Comics Draw Attention to Pension Reform
Ukraine is a country with a quickly aging population and fast growing pension burdens. According to official statistics, currently, the contributions of 100 workers support are 90 pensioners. The situation is expected to worsen in the coming decades. The only solution to this problem is to give Ukrainians the ability to hold both state and private pensions. In 2003, the Parliament of Ukraine passed a Pension Law that will implement a new three-pillar pension system. Informing people of the new great opportunity has become a top priority for the Government of Ukraine. Though the Government has been promoting pension reform since 2004, Ukrainians are still inadequately informed about the Pillar III, which is the voluntary accumulation system, in particular on non-state pension funds (NPF) as a profitable tool to accumulate additional private pensions for retirement. To get the word out, an unconventional approach to the problem was needed, and USAID’s Capital Market Project responded to this challenge.
To let working Ukrainians know that they could have an additional pension via NPF, the USAID Capital Markets Project (CMP) jointly with the State Commission for Regulation of Financial Services Markets of Ukraine (FSR) developed a public awareness campaign. Two 30-second TV spots and a brochure were created. In the spots, comic characters show Ukrainians how money invested into NPFs work to augment their income. The spot and brochure demonstrate the two options currently available for Ukrainians when they retire: singular state pension payouts or, a state pension combined with private pension benefits from NPF. In addition, the brochure gives answers to frequently asked questions on NPF issues crafted on the basis of survey results conducted prior to the awareness campaign.
“These turned out to be excellent information products. TV spot announcements became a trigger that made people consider the NPF. When they saw the billboards advertising our fund, they decided to become our clients,” says Iryna Okhrimenko, Nadiya NPF Board Chairman, Donetsk.
During July and August 2007, the spots were broadcast on 26 TV channels in 14 regions of Ukraine, and approximately 2 million viewers have seen them. The spots were recently re-released to an association of pension fund administrators and to individual Non-State Pension Funds for national and regional TV airing. The association of administrators has been working with select members of the Rada to promote the TV spots on a wider range of TV channels. The brochure has been distributed to NPF administrators and attendees of all events on pension reform organized by CMP and FSR, including roundtables for employers on non-state pension funds issues conducted in six key regions of Ukraine.
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A cartoon in the USAID-supported educational brochure illustrates the advantages of investing in NPFs at the beginning of one’s career.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Capital Markets Project |
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