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Imagine arriving in a country to start a new life; having limited income; limited or no English language skills while trying to understand and negotiate your way through the financial and consumer market in Australia. This is the reality for many newly arrived migrants who, because of cultural or social differences, encounter difficulties.
In response, NAB has been working to improve financial literacy skills of disadvantaged groups within the St Albans community in Victoria through skills-based volunteering activities that focus on money management and low interest personal loans for people living on low incomes (Step Up* loans).
This support was recently extended with our sponsorship of the Maribyrnong City Council’s DVD project - Making Sense of Money: an introduction to budgeting and consumer awareness. The DVD has been produced by the council in conjunction with non-government organisations, community volunteers, NAB and Western English Language School (WELS)).
The DVD aims to improve financial literacy and consumer awareness, specifically numeracy, banking and budgeting skills. It provides information about key service providers and organisations that can help with consumer and financial issues and contains Dinka, Sudanese Arabic and English audio tracks.
The educational DVD is being used initially across schools in St Albans for the African/Sudanese community and to date the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
*Step UP Loans are a not-for-profit NAB personal, unsecured low-interest loan developed with Good Shepherd Youth & Family Service.
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