Over its 25-year journey in Vietnam’s life insurance market, Prudential Vietnam has been dedicated to sustainable community development, focusing on protecting the lives, health, and safety of the Vietnamese people. The company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives primarily target the younger generation, and over the years, it has implemented numerous programs to provide tangible benefits to this important demographic.
Among Prudential Vietnam’s various CSR activities, the most notable are its efforts to promote financial literacy among children and enhance traffic safety awareness among students. These initiatives are considered strategic missions by the company, addressing urgent social issues with long-term benefits.
Cha-Ching financial literacy program
Prudential Vietnam recognizes the importance of financial literacy, especially for children, in building wealthy and sustainable future. In many countries including Vietnam, a significant number of adults lack confidence in their financial planning skills, and some have failed to establish or commit to financial plans, which can have serious consequences.
In 2011, Prudential launched the Financial Literacy in Children initiative across Asia, revealing that only 13% of nearly 10,000 parents surveyed believed their children had good money management skills, despite 95% acknowledging its importance. In Vietnam, 51% of parents were unsure whether they had taught their children proper financial behavior.
Global research indicates that behaviors, including money management habits, are typically formed in early childhood, especially during primary school years. Educating young students about financial management can lay a strong foundation for sound financial decisions and long-term financial stability. This insight led Prudential Vietnam to join the Cha-Ching Financial literacy network and launch Cha-Ching in Vietnam as an extra-curricular program for students at primary schools.
Developed for children aged 7-12, Cha-Ching was introduced in September 2011 and is now available in 16 markets across Asia and Africa. The program features a series of three-minute music videos with six lively characters, each representing different aspects of money management: Earn, Save, Spend and Donate. These characters, who form the Cha-Ching music band, help children grasp these fundamental financial concepts. The episodes air on Cartoon Network, the leading children’s channel in Asia, across six ASEAN markets, including Vietnam, as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In Vietnam, the Cha-Ching Curriculum was initially piloted in 25 schools in Hanoi during the 2018-2019 school year. By the following year, the Ministry of Education and Training had endorsed the curriculum for use in primary schools nationwide. Over the past five years, the program has reached 111,000 students and 3,000 teachers in 314 schools across seven cities and provinces in Vietnam. Additionally, workshops on financial management have been conducted for nearly 800 parents, equipping them to better guide their children in the journey of acquiring financial literacy. The Cha-Ching Smart Kids Smart Money competition, introduced in 2011, also attracted growing attention each year, reaching 13,000 registrations in 2024.
Safe Steps Kids Road Safety initiative
Beyond financial literacy, Prudential Vietnam has also focused on another critical issue: enhancing traffic safety for students. Traffic accidents are the second leading cause of death among children aged 4-15 in Vietnam, following drowning, with the risk being particularly high for students attending schools near national highways.
While several initiatives have been launched to raise traffic safety awareness among students, many have been theoretical and have not effectively protected students as intended. To address this gap, Prudential Vietnam launched the Safe Steps Kids Road Safety (SSKRS) project in 2020, in collaboration with partners, to offer comprehensive education on traffic safety and sustainable interventions.
The project targets schools in cities and provinces with high traffic density, particularly those near national highways and with low helmet-wearing rates among students. The initiative provides a holistic approach, combining education on traffic safety with the donation of standard helmets and the improvement of traffic conditions around the target schools.
For four years, the project has educated over 12,000 students and nearly 600 teachers at 16 schools in six localities on traffic safety. It has also positively impacted millions of people nationwide through various communication activities.
As part of this CSR effort, Prudential Vietnam has also organized related activities, including information dissemination, the creation of a database to assess traffic risks at school gates, and the upgrading of infrastructure at 13 schools, with local budgets financing five of these improvements.
Prudential Vietnam also encourages its employees and associates to volunteer through its PRU Volunteers program. In 2023 alone, over 700 volunteers participated, contributing a combined 2,500 hours to support the community, particularly disadvantaged groups. These activities align with Prudential Vietnam’s CSR strategy and its commitment to safeguarding the lives, health, and sustainable future of the Vietnamese people.
