreach efforts in a more cost-effective, sustainable way. Financial inclusion is on the rise in Uganda: 58 percent of adults have access to financial services in , compared to 28 percent in This improvement was largely driven by the uptake of mobile money services, which launched in Uganda in Despite regulatory efforts, the proliferation of digital financial services has also led to consumer harm in the areas of product and service transparency , mobile money fraud , risk of over-indebtedness , and access to recourse mechanisms.
The aim of the campaign was to complement efforts by the BoU to educate consumers on their financial rights and responsibilities and help mitigate consumer harm. Percentage of financially included adults that had a mobile money account in We organized a workshop in Kampala to inform the design and content of the Uganda radio campaign. This brought together members of the NAC, media, and financial institution representatives, as well as staff from the Communication for Development Foundation Uganda CDFU who were contracted to design and implement the radio program.
As mobile money account ownership exceeds bank account ownership in Uganda, the mobile money market has become a breeding ground for fraudsters. According to Microsave , an average of one hundred mobile money users lose money every week from fraud, with many more cases that likely go unreported because customers do not trust the handling of such cases. A common consumer risk in this area is PIN security. This affects both mobile money agents, whose mishandlings can lead to client harm and clients whose unawareness can lead to stolen funds.
Although mobile network operators attempt to curtail this problem by training agents and advising clients, further consumer education is needed. She provided listeners with the following advice:. False promotions is another common fraudulent tactic in Uganda taking advantage of mobile network operator MNO marketing and advertising strategies.
This tactic involves fraudsters impersonating MNOs who call or text customers claiming that they have won a prize. Customers are then asked to send a facilitation fee to a specific mobile money account. MNOs have attempted to mitigate this risk by increasing awareness of the official phone numbers through which winners would be contacted. On the show, these experts advised consumers to be alert to such scams and always verify the legitimacy of a promotion through the UCC. Transparency features prominently in these guidelines, and consumers are encouraged to obtain documentation outlining clear terms, conditions, and relevant fees associated with opening a mobile money account and conducting transactions.
The guidelines also require mobile money agents to clearly display the following information:. Agents are also required to provide an oral explanation of all terms and conditions to consumers in their preferred language, if they are unable to read these terms.
He also addressed the risks associated with mobile money transactions, such as consumers accidentally sending funds to the wrong person, and guided listeners on the process for transaction reversals.
In , IPA conducted mystery shopping visits to over 1, financial institutions in Uganda. The study revealed that customers received inconsistent information depending on how experienced and familiar with the lending process they were as customers as well as on which loan officer they were dealing with at the time. Although the Bank of Uganda introduced the Financial Consumer Protection Guidelines mandating product transparency, the study revealed that many financial institutions remain non-compliant.
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