The project Financial Literacy Through Public Libraries is aiming to increase the level of financial literacy of adults through new approach and by using the huge potential of public libraries as non-formal educators and lifelong training institutions. Project consortium is formed by 4 organisations from 4 countries in Central and Eastern Europe - Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania. Two of the partners are libraries, while the other two are foundations working with public libraries networks on national level.
FINLIT project is among the best examples for European projects that address digital transformation of public libraries and their services.
Libraries are no longer just the places to borrow books or study; they host events, provide training, and offer recreational and cultural activities. What are those new services? What new skills do librarians require to address the changes? And how can they obtain those new competences?
On March 31, 2020, FRSI - the FINLIT project coordinator and the Office of the Polish Financial Ombudsman operating as part of the Financial Education Partnership (PREF) jointly organized an internet seminar on "Security of financial contracts and services on the Internet".
It is worth adding that this webinar took place as part of the international campaign Global Money Week (GMW) under the slogan "Learn.Save.Earn" and the European "Week with the Internet", which this year takes place under the slogan "e-Mocni throughout life ".
The webinar was hosted by Katarzyna Morawska from FRSI, and the expert Paulina Krakowska from the Office of the Financial Ombudsman explained to participants of the meeting how to verify financial offer agreements, both those concluded in traditional circumstances and those - increasingly popular - available on the Internet. The expert paid special attention to what should be done before concluding such a contract and told how to safely make online transactions. Online meeting participants also had the opportunity to ask the expert questions in real time.
Learn more about the role and activities of the Polish Financial ombudsman here: https://rf.gov.pl
FINLIT Project was promoted during a session of Deva public library annual class on accounting. The class takes place in one of our library's branches - the Chinese Corner, that's the reason for the red lamps and other specific decorations on the pictures. The project's name and logo are on all the folders with materials that the students receive. One big roll up banner promoting the project is placed next to the entrance in the branch so that all people walking by can see it. The branch is located in one of our town's malls and welcomes many visitors every day.
The “Ovid Densusianu” Hunedoara-Deva County Library coordinates 57 local libraries (six municipal libraries, seven town libraries and forty-four rural libraries). Since 2014, the library is authorized Regional Centre for Professional Training for the counties: Hunedoara, Timiș, Caraș-Severin, Arad, Alba, Bihor. The first authorized course was the Trainer of Trainers course, graduated with a diploma certified by the Ministry of Education Labour Ministry. In October 2018, the second authorized course of Accountant was launched. Both courses are free and offered by library staff.
 |
  |
|---|---|
 |
 |
The National Finansiada is an financial education initiative for students and their parents in Bulgaria= It is organized by at DSK Bank in partnership with the Financial Literacy Initiative Foundation.
Teams composed of a child and a parent may participate in the competition. They will need to measure knowledge and strength with other participants by answering personal finance questions related to the finance and personal finance management. The first stage is the online qualification phase, the winning 12 teams will participate in the live final event. Over 400 questions have been developed for competition by the Financial Literacy Initiative Foundation.
Following the successful 2019 edition, DSK Bank is upgrading this year's initiative with the inclusion of another age group of students. This way, younger students will now have the opportunity to participate, as the participants will be divided into two age groups - 14-16 and 17-19. This year the teams will compete for winning not one, but a total of 6 DSK Bank scholarships - 3 in each age group. Those who qualify in the first place will receive educational grants of 3,000 BGN, the second place holders will be awarded scholarships of 1,500 BGN, and the teams in the third place will receive 750 BGN.
The online competitions start from February 20th, and will continue until March 15th. Anyone wishing to participate in National Funding can sign up at www.finansiada.bg. The teams should consist of a parent and a student, who, as soon as they confirm their email address, run a test with 20 questions on financial, banking and economic topics. The ranking of participants is based on the number of correct answers and the time for solving the test. The top 12 teams, 6 of each age category, who have given the maximum number of correct answers in the shortest time, will qualify for the final event at the end of March in Sofia.
The official webpage of the competition is https://finansiada.bg
Project “Financial literacy through public libraries”’ was presented to the audience of a TV BSTV in Bulgaria.
Rossitsa Vartonick: "A really interesting project, funded by the Erasmus+ program is currently underway. It involves four European countries - the Global Libraries Foundation from Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. The project is developing a unique financial literacy program that will reach people through trained librarians. It targets the adult audience."
