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Our Approach

A Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy Program Fo r Low-Literate, Poor Individuals in Developing Economies. This program has been piloted and customized to urban and rural settings in Tamil Nadu, India. It is currently offered at regular intervals. A detailed manual is available upon request.

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Our Approach

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  1. A Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy Program For Low-Literate, Poor Individuals in Developing Economies This program has been piloted and customized to urban and rural settings in Tamil Nadu, India. It is currently offered at regular intervals. A detailed manual is available upon request.

  2. Our Approach

  3. Sources of Knowledge • Experience with business education • Experience at the grass roots level • Research through numerous qualitative interviews of buyers and sellers • Not a one size (of business education) fits all (contexts) approach, • Combine business principles with indigenous research

  4. Barriers Faced By Poor, Low-Literate Individuals • Psychological (including self-confidence and awareness of rights) • Skill-related (skills as buyer and seller) • Financial We attempt to address the first two.

  5. 4-Tiered Model of Curriculum Development January to June 2003 • Broad Learning Goals • Specific Content/topics • Methods for conveying content to audience that is assumed to be unable to read or write • Instructional materials

  6. Training Program • Part 1 – Exchanges and Value Chains • A simple introduction to marketplace economics • Pictorial tasks such as • prioritizing elements of a value chain where money is often given highest importance at the beginning of training but the customer is given highest importance as the training proceeds • understanding the evolution of exchanges over time and the central importance of serving customer needs • Key concepts are • exchange as the underpinning of marketplace economics • multiple exchanges along value chains • meeting of customer needs as a key driver of changes in the marketplace over time and of success of a business

  7. Prioritizing Elements of a Value Chain Task requires placing pictures in order of importance

  8. Evolution of Exchanges – Part 1

  9. Training Program • Part 1 – Exchanges and Value Chains • Part 2 – Consumer Literacy • Role play with vegetable and grocery shops covering pitfalls identified through basic research • Assessing value is a central topic • Part 3 - Entrepreneurial Literacy • Consumer-oriented business philosophy • Evaluating business opportunities • Conducting market research • Understanding consumer decision-making • Product Design • Distribution • Promotion • Pricing • Finance and Accounting

  10. Value Chains and Distribution – Part 3

  11. Assessment • Training offered since June, 2003 • Assessment • Follow-up in 3-6 months • 100% benefit through consumer literacy • 20-25% start businesses • Training modified from 5-day program to 1-day consumer literacy and 2-day entrepreneurial literacy programs

  12. Unique Aspects • Conceptual focus to facilitate life-long learning • Emphasis on lived experience • Addresses an important need for generic life skills in the economic realm; underfocused compared to microfinancing and vocational literacy

  13. Marketplace Literacy Projectwww.marketplaceliteracy.org

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