For garment workers in Vietnam, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the move to wage digitization—a shift that can serve as a meaningful on-ramp to financial inclusion. But, without broader education and support on financial literacy, many workers continued to withdraw their paychecks in cash, missing out on the benefits of these services.
Widespread adoption of digital financial services faces significant obstacles in environments, such as Vietnam, where ingrained behaviors, like a preference for cash or mistrust of formal banking, remain strong. To develop a scalable solution for financial inclusion and empowerment in this context, we partnered with Primark, Standard Chartered Foundation, and Doodle Design to create Bright Futures (Ngời Sáng Tương Lai)—a program designed to equip garment workers in Vietnam with knowledge and confidence to use digital financial services in their journey towards economic independence.
Leveraging a peer-to-peer approach and focusing on small, manageable steps, Bright Futures fosters a supportive environment within factories where workers are encouraged to discuss financial planning while building their knowledge and skills.
Bright Futures uses a peer-to-peer approach and introduces resources including this guidebook to make money management more approachable.
Designing to Erase a Taboo
We engaged with 60 factory owners and workers from eight different factories across Vietnam to learn about their lives: how they navigated the constant stress of a limited income, the social pressures they faced both at work and at home, and the challenges that come with the instability of the garment industry.
For many garment workers, money isn’t a personal asset; it’s a shared resource. On payday, they often pool their wages into a family fund (typically managed by the family matriarch) to cover household expenses and even generational debts. This collective approach to finances, without financial education, made it difficult to meet personal financial goals and achieve economic empowerment.
Workers at a garment factory in Quảng Nam.
Moreover, talking about money is deeply taboo. One worker, who gave 80% of their salary to their mother, still kept their earnings confidential. Couples spoke about managing their finances independently without open communication. A woman working in a factory in Hải Dương shared that in her culture, married women sometimes hide money from their husbands to support their families when needed.
Addressing this culture, where money is a silent specter dictating daily life decisions and behaviors, was a central design challenge. By understanding the nuances in their financial habits, their social influences, and aspirations, we were able to create a program that addressed both the visible and invisible challenges workers faced.
A Program That Builds Confidence and Enables New Behaviors
We began by prototyping simple financial tools and educational materials to test what could be easily integrated into workers’ daily lives and what content spoke directly to their needs. To gather direct feedback, we held a second round of workshops and focus groups at their workplaces, engaging 145 participants and 26 peer leaders across 3 factories.
Three things became abundantly clear: we needed a peer-led model where respected community members encouraged open discussions, this program had to be implemented in factories where owners were genuinely committed to their employee’s well-being, and we had to make topics and practices related to money management feel approachable.
Workers in a Hải Phòng factory providing feedback on prototypes.
Edwin Mwai, IDEO.org Product Design Lead (right) live testing prototypes with a factory worker in An Giang.
The final design of Bright Futures emerged as a dynamic financial literacy program built around these three essential elements. Central to the program were Peer Groups led by a Peer Leader, who received non-monetary incentives and hands-on training. Leaders were also supported with a physical toolkit to guide small groups through the program’s content.
On the worker side, guidebooks were provided to support their learning with tools, templates, and advice on financial matters. This “learning phase,” where Peer Leaders facilitated discussions and activities, served as a continuous live prototyping environment for implementers, who could adapt materials based on real-time feedback.
To make financial literacy and management friendly and relatable, we anchored learners in money personalities—a cast of cartoon characters that reflected the financial behaviors and mindsets we encountered in our research. Each character, from Bình, the Anxious, to Linh, the Planner, was designed to resonate with the workers, providing them with a figure whose financial journey mirrors their own.
A cast of five characters featured throughout the program representing common financial behavior archetypes.
We’re thrilled by the positive reception of Bright Futures among workers in three distinct factories. While money was a taboo topic, we found that people were genuinely eager to learn how to achieve financial stability and plan for a secure future, but they needed a supported environment and tailored educational and financial programs to support these goals. To learn more about the project, check out our White Paper in collaboration with Doodle Design.
Bright Futures won runner-up for the Best Adult Financial Education (Non-Profit) Award at The Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards in 2024.