My Moola

The My Moola Opening Financial Pathways program is a fun interactive 10 week program that links personal development and goal setting with financial literacy and ongoing mentoring that has been developed by First Nations Foundation in partnership with the ANZ Bank. It has been the result of wide community consultation involving focus and reference groups from the Indigenous community of the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria from 2005 to 2009. It also draws upon many sources including ANZ’s MoneyMinded resource and MoneyBusiness (an Indigenous financial literacy resource developed by ANZ in partnership with FaHCSIA) as well as extensive local experience and is specifically designed for Indigenous people living in regional centres. It is delivered by Indigenous facilitators, employed by local organisations.

It has been piloted in the Goulburn Valley region and is now being made available to other Indigenous communities.

The 10 module program takes a holistic view to financial empowerment with several key objectives for participants including:

  • Increase participants skills in personal development related to goal setting and overcoming barriers to success
  • Provide participants with an understanding of the impacts of financial decisions related to: expectations, needs, and aspirations;
  • Increase participants awareness and knowledge of costs, risks, and benefits of financial products and services
  • Provide families with tools to develop a shared vision around culture, education and economic well-being
  • Provide on-going support through individual mentoring of participants

The pilot program workshops commenced in Shepparton in June 2007 with three groups of 10 Indigenous participants attending 2 hour workshops each week over 10 weeks. Workshops are run by Indigenous facilitators and include: goal setting; overcoming barriers to success ; making money stretch past payday; planning to win; looking after my future; internet and phone banking; credit can be a wealth hazard; money loans, sharks and traps; sharing my vision and reflection .

 

Subsequently workshops have been conducted in Shepparton, Echuca and Cummeraganga with the Koori Resource and Information Centre in 2008-10 and in Perth with the David Wirrpanda Foundation in 2009 and 2010.

A new intake of participants has started in 2010 with a series of workshops running in Shepparton, Echuca and Perth. My Moola intends to attract additional funding sources to expand to other locations.

Two program evaluations by Australian National University (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research) and University of Melbourne have been conducted.

The program is designed to develop the capacity of the local Indigenous community to own and control the program moving forward and actively lead the change-management process within the community.