Category: Financial Literacy

SEDPI Participates in the Global Forum on Remittances 2013

The World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) jointly organized the Global Forum on Remittances (GFR) 2013. The forum was held from May 20 to 23, 2013 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. Over 400 delegates from the private sector, civil society, and policymakers from all over the globe participated in the forum.

The Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) was represented by its Chief Operations Officer, Ms. Emilenn Kate Sacdalan. SEDPI Group of Social Enterprises (GSE) Board of Directors, Ms. Cristina Liamzon and Ms. Leila Rispens-Noel were also part of the delegation. Ms. Rispens-Noel was a speaker on a panel discussion on the second day of the forum.

The GFR 2013 is the fourth in a series of international events dedicated to highlighting the importance of international migration and the resulting vital flow of remittances.[1] The main objective of the forum is to stimulate the debate on today’s market realities and tomorrow’s opportunities.[2] A common agenda for the Asia-Pacific remittance market is hoped to be created as a result of the forum discussion.

The first day of the forum focused on the principles behind remittances and development. Day 2, on the other hand, was about the discussion of market trends, innovations, and opportunities of the remittance markets. Financial literacy and investment models were discussed on the third day. And finally, the fourth day had breakout sessions about the scaling-up strategies for effective national remittance programmes for the Philippines and Nepal.

During the forum, Mr. Massimo Cirasino, Manager of the Financial Infrastructure Service Line and Head of the Payment Systems Development Group of the Financial and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency (FPD) of the World Bank, expressed that remittances are becoming more present in the objectives of the government all over the world. The reason he mentioned is because remittances are usually the first financial services encountered by poor people, and therefore needs to have an enabling environment. This was supported by the statement of Ms. Hoonae Kim, the Director for Asia and the Pacific Division (APR) of IFAD. She conveyed the message that remittances is a significant source for increasing livelihood and creating a better future, specifically in rural areas.

At the end of the forum, the participants were introduced to the successes and challenges in making every money sent by migrants to their families count. The forum was concluded with the message of that empowering both the remittance senders and receivers and other remittance stakeholders can provide a pathways out of exclusion, and may lead to improvement in the quality of life of the people behind the remittances.


[1] GFR 2013 Programme Booklet

[2] IFAD Website

GFC Farmers Undergo SEDPI’s Financial Literacy Training

Good Food Community (GFC) collaborated with its long-time partner SEDPI to conduct one-day Financial Literacy Training for its 13 farmers. This was held in Capas, Tarlac last April 12, 2013. The training covered topics on savings, debt management and its limitations, as well as managing expenditure.

Personal stories and experiences of both the farmers and the facilitators made the training more insightful and interactive. In between sessions, workshops were conducted so each participant had self-assessment on their finances. Tools like personal balance sheets, and cash in cash out forms, were distributed among the participants to evaluate their household expenses. After doing such, everyone was astonished to discover the whereabouts of their money. Attended by both male and female farmers, they felt relieved to trace the path of their money and even committed to share the practice of accounting one’s finances to other members of their families.

This training was facilitated by one of the senior program officers of SEDPI, Ms. Denise Subido, and also one of its program officers, Ms. Clarice Crisostomo, who both rated excellent after being evaluated. Once again, SEDPI has been successful in imparting financial education to Filipinos from different walks of life.

Social Return on Investment of SEDPI’s Financial Literacy Program for OFWs

One of the problems that most OFWs have encountered over the years would be having a hard time to return to the Philippines from what they originally planned. Most of them usually stay abroad over an extended period of time. The reason behind this longer stay abroad lies in the fact that most OFWs cannot seem to manage their financial resources properly.  They do not accumulate enough savings.  On top of that, many OFWs are overindebted.  All these are pressing issues that prevent our fellow OFWs from coming home to the Philippines and be with their loved ones, even after staying abroad for more than 10 or 20 years.

To address these problems experienced by the OFWs, SEDPI developed a financial literacy program. This program aims to equip OFWs with the necessary knowledge to become financially independent individuals who are capable of realizing their financial goals both for themselves and their families. This is achieved by teaching them the importance of saving and investing, and the proper financial management techniques for them to achieve financial stability.  SEDPI envisions this program to help the OFWs increase their savings, obtain health insurance for unforeseen circumstances, pay off their non-productive debts, invest their money and set up their own businesses after accumulating three to six months’ salaries worth of emergency fund.

This service provided by SEDPI is undeniably valuable to the OFWs and their families. Our study shows that after attending SEDPI’s financial literacy program, each OFW saves around PHP 3,850 more every month or about PHP 46,000 more savings every year; each also pays off an average of PHP 49,000 worth of debt each year, which translates to around PHP 7,000 of savings in interest per year; each also invests an average of PHP 87,500 per year in various investment vehicles, which leads us to an average earnings of around PHP 6,500 per year.  Furthermore, each OFW provides around PHP 15,000 of salaries to employees per year by giving them jobs.  These represent the social benefits that SEDPI’s financial literacy program provides to each OFW. This adds up to an average of around PHP 74,500 per year worth of benefits per OFW who participates in the program.

However, not all PHP 74,500 of benefits per participant is attributable to SEDPI.  This is because there are other factors that might influence the behavior of these participants such as other seminars they may have attended.  In the study, each participant is asked how much of each benefit can be attributed to SEDPI’s financial literacy program on a rating scale of 1-10 (with 1 being the lowest attribution to SEDPI and 10 the highest) After taking this into consideration, the average resulting benefits per participant are as follows: PHP 42,000 increase in savings per year, PHP 5,000 of interest saved per year from earlier debt payments, PHP 4,200 gained per year from investments made, and around PHP 3,000 worth of salaries generated per year, which translate a total of around PHP 54,200 worth of benefits per participant per year.  If we multiply that by around 120 OFWs that SEDPI trains every year, we would end up would around PHP 6,500,000 worth of benefits per year that the financial literacy program provides to the OFWs and to society. If SEDPI maintains this number of participants for the next 5 years, it will generate PHP 32,500,000 worth of benefits, which translates to a present value of around PHP 27,800,000 after discounting it using a rate of 5.5%.

The result above is quite encouraging, and if the investments (around PHP 1.3 million) made for the program is taken into account, we can see that the financial literacy program is promising, as it yields us a social return on investment (SROI) of around 21 over the next five years (27.8 million worth of social benefit divided by 1.3 million of investment).  This means that for every peso invested in the financial literacy program, it generates a social return of around 21 pesos in the next five years.

However, this SROI ratio is still low as compared to what the program really generates. This ratio just gives us a conservative estimate or the least amount of social benefit the program will generate. This is because there are still many other benefits that the OFWs get which was not included in the computations of the study.  For example, if the OFWs are able to send their children to school because of the additional 42,000 pesos per year, it would have an even greater impact.  Or, because the OFWs are now paying off their debts earlier, they experience less stress and less sleepless nights—this clearly is also a benefit for the OFWs.  Furthermore, the OFWs are now able to invest their own money, which will probably be used when they retire.  This stable retirement that can be brought about by these investment funds is also a benefit for them.  Lastly, OFW participants are taught to avail of health and life insurances so that their savings will not be wiped out in case there are unforeseen events, which surely also has a benefit for the OFWs.  All these benefits are not included in the study because they are quite difficult to monetize and the limited time that was given to the researchers.  No matter, it cannot be denied that these benefits, if monetized, can greatly increase the SROI ratio that has been shown above.

With regards to the financial aspect of the program, the study took into consideration the cash flow related to the program. Cash flow is divided into two parts, cash inflows and cash outflows. When computing the cash inflow, training fees for the program and the indirect cash flow from the net income that the Sustainable Investment Fund (SIF, this is where some OFWs invest in). Cash outflows on the other hand are comprised of the cost of travel, cost of living of the trainers, etc. The values for these cash flows are the projected over the next five years. The study ended up with the net financial loss of about PHP 3,400,000, which is quite insignificant compared to the 27.8 million worth of benefits the OFWs receive.

Even though it seems that SEDPI is conducting the financial literacy program at a financial loss, this is still acceptable for the company as long as the social impacts are experienced by the OFWs. SEDPI generates financial income from the OFWs when the OFWs are ready to invest in SEDPI. This takes 18 months to two years. The OFW investment in SEDPI is leveraged with loans from commercial banks. For every peso that OFWs invest in SEDPI, SEDPI can borrow an additional four to five pesos. This increase the available funds for SEDPI to reinvest in microfinance institutions and social enterprises. Thus, even if the financial literacy operates at a financial loss in the short term, SEDPI greatly benefits in the long run.

Based from the study conducted, it can be seen that the financial literacy program indeed serves as a give back to the society. Amidst the losses, SEDPI still chooses to run the program because of the many endless possibilities for creating impact and its ability to touch people’s lives.

Service Learning Program Group (ACC 35, 2 BS ME)

Perry Ang
Jeanel Co
Annika Chua
Carolyn Ramis
Kyle Velasco

Financial Literacy for OFWs in HongKong

Last March 9 and 10, 2013, SEDPI provided financial literacy trainings to 68 Overseas Filipinos in Hongkong. The sessions were given in partnership with OFSPES, Ateneo School of Government and Wimler Foundation as part of the Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (LSE) Program. The 2-day event was held in Fenwick Pier, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

The training sessions focused on financial literacy specifically for remittance senders. The sessions delved on topics such as the stages of migration, importance of personal finance, managing expenditures, creating a savings plan, and socially responsible investments. Participants were taught the basics of financial education and some rules of thumb on financial housekeeping. They were also given readily available tools that they can use, such as personal balance sheet, cash flow, and financial planning worksheet. As anticipated, financial literacy guru and SEDPI President Mariel Vincent Rapisura shared his experience in his road to financial freedom and the lessons he learned while setting up his own social enterprise.

Although sessions on financial literacy had previously been delivered in Hong Kong, the training was so well received that it had to be repeated. The current batch of participants came from all walks of life – from Filipinos in Hong Kong for work, to Filipinos who have been awarded resident visas. This just proves that financial education is indeed important to attain one’s financial goals.

The one-on-one training event is part one of the financial literacy sessions. After this, the participants will be enrolled in a follow-up online course powered by Ateneo de Manila University-Development Studies and edu.20.

“Thank you very much to both of you! Nakaka-inspire po (It’s inspiring).” gushed one training participant after the sessions. Another explained that she never realized the worth of her assets until she was taught to write them down in their personal balance sheet. SEDPI Senior Program Officer Denise Subido joined Mr. Rapisura in the training event. The trainers were well received and were both rated excellent. One participant added that the event was, “a very enjoyable learning experience!”

SEDPI Develops Climate Adaptation Support Service with the Climate Change Commission

The Climate Change Commission (CCC) engaged SEDPI to the development of a Climate Adaptation Support Service (CASS) aligned with the eco-town framework. The eco-town framework or ecologically sustainable and economically stable communities, aims to build the resiliencies of both the communities and ecosystems towards the impacts climate change. CCC hopes to demonstrate this framework in various sites in the Philippines with the goal of developing communities and ecosystems that are resilient to the impact of the changing climate.

The engagement has four components: (1) review and inventory of conditional cash transfers; (2) program design development for CASS; (3) conduct of financial literacy trainings; and (4) development of CASS transfer mechanism.

The eco-town demonstration also primes the municipality or group of municipalities in their decision making through the integration of climate change in their local planning process. Among the seven components of the eco-town, the Climate Adaptation Support Service (CASS) both addresses vulnerabilities of communities and ecosystems by increasing their economic and climate change resiliencies, respectively. CASS serves as an interim assistance that will be provided to the vulnerable communities in the aim of attaining economic resiliency. It was essentially designed to compensate members of the communities for undertaking sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems that in effect decreases the vulnerabilities of the communities and the ecosystems to the impacts of climate change. It targets households with income below the poverty threshold that are located within high risk areas of the eco-town.

SEDPI, CCC Start Eco-Town Project in Palawan

San Vicente is a municipality in Palawan noted for its long beach front and dense forest covers. While it is classified as a first-class municipality, it remains vulnerable, environmentally and economically, to the devastating effects of climate change. The Climate Change Commission (CCC), through the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCAP), aims to build the resiliency of municipalities like San Vicente by creating eco-towns or ecologically sustainable and economically stable communities. The Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) was contracted by the CCC to help San Vicente become an eco-town.

The San Vicente project commenced October 2013 and ended with the final fieldwork January 2014. It prioritized as beneficiaries those from poor families, especially women, who are micro-entrepreneurs and are also beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4 Ps).

Through SEDPI’s financial literacy workshops, participants are given the opportunity to break from unhealthy financial practices and cultivate a mindset that welcomes financial power as a value. This is a crucial first step to start a trend of strategic financial planning in the family.

This project requires the active leadership of the local government unit (LGU). The LGU’s role is critical as it should be able to create local legislation to make San Vicente friendly to microfinance and enterprise development. In aid of that, SEDPI facilitated an orientation that should give the officers a general direction in terms of creating ordinances that would secure a well-functioning market and a healthy financing scheme for the beneficiaries.

SEDPI is proud to be part of the San Vicente project. It has played the vital role of bringing together CCC, the San Vicente LGU, Dungganon Bank, and the locals to map the road towards eco-town. And SEDPI is dedicated to see this through, until San Vicente harvests its first fruit, or vegetable, of tangible success.

SEDPI Taps Microfinace Institution for Palawan Eco-Town Project

SEDPI, as partner in Climate Change Commission’s (CCC) eco-town project, facilitated a meeting between the Local Government of San Vicente, Palawan and the Dungganon Bank, on January 17, 2013. This meeting aimed to explore the possibility of making Dungganon the financial service provider for the eco-town project. The CCC project hopes to create economically stable and ecologically sustainable communities to address vulnerabilities brought about by Climate Change.

SEDPI Team, two San Vicente local government unit (LGU) officers and two municipal council members went to Dungganon-Roxas Branch to meet its Branch Manager, Mr. Rolando Deniega. It was advised that Dungganon conducts orientation with possible clients, especially those residents who are beneficiaries of DSWD’s 4Ps and who were trained on Financial Literacy by SEDPI. The orientation for the residents will highlight the promotion of Dungganon’s savings product to encourage them to save at least one to two months before considering availing loans.

An important part of the project is for the LGU to create ordinances to make San Vicente conducive for microfinance and enterprise development. The LGU should also ensure that a reputable microfinance institution, in this case, the Dungganon Bank, offer financial products that participants can avail to at least finance the start-up of their livelihood. In aid of that, SEDPI facilitated trainings on microfinance and enterprise development, and Making Markets Work for the Poor to 21 participants from the LGU. The LGU is tasked to provide trainings on vegetable farming and farm management to the 4P beneficiaries. This is to ensure that the capacity of the vegetable farmers to manage backyard gardens are sufficient to pay of loans from Dungganon Bank.

SEDPI hopes that participation of local banks in government projects and their openness to extend their products to the poor will do wonders in the overall resiliency of the community. Their involvement in the project should result to wider financial inclusion for those who never had the experience of being involved in financial systems. It should provide local banks opportunity to cater to clients not tapped before, and as a result, should push them to come up with more financial products and services.

SEDPI President and CEO Appears in ANC’s “On the Money”

Tough love. This was the message of SEDPI’s President and CEO during his TV guesting at the ABS-CBN News Channel. “On the Money” is ANC’s latest show on personal finance. Mr. Rapisura talked about the financial literacy program of SEDPI in partnership with the Ateneo de Manila University and Overseas Filipinos’ Society for the Promotion of Economic Security (OFSPES).

During the show, Mr. Rapisura provided tips on how OFWs should manage their finances to be able to attain financial security. He provided advice on saving, debt management and socially responsible investments. Mr. Rapisura also gave true to life examples of participants he trained who turned their financial standing around for the better.

“On the Money” is hosted by Edric Mendoza, Salve Duplito and Melissa Gecolea. It is a production of ABS-CBN’s sister company ANC. It hopes to teach Filipinos how to manage better their personal finances. The show features finance experts, professional money managers and life coaches who dispense advice and answer questions from viewers. The show was recently awarded as the best show in the Philippines on personal finance.

The episode was aired on December 24, 2012 and could be viewed through this link.

SEDPI, ASoG and OFSPES Launch Program for OFW Families

Last October 27, 2012, the first batch of FLSE in the Philippines was launched at the St. John Nuemann Migrants’ Center at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Baclaran, Paranaque City.  FLSE stands for Financial Literacy, Leadership and Social Entreprneurship (FLSE) Training Program. The co-implementors of the program are Ateneo de Manila University School of Governance (ASoG), Overseas Filipinos Society for the Promotion of Economic Security (OFSPES), and Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI). The programs envisions Filipino migrants and their families united towards supporting each other in becoming empowered and highly respected members of society, consciously contributing to nation building.

FLSE lasts for six months. It aims to empower families of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) towards economic security and become agents of transformation. It focuses on key areas of leadership, financial literacy and social entrepreneurship towards local community and national development. Cristina Liamzon, President of OFSPES, said that the FLSE course is an integrated program to bring together knowledge and skills building in the three subject areas. One of the concrete end goals of the program is the development and presentation of a social enterprise business plan, which is a requirement to receive the certificate of completion of the course. The business plan will serve as the avenue for the participants to apply knowledge and skills gained from the program. FLSE is also established to complement the remittance-sender focused Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship (LSE) training program, which is now on its 14th run with batches from Europe, Dubai and Hongkong.

FLSE has a total of 24 participants from different areas in Metro Manila. Majority of the participants have relatives and families working overseas while some used to work as OFWs and has returned in the country.

Financial Literacy and Remittances

“Financial literacy taught me to think long term and make the most out of the remittance I receive from my daughter”, said Mrs. Concepcion Adviento, one of the 18 participants of the Financial Literacy for Remittance Receivers training held last November 10, 2012 in Baclaran. She also added that the training helped her enhance her skills in budgeting by learning how to focus on the right things which will ultimately help not only her family here in the Philippines but my son who works in Dubai as well.

As a core component of the FLSE Program, financial literacy intends to provide the foundation of personal finance through topics on remittance management, savings, debt management, and insurance.  The financial literacy training also discussed the stages of migration, importance of remittance and the cost of dependency on it. Also highlighted in the discussions were savings, developing financial goals, debt management and insurance. From these topics, participants were provided with tools that they can readily use for proper personal finance management. In addition, choosing appropriate remittance providers and money transfer organizations was also presented in one of the sessions. During the training, the participants shared the difficulties and challenges they experienced as well as those experienced by their relatives working abroad. They identified primary concerns such as communication problems, managing income and expenses and achieving their plans. Through the topics discussed, these issues are hoped to be addressed. Mr. Rowaldo Zapata said the he learned how to budget money and spend wisely. Ms. Lea Nicol added that financial literacy would help her become self sufficient which would allow her to depend less on remittance and at the same time become a role model for the community.  Furthermore, Ms. Letlet Bondal mentioned that she learned more about the process of budgeting that helped her become more systematic and detailed in drawing out her financial plans. All of these are geared towards achieving their own dreams as well as that of their relatives working abroad.

ADMU, OFSPES and SEDPI hope that by 2013, FLSE can be conducted in other key cities in the country with high concentration of OFW families. The program is also implemented in collaboration with the Department of Labor and Employment and the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA).

SEDPI Showcases Financial Literacy Program in Rome

The Global Filipino Diaspora Council (GFDC) in collaboration with the Filipino-Italian Members of the Global Filipino Diaspora Council (GFDC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Scalibrini Institute of Migration Onlus (SIMIONLUS), the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) and the Philippine Embassy in Rome, as co-convenor, hosted the Diaspora-to-Dialogue (D2D): 1st Conference of Filipinos in Europe on 27-29 September 2012 in Rome, Italy.

The objective of D2D in Rome is designed to provide a forum for Europe-based Filipino organizations and associations on issues regarding migrant socio-economic integration and re-integration in host and home country processes thereby empowering Filipino migrants for development both in their host country and in the Philippines.

SEDPI shared its experience on financial literacy and channeling migrant investments to rural development during the conference. Mr. Mariel Vincent Rapisura, SEDPI GSE President and CEO showed the financial snapshots of migrants under the Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship program that it implements with the Ateneo School of Government and OFSPES. He also showed the impact of financial literacy to migrants.

The audience during the conference were wowed when Mr. Rapisura shared the success story of SEDPI GSE. He shared that the current PhP150 million portfolio invested in various microfinance institutions and social enterprises in the Philippines only started with a PhP45,000 investment. Mr. Rapisura also reported that SEDPI has conducted financial literacy trainings to almost 2,000 Overseas Filipinos in 14 countries worldwide.

After his presentation, Mr. Rapisura recommended that the governments both the Philippines and host countries to support financial literacy programs for migrants and their families; establishment of an endowment fund to continuously provide financial literacy trainings; and the Philippine government to provide incentives for the establishment of social enterprises.