The national financial literacy strategy for Austria – monitoring and evaluation

„The national financial literacy strategy for Austria – monitoring and evaluation“

In 2021, the national financial literacy strategy for Austria was established with the goal to increase the financial literacy level of the population. The strategy was developed in cooperation with the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and approximately 50 national institutions specializing in financial literacy, including the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB), Austria’s central bank. The overarching goal of this strategy is to improve people’s long-term financial well-being.

In view of today’s financial challenges, the strategy underscores the necessity for accessible and high-quality financial education. Financial literacy can serve as a basis for financial resilience and sustainability in one’s future. Therefore, the strategy is supposed to improve financial awareness, skills, and decision-making capabilities among Austrians. To support this goal, a network of national institutions, among others the OeNB, offer a variety of financial education initiatives.

For the first time in 2023, a comprehensive monitoring will shed light on the successes achieved with the strategy and the potential that is still untapped. In cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance and the MCI (The Entrepreneurial School®), the OeNB is in charge of this monitoring. We gather and analyze data from the available spectrum of financial education initiatives to provide a holistic view of the educational landscape. The monitoring will be conducted annually, ensuring regular insights into the strategy’s effectiveness.

Monitoring serves as a fundamental element of the overall evaluation framework for the national financial literacy strategy. It delivers key descriptive data on financial literacy efforts in Austria and helps quantify the range and outreach of programs tailored to diverse audiences, including children, teenagers and adults in various life stages and circumstances. The analysis of monitoring data helps map initiatives, highlighting the prevalence of topics such as savings, investments, budget management and fraud prevention. Moreover, it pinpoints areas in need of further development.

Beyond monitoring, evaluation aims to verify the actual impact of the financial education initiatives on the Austrian population. Conducting such an impact evaluation poses significant challenges due to the diversity and the large scale of initiatives involved. A crucial future goal will be to deploy sophisticated methodologies capable of capturing the true effects of the collective efforts under the strategy in order to examine whether the initiative’s objectives translate into benefits for the population.