POSITIVE OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS OF MPOWER HOW DOES MPOWER CAUSE POSITIVE CHANGE?
Community members sign-up to MPower; they participate in skill-building activities and regularly use the self-service banking area.
Improved financial literacy
Improved financial behaviours
Responsible money management and economic participation
COMMUNITY MEMBERS ARE IMPROVING THEIR FINANCIAL LITERACY One partner1 originally joined MPower over five years ago. They had attended the self-service area multiple times to check their bank accounts and received assistance to do so, but only recently began to attend additional financial literacy sessions. This transition occurred when the partner came into the O-Hub asking for help with financial problems they were encountering at home.
Over the past few months, this partner has begun attending financial literacy training sessions. So far, they have learned how to read through their bank statements and have also expressed an interest in learning how to budget so their family can be more financially stable. The partner admitted it will be tough to put their budget into practice, but will continue to do their best.
INCREASED FINANCIAL LITERACY = INCREASED FINANCIAL BEHAVIOUR. BUT THIS TAKES TIME... We asked our staff to objectively rate 30 of our Aurukun MPower members against financial literacy and behaviour criteria.2 Some of our results are illustrated below. All 30 members had completed four or more sessions (not including self-service sessions). On average, these members had completed 66.5 MPower sessions each.
Q. Does the partner know how much they get paid? (n=30) 25
Q. How good is the partner’s awareness about what they have spent over the last month? (n=26, missing=4) 15
20
20
8
10
2
5 0
No
5
Sometimes
0
Yes
20
5
Very limited
Very good
13
5
1 Somewhat limited
Good
Extremely good
13
10
1
0
0
15
8
10
Somewhat limited
Q. During the past month, how would you rate the partner’s attitude towards learning new things through MPower? (n=28, missing=2)
15
15
4
2 Very limited
Q. During the past month, how good has the partner been at paying their bills on time? (n=25, missing=5)
11
9
10
15
Good
Very good
0
0
Extremely good
2
0 Not willing at all
Not very willing Somewhat willing to learn to learn
Very willing to learn
FAMILY EMPOWERMENT REPORT Q4 2015
MPOWER = INDEPENDENT MONEY MANAGEMENT
39%
of all MPower selfservice sessions during Q4 were unassisted: these members were able to independently manage their money using MPower.
SELF-SERVICE ASSISTANCE LEVELS UNASSISTED AND ASSISTED SESSIONS AS A PROPORTION (%) OF TOTAL SESSIONS Q2 2011 TO Q4 2015
Unassisted Assisted
100%
61%
50%
39% 0%
Q2
Q3 Q4 2011
Q1
Q2 Q3 2012
Q4
Q1
Q2 Q3 2013
Q4
Q1
Q2 Q3 2014
Q4
Q1
Q2 Q3 2015
Q4
1 Some details have been altered to ensure this partner cannot be identified. 2 We use a staff observational tool to gauge how our partners are progressing in terms of their financial literacy and behaviours. The results reported above are based on a convenience sample of 30 partners, who have accessed MPower in recent months. After conducting a session with a partner, staff members complete this observational survey online, either with or without the partner present.
14