The 2022 League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) CSR Guild Awards was recently named Breakthrough by BPI Foundation, a first-of-its-kind financial education mobile game application, as the Outstanding CSR Project in Financial Inclusion.
Released in February 2021, the Breakthrough mobile game application aims to make financial education more accessible, enjoyable, and effective for Filipinos. The development of the app is also the Foundation’s response to the World Bank’s 2015 study recommending the use of edutainment as a form of teaching financial concepts to the public.
“Breakthrough is our deliberate effort to deliver financial education to more Filipinos in a fun and informative manner,” said BPI Foundation executive director Owen Cammayo. “We believe that the first step towards financial wellness is to have a better understanding and appreciation of the basic financial concepts.”
Among the numerous financial topics covered by the interactive digital board game are saving, retirement planning, and investing. Players meet real-life situations and make financial decisions as they move around a virtual board. The game allows individuals to put their financial knowledge to the test and see how their financial choices influence their everyday lives.
BPI Foundation also organizes regular “The Breakthrough Experience: A Virtual Game Day” for migrant domestic workers, uniformed personnel, DepEd teaching, and non-teaching personnel, including senior high school and college students via Zoom.
One of the students who attended the Breakthrough Experience shared her feedback about using the mobile game app. “It gives us the financial power that comes with financial freedom. It lets us make our own choices and learn from it too so that the next games we know better,” said Joyce Elaine Delos Santos from Centro Escolar University.
Elloise Kim Brejonio, a Far Eastern University (FEU) student, noted how the mobile game integrates real-life scenarios, which tested and improved her decision-making and critical thinking skills.
Another student from FEU, Andre Gabriel Ocular, expressed his excitement about learning about financial education. “I learned a lot of things in this game and at the same time, I enjoy it. Making decisions in life is not that easy and this game made me realize that there are situations we can’t control in our lives, we just need to be ready and know what action we should take and choose to perform. We need to be smart in investing and spending, while also not forgetting about our happiness and health,” he said.
Other BPI Foundation programs were also cited as finalists at the 2022 LCF CSR Guild Awards, namely, Adopt-A-Beneficiary for Outstanding CSR Project in Financial Inclusion, Banking on the Arts Virtual Exhibit for Outstanding CSR Project in Arts and Culture, Maagang Pamasko sa Panahon ng COVID-19 for Outstanding CSR Project in Disaster Resilience, and Lakbay Luntian for Outstanding CSR Project in Environment.
Meanwhile, the Breakthrough app is available on Google Play and Apple app store. To know more about it, visit https://www.bpifoundation.org/ and follow BPI Foundation on Facebook and Instagram.