A framework for enhancing financial literacy initiatives in Botswana

Abstract

The 2008 crisis made adverse impact on individuals, households and the economy at large around the world mostly to countries in Sub-Sahara Africa like Botswana. Dealing with the repercussions of the crisis and the low levels of financial literacy which were identified to have contributed to poor financial decision making then, countries around the world adopted multi sectoral national strategies for recovery. However Botswana has not yet embraced the idea thereby posing issues of lack of coordination and control for consumer protection. There is also lack of measurement and evaluation of these initiatives which is an impediment to understanding the depth of the problem, restricting stakeholders at strategic policy level to make informed decisions. These issues necessitated for the study to evaluate the financial literacy initiatives in Botswana with the aim to answer the research question: What is the framework of enhancing financial literacy initiatives in Botswana? The study followed Mixed Method Research (MRR) based on the philosophical stance of pragmatism; the two are described as attractive partners exalting the research question to be the most important determinant of epistemology, ontology and axiology. From the types of MMR, Exploratory Sequential Design (ESD) was appropriate to deal with the context of Botswana where the phenomenon was less known; minimal studies, no measures or instruments hence the variables were unknown. Therefore the first phase of qualitative research design was utilised to explore the phenomenon and determine the areas of interest (variables) and develop an instrument for the next step. An interview guide was used to collect data during consultative meetings and semi-structured interviews platforms. Its reliability was achieved by pilot-testing but validated by expert analysis. A purposive or non-probability sampling specifically critical case sampling became relevant as the financial literacy initiatives were heterogeneously implemented such that 21 cases were purposively grouped in sectors representing the population identified. The study accommodated Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) approach with Braun and Clarke (2006:5)'s thematic analysis process which permits qualitative analysis of "talk" and "narrative" which in this study was provided by the interviews. The second phase involved a quantitative research using a questionnaire for data collection from the recipients to establish the impact of the financial education they received . The study utilised Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) for instrument validity and reliability having conducted tests: the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for internal consistency, Bartlett's test of Sphericity and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (KMO) for measurement of sampling adequacy. The sampling of 400 was drawn from the population of Botswana (2.292 million) with the technique that for large populations of (N=5000), 400 is saturation point to produce valid results. The study adopted Bannon (2013: 19)'s seven steps of quantitative data analysis which permitted different techniques employed for different questions: A Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 23 (2015) was used for descriptive statistics dealing mainly with univariate and bivariate analysis. For the multivariate analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used for the self-assessment questions to confirm the variables observed from the qualitative report while Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was utilised for factor extraction of 9 factors for self - assessment test and also for data reduction of variables. In dealing with the reduced variables cluster analysis was then applied for both self-assessment and the performance test. The results of the thematic analysis revealed 6 themes with the main problems identified as: low levels of financial literacy and less consumer protection, lack of financial counselling, use of inappropriate methods, lack of funding for financial education, lack of measurement and evaluation, lack of a defined curriculum, and lack of government intervention for nation-wide coordination. The quantitative data analysis revealed that there are still low levels of financial literacy especially among youth. The main findings are: Financial inclusion but lack of understanding concepts, lack of understanding the difference between investments and savings, lack of obtaining the correct information and lack of confidence in financial decision making. As a synthesis of the two results a framework offering solutions for enhancing financial literacy initiatives was developed and Botswana is urged to implement the following recommendations: 1. National coordination - a national strategy is imperative to deal with issues of regulation , control and necessary enforcement for consumer protection . 2. A multi - sectoral approach will be most suitable for all stakeholder involvement to combat financial illiteracy. 3. Inclusive financial education - with a defined curriculum and interactive methods financial literacy initiatives must reach out to all, in particular young people 4. The priority areas suggested are: Investment, Budgeting, Portfolio Management, Income and debt Management. 5. Lastly, Measurement & Evaluation is proposed to scrutinise all initiatives and programmes and the government is recommended to encourage research and development of measurement tools. This will offer evidence and impact analysis results for better policy making decisions and for continuous development in the field of financial literacy in Botswana.