‘Build your future, Be smart about money!’ was the theme of this year’s, 2022 Global Money Week which has just been commemorated.
Organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the event is spearheaded locally by UN Youth Seychelles.
Global Money Week (GMW) is an annual global campaign with the aim of increasing the financial literacy of youth by ensuring that young people from an early age are financially educated. By gradually acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours necessary to make sound financial decisions, they can ultimately achieve financial well-being and financial resilience.
This year marks the 10th annual celebration of GMW worldwide. It is the 5th year in a row that Seychelles partakes in its activities, primarily organised by UN Youth Seychelles (UNYS). UNYS is a youth-led non-profit organisation dedicated to spreading awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations. The SDGs are 17 interlinked global goals that provide a blueprint for a more sustainable and prosperous future. GMW puts emphasis on two main SDGs; namely, SDG 4 – quality education and SDG 8 – decent work and economic growth.
The GMW team at UNYS worked diligently to host a multitude of activities between March 21 and March 27, 2022. The goal of the activities was to instil money-management, sustainable livelihoods and skills of entrepreneurship among our emerging youth to equip them with various skills while maintaining professionalism and good governance to help them become influential leaders of tomorrow.
As a result of the consistent threat of Covid-19, UNYS made the strategic decision to host virtual financial tours via Zoom for the second consecutive year. GMW activities started on Monday March 21, with the virtual launch ceremony whereby panellists were able to engage in discussions on the significance of Global Money Week and the importance of financial education while informing participants of the activities coming up during the week.
The economics track was the first virtual financial education tour which took place on Tuesday, March 22. The institutions involved were the Central Bank of Seychelles, the Ministry of Finance, National Planning and Trade, and Nouvobanq (SIMBC).
The second financial education track on financial crimes was held on Wednesday March 23 and consisted of presenters from the Financial Intelligence Unit, Mauritius Commercial Bank and H Savy Insurance.
On Thursday, March 24, the business management and accounting track featured presentations from Seychelles Investment Board and NeuroSey giving detailed information on entrepreneurship while Seychelles Revenue Commission demonstrated how accounting and auditing are integrated into their operations.
The final track on personal finance closed the week of activities on Friday March 25 and consisted of the Fair Trading Commission, Seychelles Pension Fund and the Well of Inspiration.
Apart from these tracks, UNYS established financial education campaigns on their social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram whereby financial tips and posters on specific topics from savings to blockchain technology, were posted. This was done in the weeks leading up to GMW to provide short and simple explanations of essential concepts. Moreover, as a part of the sensitisation programme to reach out to a wider audience, a few of UNYS’ members were interviewed by Bonzour Sesel and Telesesel to give detailed explanations of the purpose of GMW.
At UNYS, the long-term goal has been to turn GMW into a national event where other local organisations also conduct activities during the week. We are proud to say that this took place this year. Central Bank of Seychelles organised various financial education sessions targeting mainly post-secondary students on topics such as personal finance and consumer rights, via platforms such as Microsoft teams and radio interviews. Enterprise Seychelles Agency (Esa) also organised sessions on topics such as financial management for MSME’s.
Overall, GMW 2022 was a success for UNYS as it was a fruitful experience for the participants as expressed through the outpouring of positive feedbacks.
UNYS would like to extend its sincere gratitude to all partner organisations and collaborators for making these activities possible. We are also immensely grateful to our dedicated GMW team members who helped curate the host of events, after all, as we like to say, Team Work Makes the Dream Work.
Source: Seychelles Nation