The document summarizes a presentation by Marcin Polak on lessons learned from Poland's experience in financial literacy. Some key points: - Poland lacked a national financial literacy strategy, so efforts were fragmented despite spending over 50 million euros on programs. - A national strategy and yearly plans are important for coordination, objectives, and assessing program impact. - Objectives should target different groups like students, adults, and specify knowledge vs. awareness goals. - An innovative learning design is needed using technology, repetition across multiple channels, and practical "wallet education". - Planning requires identifying leaders, training key influencers, developing an interactive online platform, and long-term marketing.

1. Moscow, April 4-5, 2011
The World Bank & Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation
Workshop on Financial Literacy and Financial Consumer Protection
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
IN FINANCIAL LITERACY
LESSONS FROM POLAND
Policy making, design & implementation process - what is important?
Marcin Polak
Futuredu & Think! Institute Foundation
Warsaw, Poland Photo:
(C)
NBP

2. Index
 Introduction
 National Strategy
and the Yearly Plan
 Objectives
 Learning Process
Design
 Planning / Designing
 Resources
 Evaluation
Photo:
sxc.hu

3. Introduction
 Poland – an interesting case on
the Financial Literacy world map
 No National Strategy – the
Government is not interested in
promoting Financial Literacy
 The leading role of the central
bank – the National Bank of
Poland (NBP) has its own
educational strategy and
objectives. NBP spent over 50
Million EUR on the economic
and financial education in years
2002-2010 Photo:
(C)
NBP

4. Introduction
 Many NGO FL programs
supported from the NBP &
the financial industry
sources
 No single coordination office
for nationwide financial
literacy campaign
 Consequence: disseminated
educational efforts (even in
large numbers) have no
significant impact on
financial knowledge of
the society Photo:
sxc.hu

5. Introduction
 This has been researched
well – in years 2007-2010
despite many FL programs,
the level of knowledge is still
not very satisfactory
 However, financial
consumers do behave
reasonably – the Polish
society was not much
affected by the global
financial crisis 2007-2008
Photo:
Kronenberg
Founda:on

6. National Strategy and the Yearly Plan
 The National Strategy for Financial Education is
important tool of policy coordination when an
action on national level is being considered
 It helps to constitute the coordination office,
gives mandate and objectives, shows the
roadmap, specifies instruments of the campaign
 Better results of the FL campaign when Annual
Plans are voted year-by-year within the long-
term Strategy - it gives space for modification
of directions and particular programs
Photo:
sxc.hu

7. National Strategy and the Yearly Plan
 The role of the coordination office is very
important – in designing, programming and
assessing real value of implemented FL
programs
 Responsibility for designing FL policy is at the
national level
Photo:
sxc.hu

8. Objectives
 Where are possible limits to FL national
campaign?
 From School to Elderly? – where is the target
group?
 To disseminate knowledge? or to build
awareness?
 A part of a school curriculum? or beyond the
school curriculum?
 Time factor – immediate results of programs? or
long-term step-by-step improvement of general
financial awareness?
Photo:
sxc.hu

9. Objectives – sample (the NBP case)
The strategic goals could were specified as:
 To deliver basic financial knowledge and
skills to secondary schools and universities
(for young people)
 To give instruction and counteract wrong
economic and financial knowledge for better
economic awareness (for adults)
 To promote equal access to financial
education resources by developing virtual
education platform(s) (for everybody)
Photo:
sxc.hu

10. Objectives – sample (the NBP case)
NBP specified in its Strategy and Annual Action
Plans that there would be:
 I. programs addressed to affect deep
economic culture (through
formal
educa:on
process
and
training:
pupils,
students,
teachers,
journalists)
 II. mass education programs to affect shallow
economic culture (through mass media
programs incl. edutainment: adults)
 III. virtual education – internet platform with
educational and information resources (through
e-learning and edutainment)
Photo:
sxc.hu

11. Objectives of the NBP strategy
virtual
educa:on
III.
I.
II.
mass
media,
formal
educa:on
informal
educa:on
Photo:
sxc.hu

12. Learning Process Design
 21st Century learning process - technology is
important part of our lifes (...and education)
 School models are behind civilization’s changes
– although young people are connected to
networks all the time
 Be innovative – use powerful channels and tools
for communicating knowledge and ideas
 Think about using ICT in social education –
e.g. mobile phones or iPods
Photo:
sxc.hu

13. Learning Process Design
 Repeating the message is important – because
we forget easily
 Ebbinghaus curve
Repeating the message – more
chances for memorizing
Ebbinghaus curve – how we forget in
the learning process – 1/2 of the
material in first 2 hours…
hDp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ForgeHng_curve

14. Learning Process Design
 Multiply the message in various channels -
reaching target groups from many directions
The
Coordina,on
Office
journalists
teachers
social
networks
families
media
internet
schools
Photos:
sxc.hu

15. Learning Process Design
 Build a virtual learning platform
 People will listen to the message, but they will
forget it – you can offer them a website to search
for more valuable and reliable information Photo:
ZrozumFinanse.pl

16. Learning Process Design
 A concept for the FL campaign: the Wallet
Education - talk about finances as about the
money in wallets of your target group.
 All economics must be shown in action.
Practical approach, limited theory. Show a link
between a person’s wallet and a particular
economic mechanism (money relations)
 Use arguments based on a reason and logic
(opportunities), don’t afraid to shock with
possible negative consequences (threats)
Photo:
sxc.hu

17. Planning / Designing
 Who’s the Boss? FL campaign must have
a leader, being a spokesperson for all actions
(supported by the press office)
 Both layers of the economic awareness (deep
and shallow) must be addressed in the FL
campaign - include different types of action, like
training and mass media programs
 Mass media as Financial Literacy campaign
major actors (all, incl. Internet)
 Training: first of all – train the trainers and
knowledge disseminators (teachers,
journalists, academicians, social leaders)
Photo:
sxc.hu

18. Planning / Designing
 Develop virtual education in a modern,
interactive way; promote the platform in the
Internet, attract users to visit it
 Visualise (potential) problems, attract the
audience by showing benefits, convince to
respond to action calls, make interactions
 Allow financial edutainment. Play, have fun
and learn (e.g. In simulations) – this is a good
method for financial literacy
 In schools: go beyond curriculum – offer
students practical knowledge and tools they
would be happy to use in their life
Photo:
sxc.hu

19. Planning / Designing
 Do marketing. Education without social
marketing is less effective. Significant part of
your budget should be marketing and promotion
 Networks! People are connected to social
networks for most of a day (and night) – it
changed the way we as people learn today
 Multiply the same message in different tools
and programs (multidirection communication)
 Repeat the message again and again

20. Planning / Designing
 The responsibility for tailoring
effective programs is in the
coordination team. No one would
better know strategic goals and
the FL policy
 But to implement programs build
your FL coalition on national
and local levels
 This is a long-term action plan.
Do not expect solid changes in a
short time period. Be ready it will
consume significant budgets!
Photo:
sxc.hu

21. Resources
Arrange your resources – you go to fight the
financial ignorance – what will you need?
 Good ideas for financial education programs
 Surveys data on your target groups
 Staff with mixed competences (eg. educators,
economists, sociologists – rather experienced
practicioners)
Photo:
sxc.hu

22. Resources
 Network of reliable allies (to build national and
local coalitions)
 Supporting (external) experts (many)
 Identified effective channels of
communication (e.g. not much sens to invest in
press inserts)
 Funding (rather a lot of money)
 Communication policy (media relations) – FL
campaign is about educating masses – mass
media must be involved and the press office
must support FL educators
Photo:
sxc.hu

23. Evaluation
 Measure where you are
 Get data on the
effectiveness of tools you
use – pre-test, post-test,
surveys, skill checking...
 In a long term FL program
some of your action would
be experiments; they
need to be evaluated
before continuing

24. www.economiceducator.eu

25. Thank you very much!
• Financial
Literacy
is
a
life
skill
of
21st
Century
–
(lifelong
learning)
Marcin Polak
Futuredu & Think! Institute Foundation
Warsaw, Poland
marcin.polak [at] futuredu.pl

26. Marcin Polak
 Marcin Polak was the Head of the Economic Education in the National
Bank of Poland (2002-2007), being responsible for strategic planning and
implementation of the nationwide and international economic education and
financial literacy projects. These initiatives were addressed, among others,
to schools, libraries, students, teachers, journalists, priests, judges, as well
as, through the mass media, to general public opinion.
 He was also responsible for developing international cooperation of
central banks in the field of economic education and initiated close
cooperation in the field of economic education between banks of the
European System of Central Banks.
 (Since 2008) President of the Board of the Think Global Ltd., founder of the
Think! Institute for Development of Communications and Education, owner
and publisher of the Edunews.pl - one of the largest educational web sites
in Poland (250 thousand users) promoting modern education programs and
tools for the education sector as well as EconomicEducator.eu -
international platform for economic and financial educators and experts. He
is a member of the European Commission Expert Group on the
Financial Education.