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Financial Capability and Asset Building Training in Ghana Through Project-Based Learning

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Abstract

Since 2008, the continuous global resurgence of economic and financial meltdown, often with its attendant adverse effects on Africa, makes it imperative for social work education to consider introducing financial literacy training for students to ensure that graduates of social work can affect change among populations it serves. The World Bank Group (2019) recons that from 2010, the financial sector in Ghana has been growing rapidly; however, the efforts to equip social work professionals with financial capability and asset building (FCAB) competencies are lagging. Many social workers receive little training and education regarding helping clients build stable and secure financial lives. Yet, there is a greater need for such professionals who provide social and economic services to vulnerable populations to ensure that they are fully included in the emerging financial sector. The paper explores FCAB training in Ghana and discusses (a) the need for FCAB in social work, (b) how social workers contribute to FCAB to improve client’s financial well-being, and (c) the strategies for leveraging project-based learning approaches to advance FCAB training in social work. This paper recommends forging collaborations with organisations and agencies that work in FCAB in Ghana to provide field education to students, build the capacity of faculty and students to engage in community-based FCAB related research, and build the capacity of field education agencies to design and facilitate effective project-based learning opportunities for practicum students. These strategies could potentially equip a new cadre of professional social workers with FCAB competencies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge organisers of the FCAB Africa Project which was held at the 22nd Biennial Conference of the International Consortium for Social Development and hosted by the University of Johannesburg. The authors first orally presented their paper and upon which the paper has been submitted for consideration and publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

    Kingsley Saa-Touh Mort

  2. School of Social Work, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada

    Alhassan Sulemana

  3. Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

    Richard Baffo Kodom

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  1. Kingsley Saa-Touh Mort
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  2. Alhassan Sulemana
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  3. Richard Baffo Kodom
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by [Kingsley Saa-Touh Mort], [Alhassan Sulemana], and [Richard Baffo Kodom]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [Kingsley Saa-Touh Mort, Alhassan Sulemana, and Richard Baffo Kodom], and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kingsley Saa-Touh Mort.

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Mort, K.ST., Sulemana, A. & Kodom, R.B. Financial Capability and Asset Building Training in Ghana Through Project-Based Learning. Glob Soc Welf 10, 39–47 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-022-00258-3

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