Building financial capability
For those who are disadvantaged, an understanding of financial concepts is key to confidence, independence and being able to plan for the future.
Good Return’s financial capability programs provide education in money management and business skills to empower low income women and the financially excluded. Our goal is to build confidence in every learner, enabling them to take control of their financial life. Our behaviour change approach is a sustainable, long-term approach and we combine face-to-face training with digital tools and applications.
Financial Capability is a combination of financial knowledge, business skills and money management education. Lack of financial capability is one of the causes of disadvantage. Worldwide, only 33% of adults understand basic financial concepts.
The CAFE Initiative
The Consumer Awareness and Financial Empowerment (CAFE) Initiative is an innovative financial education program for people in disadvantaged communities. Focused on behavioural change, CAFE helps learners make good financial choices so they can plan for the future and take control of their money.
Good Return designs creative and engaging courses, activities, interactive exercises, and take-home challenges to develop a learner’s financial capability and confidence. Our curriculum is tailored to local cultural settings and different levels of literacy.
Together with our partners, we deliver much of this training face-to-face. From remote mountainous regions in Nepal to tiny island communities in the Solomon Islands, our team travels far and wide to engage with learners.
To date, we have trained over 50,000 people in our region in financial literacy. We know that this knowledge gets shared with households, expanding our impact to 200,000 people.
Good Return’s CAFE Initiative is delivered in partnership with the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and with support from the Accenture Australia Foundation.
My Money Tracker
The My Money Tracker app helps microbusiness owners to keep track of their household and business cash flows and become more aware of their spending. By tracking their money they can understand whether they are spending more than they are earning and easily track their credit and debt. In turn, this can help them to improve their money management and stay in control of their household and business finances.
The app is simple, fast and secure and features icons and clear text to make the app easy to understand particularly for people with low literacy.
The app has been live in Cambodia since 2021 and already 50,000 people have used it. We are pleased to have recently launched the app in the Philippines, with features updated to suit the local context.
Good Return worked in collaboration with St. Elizabeth Community Development Program (SECDEP), Ahon sa Hirap, Inc., and Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc., in the Philippines. Good Return’s My Money Tracker and CAFE Initiative are delivered in partnership with the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and with support from the Accenture Australia Foundation.
‘Let’s talk money’ in Cambodia
‘Let’s talk money: little by little’ is a financial awareness campaign and program delivered by Good Return and the National Bank of Cambodia. The innovative approach to building confidence in money management for younger women features a video series telling the story of a young Cambodian couple starting out their life together.
With thousands of garment workers losing their jobs due to factory closures during the pandemic, ‘Let’s talk money’ has been vital in helping women plan their finances and aim for a more secure future. Training sessions feature the video series as well as resources and personalised reflections so that young women can prepare for unexpected future financial shocks, choose the right financial products and share the financial decision making within their household.
This is another example of how Good Return and the National Bank of Cambodia are working to reduce poverty, build livelihoods and financial freedoms for people in the Asia-Pacific.
Education and Access - Responsible Finance for People with Disabilities
Good Return is partnering with Chamroeun Microfinance to bring financial education and access to responsible financial services to people with disabilities. The people we work with want to build business and financial independence, but face many barriers to services and help from the financial system.
Good Return adapted its financial literacy curriculum and materials to be accessible to people with disabilities and recruited coaches from five disability organisations. We trained the coaches to deliver coaching to people with different types of impairment, and engaged with local community leaders to encourage people with disabilities to join the program. We have also developed resources to help financial institutions make their physical buildings and services more accessible.
This initiative is part of the 'Education and Access: Responsible Finance for People with Disabilities’ project in Cambodia.
Meet our learners
-
![]()
Even though she has experienced vision loss, Youen Keo wants and needs to continue her farming business. Financial literacy training from Good Return and our partner Chamroeun Microfinance has helped Youen rebuild her farm and her confidence.
-
![]()
Lovelyn from the Solomon Islands recently completed our financial capability training. “We need to have a financial goal in our lives because finance is part of our life and wellbeing. It is important that we learn how save to help improve our families’ lives and our community.”
-
![]()
Aliya is a goat farmer in Nepal. “The program taught us that even if we save Rs.5 it’s a saving. I learnt the importance of collective saving and investing it to buy goats and expand my business and income."
-
![]()
Ly is a financial capability coach in Cambodia. “I am confident in learning and delivering this financial knowledge to people in my community. In doing so, they have a better understanding of their money management and savings for unexpected events for themselves and their families.”
