Evaluation of Entertainment Education to Improve Financial Capability in South Africa. The World Bank 1

Transcription

1 Evaluation of Entertainment Education to Improve Financial Capability in South Africa The World Bank 1

2 Strategic Context Indebtedness in South Africa Over-indebtedness has become a significant concern both in terms of risks in the financial system and economic development. The South African financial sector has grown rapidly over the past decade. Financial sector assets now stand at 252% of GDP. In December 2010, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) reported that of the million credit-active consumers, more than 8 million (>46%) had impaired records. The ratio of household debt to disposable income amounted to 78.2% in the third quarter of The South African National Debt Mediation Association (NDMA) reports that 160,000 cases of over-indebtedness have been registered with the NCR and approximately 8,000 additional cases are recorded each month. In a 2008 study, BMW in South Africa found that its employees missed more working days because of over-indebtedness than because of HIV/AIDS. They had to call in sick and earn money in the black labor market to pay their debt. 2

3 Project Concept and Design Idea: Pilot entertainment education as a delivery tool for improving financial capabilities in South Africa and evaluate the effectiveness of this method. Project entails the content development, production, and IE of financial capability storylines included in a South African soap opera Scandal! Scandal! has been running four times a week for about 5 years. Storyline is developed by the production company of Scandal! together with the National Debt Mediation Association (NDMA), and an entertainment education expert. Focus on debt aspects of financial capability including sound financial management, getting into debt and getting out of debt. Aim is to improve knowledge, attitudes and behavior around debt. Soap operas are particularly successful in influencing attitudes about topics that people can establish emotional connections with which is the case for indebtedness. Behavior change measured as the effect of a call to action to consult the NDMA. 3

4 Scandal! The not so easy part: Getting the story right

5 Scandal! The Story Beats Getting into debt. Caused by financial mismanagement, for example, impulse buying and/ or living beyond means. The effects of financial mismanagement and debt, for example, breakdown of relationships and family, turning to alcohol and drugs to cope etc. Acknowledgment that a problem exists with managing finances which has led to debt, which in turn has led to other problems. Getting out of debt. Practical steps for seeking help, for example, debt counselling, assessment tools and debt recovery. Sound financial management, for example, using credit wisely, budgeting, setting goals. 5

6 Scandal! The Storyline and Focus Group results Brief Summary of Storyline Maletsatsispends more than she can afford based on her desire to provide only the best for her family. She takes out loans, gets into repayment problems, tensions increase at home and within the community until she comes clean with her husband and starts a debt repayment process and better financial management. Focus Group Results I think most of the people now have debts, people have more debts that what they are getting as salary (young female) Because when you watch Scandal, people relate and are like oh, that is the situation I am in (young female) It is catchy and very interesting especially for people in the townships. They can relate more because there is stuff like fahfee (young male) I think it is a creative way of depicting a serious matter (young female) 6

7 Scandal! The really difficult part: Impact Evaluation

8 Methodological Challenges for Impact Evaluation Methodological challenges of evaluating the impact of a soap opera on attitudes and behavior: 1. The effect of the soap opera s message needs to be separated from messages on similar issues that viewers may be receiving from other sources. 2. Individuals self-select into watching soap operas, confounding subsequent behavior change. 3. The soap opera is broadcasted nationally. Proposed Solution: Random Encouragement Design Methodology 8

9 Impact Evaluation Setup Listing Exercise (3,000 people) Listing through physical visits. Short questionnaire to determine essential variables for stratification (e.g. basic socioeconomic data, TV viewership information, etc.). Ask for cell phone numbers. Select 1,000 people to be encouraged (500 per soap opera) Random selection out of the 3,000 people listed. Random selection after stratification. Scandal! Soap opera with financial literacy messages Muvhango Soap opera without financial literacy messages Financial incentive for both groups to watch their soap operas. Incentive to be awarded if respondents can answer questions about the non-financial content of the show correctly. 9

10 Impact Evaluation Setup Initial call to participants Initial call to participants Explain about the survey, the incentives, and that respondents will only receive the payment if they watch the respective show which will be tested through a number of questions. Surveys Surveys 3 surveys in total. Survey 2 to include questions about NDMA and a cross-check with NDMA call center data. Survey 3 after the show has aired and face-to-face. Payment of Incentives Payment of Incentives Respondentspaid 60 ZAR after survey 1 and 2 if they can answer the questions correctly. Payments through crediting airtime. Results to be complemented with a qualitative study. 10

11 Scandal! Some preliminary results

12 Preliminary results No immediate impacts on financial management, knowledge, or attitudes e.g. impulse buying, budgeting, gambling. Need for follow-up survey at a later point because change takes time. 12

13 Preliminary results Large effects of the call to action to consult the NDMA hotline, both from the survey and from the call-centerdata 13

14 Next Steps July 2012: Final face-to-face follow-up survey to asses longer-term impacts. September 2012: Qualitative study. October /November 2012: Final results will be available. 14