Good Return on CAFE Initiative

Building trust and mutual respect through Consumer Awareness and Financial Empowerment.

CMA and Good Return have joined forces to implement the Consumer Awareness and Financial Empowerment Initiative (CAFE) in Cambodia. The goal of CAFE is to support Financial Service Providers (FSP) and consumers working together to strengthen client protection and financial behaviours, ultimately enhancing the wellbeing of low-income households. CAFE forms part of CMA’s response to address the sector wide concern about the risks of over-indebtedness.

CAFE is informed by the Smart Campaign’s Client Protection Principles and seeks to go beyond clients’ knowledge acquisition to meaningful behaviour change. It has two complementary approaches to achieving its goal:

CAFE Accelerator embeds key money management and consumer protection messages within an FSPs existing product delivery channels, enabling it to reach its entire client base. These messages encourage clients to adopt sound money management behaviours, incorporating consumer protection from the client perspective. For example, messages may be delivered in an FSP’s calendar, branch posters, printed collateral,. Or a follow-up phone call may be made to clients to ensure they understand the basic terms and conditions before entering into a contract. CAFE uses the Smart Assessment and a Learner Needs Assessment to work closely with individual FSPs to identify the most appropriate Accelerator tools, key messages and delivery channels for its clients.

CAFE Face-2-Face is targeted at a subset of the FSPs clients or community members, who are identified as being poor and vulnerable – for example those at greater risk of over-indebtedness or those with a high incidence of relative poverty. The CAFE Initiative curriculum consists of five (5) modules designed to support exposure to new ideas and information, the positive reframing of perceptions and attitudes toward money management, as well as the development of financial behaviours and habits that will strengthen financial well-being. Training is kept relevant by linking it to participants’ real-life money management decisions.

These two channels (CAFE Accelerator and Face-2-Face) offer a scalable and cost efficient approach to building financial capability and consumer awareness that targets all clients, including those who are most vulnerable.

Phase 1 of the CAFE Initiative pilot is due to be implemented in Cambodia in the first quarter of 2015.