UN Youth Seychelles: Another successful Global Money Week! |01 April 2021
Global Money Week (GMW) is the world’s largest annual financial awareness campaign organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and held internationally during the month of March.
The campaign aims to inspire youth to learn and understand money management, sustainable livelihoods and entrepreneurship.
For the fourth consecutive year, UN Youth Seychelles organised activities inclusive of the participation of 12 local organisations to commemorate this year’s GMW theme: ‘Take care of yourself, take care of your money’.
This comprised virtual and physical workshops, interviews, awareness post spanning March 22 to 27, 2021.
Launch of the GMW
The global launch of GMW was organised by OECD and local participants could also attend virtually on March 22, 2021. The day consisted of the local launching live watch party video marking the fourth edition of GMW in Seychelles representing the opinions of several members of the organisation, other institutions and previous participants on what GMW means to them. This was done alongside the publication of the UN Youth Seychelles website which provides information about the organisation’s aims and projects over the years and information about past and present GMW activities.
Main activities undertaken during the week
Due to the ongoing Covid pandemic, this year’s events were carried out largely through virtual webinars. The first virtual workshop took place on March 23, 2021 and targeted educators form various fields. The session aimed to sensitise participants from several schools and institutions on several financial topics such as the importance of budgeting, understanding assets and liabilities as well as investment opportunities available in the country.
Mr Wellington Manjengwa, a financial professional facilitated the session which was followed by the guest speaker, Sarentha Luther, a neuropsychologist and researcher, who gave her insight on the impact of financial stress on individuals. The 32 participants who attended the session all expressed positive feedback.
The remainder of the week featured a Virtual Financial Education Tour which comprised presentations from various institutions arranged as: Economics Track, Financial Crimes Track and Business Management Track. The Economics Track Tour comprised three organisations – the Central Bank of Seychelles and the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning & Trade (MoFEPT). Overall 49 participants took part in this track and obtained an overview of each institution’s mandate as well as an understanding of the management of different macroeconomic variables. A participant expressed that “For the MoFEPT there were mostly young people presenting, and I could see how high their level of education was. I'm most definitely aiming high in my studies and probably I could be one of the representatives one day”.
The second financial education tour’s focus was on a prominent issue namely financial crime. This track included Sacos Insurance Group, Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The webinar had 45 participants and covered aspects such as money laundering, suspicious transactions, risk-based monitoring among many others from the perspectives of these sectors of industry. A participant explained: “I learned about various types of financial crimes, measures in place to mitigate money laundering and the impacts of money laundering on the banks. For example, through reputational damage the bank could lead to loss of customers. As well as the impact of money laundering on businesses and the economy.”
The final virtual event was another successful event featuring Enterprise Seychelles Agency (Esa) and MCB Seychelles which explained various elements of business management, which included the processes of setting up a business. Further insight into the inner operations of a bank which makes it a successful institution was also discussed.
“As a business studies student, it showed me that what we learn in class is actually applied in the everyday life of businesses and this is quite encouraging,” said one of the participants.
Due to the events being virtual, a larger number of participants could be catered for enabling it to be a fruitful project. Alongside these events, various ‘spotlight’ posts were released daily on the UN Youth Seychelles social media platforms on the perspective of numerous individuals on what their financial take on the pandemic is.
GMW concluded on Saturday March 27 with a collaborative, in-person financial education workshop for the hearing-impaired involving 19 participants. The event was organised by UNYS and CBS to promote understanding of personal finances and budgeting as well as exploring the role of CBS in Seychelles’ economy and the ability to recognise counterfeit notes ensuring that such campaigns remain inclusive.
Anita Gardner from the Association of People with Hearing Impairment conveyed that “most participants participated actively in the sessions through the sign language interpreter and the trainers were also able to learn a few signs along the way. All participants learned a lot and we have positive feedback. Exciting discussions was going on during tea break and after the sessions. They all expressed their wish to be invited to future workshops.”
GMW has been a great opportunity for the organisation to tackle and achieve a number of the United Nations sustainable development goals particularly goals 4, 8 10 and 17, which are quality education, decent work and economic growth, reducing inequalities and lastly partnerships to achieve the goal.
The events of this week would have not been possible without the assistance and collaborations of many individuals and various organisations who gave their time and energy to help in organising the workshops.
Overall, there was generally a positive response towards all the workshops and UN Youth Seychelles hopes to hold more such workshops in the future. For more information on the project and the organisation visit our website http://www.unyouthseychelles.org
Contributed by Raina Dhanjee
Project and Events Officer
UN Youth Seychelles
