Overview

The findings from the WageWise survey on ‘Financial Resilience in the time of COVID-19’ conducted in 2020 during the lockdown, with past participants on the programme, indicated that “financial education supports the financial resilience, i.e., the ability to ‘cope and adapt’ in the face of shocks and adversity”, of participants.  These participants were prompted to make changes to their finances after participating in the programme which enabled them to better withstand the shocks during the COVID-19 pandemic.  They had started to budget, prioritised spending on essential items, and they had started saving.  The results also indicated that by attending the programme they were more likely to track their income and expenses and feel calm about their debt.  These findings support the need for a financial education programme such as WageWise, targeted to assist workers.

Key objectives

The programme seeks to achieve the following with its participants:

  • Achieve financial knowledge and skills transfer, with the ultimate goal of achieving attitudinal and behaviour change,
  • Improve long term financial resilience, through better financial management and improved financial inclusion.

Benefits

 

Click here to view an Infographic on the contribution of WageWise to the financial resilience of its participants.

Click here to view the programme brochure.

Click here to view the participant flyer for the WhatsApp for Business approach

Click here to view the 2021 WageWise Overview 

View the programme video

 

 

Wagewise Training

Given the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the lockdown restrictions, two training approaches are available.  The best approach to adopt for the workers from a worksite will be agreed with the employer.  The approaches are:

Blended approach

This approach includes face-to-face interactive workshops, which are supported by post workshop activities:

  • WhatsApp for Business covering five-modules to reinforce the workshop content and to introduce additional content on the WageWise website,  including data-free links to the website to overcome the data cost barrier. 
  • Prompts to the WageWise Facebook page for additional information and for nudges to engage with richer content on the WageWise website.

Workshop format:

  • The workshops are three hours long and are conducted at the worksite.
  • The workshops are conducted in small groups of between 30 to 40 participants. Strict COVID-19 protocols and safety regulations are maintained.
  • Participants are introduced to the WageWise educational website which will encourage the use of the website for self-directed learning post the workshop.
  • Participants receive participant workbooks, training tools and a certificate of attendance after completing all the workshop modules and the self-directed learning post-workshops.

 

WhatsApp for Business approach

An alternative to the face-to-face workshops, is a self-directed learning solution that will help participants acquire key financial education content.

  • This approach is ideal for employees who are not available to attend the three-hour workshop but can have time to go through the self-directed journey on their own time.
  • The majority of South Africans are familiar with WhatsApp and using it as a means of communication.
  • Participants will be taken on an eight-module interactive learning journey. Each journey can be completed within 8 to 30 minutes, depending on the participants.
  • The journey will be easy to navigate, driven by short videos available in multiple languages, infographics, and fun quizzes to check knowledge transfer at regular intervals.
  • As they complete modules and quizzes, participants can earn themselves incentives including data.
  • The journey will also incorporate short Q & A videos with financial experts and participants can be directed to links where they can find more tools to help them take action and handle various situations to improve their financial health.
  • Participants receive a certificate of participation on completion.

 

Content

A combination of the following core themes are included but adjusted to align to the training approaches:

  • Planning with money and budgeting
  • Understanding payslips and bank statements
  • Credit management
  • Credit profiles and over-indebtedness
  • Savings
  • Retirement planning
  • Understanding interest
  • Managing risk and insurance
  • Retirement planning
  • Financial planning
  • Consumer rights and recourse

Reach & Impact

 

WageWise Reach

WageWise Impact