Aki

Ensuring better planning and long-term development, the Aki Financial Literacy kit aims to empower Ugandans to make the most of their finances.
According to the World Food Programme, unlike many African nations Uganda doesn’t suffer from a shortage of food, but unfortunately many don’t have an income to purchase it. Therefore, the United Nations World Food Programme has introduced a Cash Work programme as a supplement to the standard food-aid packaging.

While cash is an essential part of our everyday lives, many Ugandans have relied on a barter economy meaning they can lack even the most basic financial literacy skills. Designed to aid people with how to manage their money, the Aki Financial Literacy Kit was developed by designers in collaboration with the Ugandan beneficiaries.

The kit consists of three elements, the first is a calendar and calculation tool, Aki Plan, which informs beneficiaries about basic working periods and how much they earn. The second is a board game, Aki Play – a version of Monopoly – to teach the basics of financial literacy such as understanding the value of money, budgeting and planning. Participants of the board game have to consider how best to invest their money, and features a number of scenarios based on life-like situations in Karamoja, Uganda. The final is a wallet, Aki Save, which acts as a motivational tool to help users save to reach their goals. With six compartments to each represent a different expense, such as food, medical costs and other essentials.

All the elements of the Aki Financial Literacy Kit were prototyped and repeatedly modified based on feedback from user-testing. The collaboration has lead to a great deal of knowledge regarding developing economies in Africa – the literacy kit may also be widely implemented in the future.