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Financial capability
We’re committed to playing our part by supporting non-governmental organisations and other experts in the field of economic citizenship and education.
Everyone needs a basic understanding of money matters. This understanding helps consumers to access products and services and make informed decisions to secure the financial future. For Aviva, a good level of financial capability in our markets enables us to reach new customers, develop our products and services and provide prosperity and peace of mind.
In the wake of a worldwide economic crisis that has affected consumer confidence, influenced attitudes to risk and damaged trust in financial institutions, we believe it is vital to build capability through good financial education that reaches young people and adults who will benefit most.
‘Paying For It’: UK
‘Paying For It’ is a secondary school education initiative created by Aviva and the youth education charity Citizenship Foundation in 2007. The programme is designed to support and enrich citizenship teaching around economics and finance.
In 2010 Aviva volunteers twinned with 23 schools across eight office sites to deliver specially written resources to small groups of young people.
The programme is supported by a website, www.PayingForIt.org.uk, which hosts all modules plus additional lesson plans that have been awarded the Personal Finance Education Group Quality Mark.
These resources are free to download to support teaching about economic issues in citizenship classes. There are approximately 3,300 teachers registered on the site.
Now in its fourth year, our ‘Chance to be Chancellor’ competition for 14 to 19-year-olds was run alongside the ‘Paying For It’ programme. The winner in 2010, Jamie Ells from Merchant Taylors’ School, was featured in The Times newspaper as the ‘Business Big Shot’ and, along with the other nine finalists, had the opportunity to meet the UK Chancellor, George Osborne, at the Treasury.
‘Learn and Thrive’: UK
In May 2009 we launched ‘Learn and Thrive’, a learning programme in partnership with City of York Council’s Library and Adult and Community Education services.
This inspirational community and employee engagement project is designed to improve the financial awareness of people across the city. The workshops are run by volunteers from the Council and Aviva, using library venues across the city.
The project aims to improve the financial capability of the people of York, including hard-to-reach and disadvantaged groups. There have been 36 adult financial capability workshops to date, and 28 people have been trained in one-to-one budget coaching for delivery to clients.
Financial education days: Lithuania
In Lithuania, employee volunteers used Aviva Day in 2010 to welcome children from local orphanages to our offices in the cities where we operate, including Klaipeda, Plunge, Telsiai and Ukmerge.
As part of a wider range of social and confidence-building projects for these vulnerable children, our sales staff staged a series of financial education and careers advice days.
The ‘Paying For It’ secondary school education initiative is supported by a website, www.PayingForIt.org.uk, which hosts all modules plus additional lesson plans.