19 Oct 2015

Barclays Bank Botswana managing director, Reinette Van der Merwe says drama is in an innovative and creative way to get the public involved and educated.

Speaking at the Madi Majwana: Stories from Our Pockets radio drama second season launch recently,  Van der Merwe said the drama sought to address issues of money that people dealt with in their daily lives.

Thus, she encouraged people to listen to the radio drama and get educated. 

However, she regretted that over indebtedness continued to be a big problem in Botswana.
She indicated that she was passionate about social responsibility hence Barclays Bank had robust involvement in social issues hence their support for the radio drama.

“Our Community investment programme is focused on young people between the ages of 10-35 and has provided the skills that they require to live economically active lives.

 This programme necessarily includes a focus on money management because we recognise this as a critical skill if one needs to live a comfortable and successful life,” said Van der Merwe.
She further said people should have a healthy relationship with money and learn to manage it effectively and save for some days which may be inevitable.

That, she said would allow many people to live within their means.
Van der Merwe said the need for Barclays Bank to be innovative and creative led the bank to a partnership with Maitisong Theatre, which was considered the national theatre in Botswana. 

“Our relationship with Maitisong on the specific subject of money matters began in 2013 when we launched the Pula! Money Matters theatrical performance,” she said, adding the play focused on their relationship with money and the complex issues and problems that people were faced with in their daily lives.

“Based on the success of the theatrical production and our desire to reach a wider audience, we agreed to develop and launch a radio drama series in 2014.

 The programme was launched on World Literacy Day last year and was very successful in reaching over 200,000 people across Botswana,” she said.

She indicated that the radio drama featured on three radio stations for a period of 20 weeks, with radio discussions on pertinent matters taking place in between shows and also went on a national tour to 16 villages where the radio drama was translated into a theatrical production.

She said the first season revealed several interesting matters, notably the issue of lack of communication between parents and their children on money related matters, arguing that it exposed bad money behaviour enablers and the fact that many continued to live beyond their means.

“The proposed second series of Pula! Money Matters will extend and deepen the narrative of season 1 and focus on the choices that young people in particular make with money and the consequences (financial and social) that this will have on their lives.  

The drama will continue from Season one with the same characters and explore the financial issues that they have to grapple with in their lives,” she said. Ends