NEW CAMPAIGN ON VALUES & MONEY

Our 2013 campaign focuses on Values & Money. We know that greed, corruption and wasteful spending are slowing down our nation’s progress, and we think now is the ideal time to get the nation talking about and reviewing our attitudes, principles and behaviours towards money.

The financial state of the nation

Overindebtedness, unsecured lending, corruption and economic instability seem to be the order of the day. Another prevailing culture in our nation has become one of judging people according to what they have and earn, not by who they are and what contribution they make. As a result of many people wanting to have as much as possible as quickly as possible, we have seen the rise of corruption in both business and government sectors.

The global economic recession has not spared South Africa, impacting on job losses and future job creation. We have an epidemic of people who are spending more than they earn, leading to a debt crisis. Approximately 11 million of the 18 million credit-active consumers in South Africa are in arrears, and 72% of us don’t save at all.

The causes of these problems are complex and include our history as a country, the rise in materialism and greed across the world, the role of the media and advertising in telling us how we should live, self-esteem and identity issues, and family and peer pressure. However, none of these factors take away our responsibility for the choices we make. We are reaping the consequences of our current attitudes and culture around money.

If we are to stop this trend, then there is an urgent need to have a national dialogue that will challenge our attitudes to money and a campaign that will provide the tools to deal with money better.

What are our objectives with this campaign?

Our goal is to undertake a campaign to reach at least 12 million people and positively change their attitudes, behaviours and skills related to earning, saving, spending and giving money away. This will impact on major social issues including crime, corruption, overspending and job creation.

We also need to give people the tools to handle their money more wisely and to get out of debt. This will be done in partnership with leading organisations in the sphere of financial literacy. In addition, we need to challenge those with resources to give more of their time, money and skills to help those who need it most.

What will the campaign look like?

The campaign will be led by a high-quality film, first for cinema release and then across all SABC TV channels. While the film is the “spark” that promotes national debate and discussion, real behaviour change and skills building will be achieved through the other components of the campaign.

These components include:

• Baseline research to inform the campaign’s development
• Mass mobilisation, through media, to promote debate, discussion and behaviour change
• Sector mobilisation, in particular faith-based organisations (FBOs), NGOs, CBOs, schools and workplaces
• Development of printed resources, which can be used by various sectors for the duration of the campaign and beyond
• Community mobilisation events
• How can the community get involved?
• Heartlines’ campaigns are for the betterment of the nation. Our campaign is your campaign!

You can be involved in an informal way through getting the word out there, creating some hype around values and money, or joining the conversation by liking our facebook page (launching in January 2013).

More formally, you could invite us to your organisation or fraternal for us to share more about the campaign and add your input; or promote the campaign in your faith-based group, school or organisation once it launches in 2013. Contact us at info@heartlines.org.za