THE SCOPE OF FINANCIAL LITERACY EDUCATION: A POVERTY ALLEVIATION TOOL IN SOCIAL WORK?

The reference to financial literacy in the G8 Action Plan drafted at the Sea Island Summit 2004 (Cohen, Stach & McGuinnes, 2004) is a demonstration of the growing awareness worldwide of the importance of promoting financial education, especially in developing countries. This has led to concepts such as financial literacy and financial education creating an interest in research especially by such institutions as banking companies, government agencies and community interest groups (Piprek, Dlamini & Coetzee, 2004). These interest groups and institutions are generally concerned that their consumers lack basic knowledge of financial concepts and do not have the skills they need to make decisions advantageous to their economic well-being (Braunstein & Welch, 2002). Financial literacy is thus globally increasingly viewed as an important requirement for successful functioning in a modern society. This trend suggests that educating people to become financially literate will gradually become even more important worldwide (Sandlant, Harris & Barker, 2005), as people who are financially illiterate and therefore financially vulnerable, are increasingly excluded from the mainstream economy (INSOL International, 2001; Link, Vawser, Downes & Chant, 2004; Noble, Ratcliffe &Wright, 2004; Laderchi, Saith & Stewart, 2006; Finmark Trust, 2007)