Education

Cha-Ching Financial Literacy for the Youth Program

Cha-Ching is the award-winning financial literacy and responsibility program of Prudence Foundation – the community investment arm of Prudential in Asia and Africa – in partnership with Cartoon Network that instills sound financial habits and promotes financial responsibility in children.

At its core, Cha-Ching consists of a series of three-minute music videos featuring six lively characters, to help children learn about the fundamental money management concepts of Earn, Save, Spend and Donate. The six characters in the program are members of the Cha-Ching band, each with a different approach to money management. Cha-Ching music videos feature catchy songs with lyrics and enhanced subtitles that children can sing along to, aiding comprehension and retention.

Cha-Ching is built around several elements that respond to children’s learning needs:

• A series of three-minute music videos on Cartoon Network and Free to Air TV.

• A website with games and applications that engage children in real-life money management scenarios to reinforce the learnings derived from the music videos

• Online resources and at-home activities that teachers and parents can work through with children

• YouTube playlist to provide additional platforms to access music videos anytime anywhere

• A Facebook page to encourage interaction and discussion on the social media space

In 2016, Prudence Foundation partnered with JA Asia Pacific to develop the Cha-Ching Curriculum and provide teachers with structured lesson plans for conducting Cha-Ching sessions in class. The Curriculum adopts activities-based learning approach to instill four key money concepts of Earn, Save, Spend and Donate in students.

The Cha-Ching Curriculum was piloted in 2016 and has since been endorsed by the Ministry of Education in 13 countries: the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Taiwan in Asia, and Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in Africa.

To date, the school curriculum programme has reached over 1.2 million children and over 37,000 teachers trained in 14 countries.

Over 18,000 educators reaching more than 646,000 Filipino students from about 4,000 partner schools nationwide are currently implementing the program.

In the Philippines, Pru Life UK’s partnership with the Department of Education and Junior Achievement Philippines has enabled Cha-Ching’s concepts to be integrated into the school curriculum to teach grade 4 elementary students the money-smart values of Earn, Save, Spend, and Donate. The curriculum was developed by Prudence Foundation and Junior Achievement Asia Pacific. Educators from more than 2,300 partner schools nationwide are currently implementing the program. To ensure they receive adequate training, partner schools are provided with teacher guides, student workbooks, and Cha-Ching cartoon episodes in DVD – at no cost.

Click here for more information on Cha-Ching.

Local partners

• Department of Education

• Junior Achievement Philippines

• British Embassy Manila

• Save the Children

• Arnel Pineda Foundation, Inc.