volume 3, number 2

February 2009

Your monthly Aflatoun Talk has arrived!

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Dear Friends,

Warm February greetings from Aflatoun!

This month we are gearing up for our Mid-Campaign Meeting July 5-8^th 2009 in Cairo, Egypt! The meeting will commemorate the middle of Aflatoun’s 2008-2010 Campaign to reach 1 million children in 75 countries and will be the global focal point to plan the road ahead for the Aflatoun Movement.

We celebrate the launch of a new Aflatoun country—Tanzania—where TPC Maryland Helper has gone live in schools with Aflatoun in the lowlands of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

As Aflatoun reaches new countries it is also expanding within countries. This month we feature the scale-up of Aflatoun into new Nigerian schools in partnership with J.P.Morgan. We are also proud to announce our global research partnership with Ernst & Young for Child Friendly Banking policy research across more than 40 countries.

February’s The Aflatoun Network Talks features a quote from a student in the Aflatoun programme in Mozambique on what Aflatoun is teaching him about saving resources. Read all about it in the February Aflatoun Talk!

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Save the Date: Aflatoun Mid-Campaign Meeting this July 5-8^th!

This July 5-8^th, 2009 Aflatoun will host its Mid-Campaign Meeting in Cairo, Egypt.  The meeting marks the middle of the 2008-2010 Campaign to bring the Aflatoun Programme to 1 million children in 75 countries by the end of 2010. Aflatoun launched this Campaign in March 2008 and we are now well on the Campaign trail with over 250,000 children in 22 countries. Hosted with Aflatoun’s Egyptian partner, the National Council on Childhood & Motherhood (NCCM), the 2009 Campaign meeting will bring together Aflatoun's global network of civil society organizations, governments, banks, corporations, multi-lateral organizations, and many other stakeholders. Partners and stakeholders will take part to learn about best practices and lessons learned in children's social and financial empowerment. We will all come together to celebrate and share Aflatoun achievements to date and plan the road ahead. For more information contact: info@aflatoun.org

We hope to see you in Cairo this July 5-8^th!

Tanzania goes live in schools!

Tanzania Plantation Company (TPC) has launched its Aflatoun Programme this month in cooperation with the country’s Ministry of Education. TPC’s Aflatoun Programme is being implemented with 20 primary schools in the lowlands of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The programme is reaching over 250 children and even includes seminars with community leaders and local school boards. TPC will also have a future training with PEDN’s staff from the Aflatoun Programme in Uganda visiting to share lessons learned. TPC is only one of the Aflatoun partners in Tanzania, where International Child Support (ICS) is also set to a launch another Aflatoun Programme soon. Congratulations to TPC for adding the newest Aflatoun Programme to the network.

Aflatoun scales up in Nigeria with support of JPMorgan!

LYNX-Nigeria, Aflatoun’s partner in Nigeria, has launched a scale-up effort into 120 primary schools in Lagos and Kaduna states. LYNX-Nigeria has been implementing Aflatoun, known locally as the Aflatoun Child Rights Cooperative (ACRC), since 2006. ACRC is implemented in cooperation with Lagos’ and Kaduna’s Basic Education Boards, the government’s state-based education representatives. LYNX-Nigeria has also partnered with local private and civil society organizations to create a strong state-based Aflatoun movement. So far, over 240 teachers have been trained to teach the Aflatoun Curriculum. LYNX-Nigeria’s Aflatoun Programme sponsor since November 2008 is J.P.Morgan. We thank J.P.Morgan for their demonstrated support for children’s social and financial empowerment in Nigeria. Congratulations to LYNX-Nigeria for taking the Aflatoun Movement forward into new Nigerian schools.

Aflatoun announces research partnership with Ernst & Young!

Aflatoun has partnered with Ernst & Young to collect research on Child Friendly Banking policies and practices across more than 40 countries worldwide. The research collected so far documents popular child savings products and regulations on children’s access to savings accounts from India to Mexico. We thank Aflatoun Boardmember Herman Hulst for initiating the partnership and Hans Moison and Alexandra Polman-Cros for implementing the call for research across more than 40 E&Y country offices. Our thanks also go out to each country office for taking the time to research national banking policies for children and documenting best practices in children’s access to savings accounts. With this valuable research Aflatoun Programmes worldwide will launch concerted efforts for children Child Friendly Banking access. Your hard work and dedication to Aflatoun and children’s social and financial empowerment is much appreciated.

The Aflatoun Network Talks! 

The Aflatoun Programme teaches children not to just save money, but to save all types of resources. It strongly emphasises that there are many types of resources, not just monetary ones, and that children can effectively manage valuable resources, like water, clothes, or time. In Mozambique, we recently received a comment from our programme partners Wona Sanana and Plan telling us what one 4^th year student has learned about saving resources and how he is sharing his lessons with friends too.

“[At the Aflatoun Club] I learned to save various things, such as water, money, food, school uniform…The games that I learned in the club I taught to my friends in the neighbourhood.”

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Some Words of Thanks

This month’s words of thanks are dedicated to Aflatoun’s private sector partners who are contributing to further the Aflatoun Movement locally and globally in more ways than one! The Aflatoun Network has partners like Ernst & Young, Citi, J.P.Morgan, McKinsey, AFP Integra, Amsterdam Worldwide, and so many more across the globe. Private partners support local and global Aflatoun Programmes with various efforts like pro-bono services and funds to implement Aflatoun. In turn, these companies are helping to build a future of socially and financially empowered children in hundreds of communities worldwide.

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The Aflatoun Dream...

Our dream is the reduction of poverty through the development of socially and financially empowered children. We believe that children should be taught to understand their rights and responsibilities and strive to ensure that child financial education is viewed as a right for every child across the globe.

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Aflatoun: Every Child has the Right to Social and Financial Education.

“Separate fiction from fact, explore, think, investigate and act”

www.aflatoun.org

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