Financial exclusion is a penalizing condition because it hinders the exercise of citizenship rights and for this reason financial education can become a tool for social inclusion. The Permanent Round Table on Financial Education for social inclusion and innovation was born from this premise promoted by UBI Community, FEduF and Triulza Foundation and presented today as part of the activities of the Social Innovation Academy of MIND: an initiative that allows the implementation of synergies of content created by FEduF, skills contributed by UBI and relationships thanks to the role of hub of the Social Innovation Academy.
The initiative was presented today at MIND under the banner ofhashtag #PROJECTSthat MAKE THE DIFFERENCE, the central moment of the meeting organized together with fifteen consumer associations who have been collaborating, since 2014, with FEduF to activate the best energies of the country in the common effort to fight an emergency that must become a priority for social well-being. Over the last decade, due to the economic crisis, the material conditions of a significant part of the population have worsened: in 2005, 3,3% of residents in Italy were in absolute poverty, while in 2017 this percentage more than doubled and reached 8,4%.
It is not only absolute poverty that has increased, but also relative poverty: the latest survey shows that over 3 million families and 9 million people are in this condition today. The Permanent table on financial education for inclusion and social innovation which, as the first concrete action, foresees the organization of a series of meetings dedicated to the training of third sector operators in the Rho, Pero area and in the eighth municipality of Milan, which can be replicated in other territories.
“Cooperation between different sensitivities and different institutions, demonstrated in a concrete way by the Permanent Table on Financial Education, he declared Giovanna Boggio Robutti, General Manager of FEduF, is essential for pursuing the goal of sustainable development. Education in rational consumption and spending styles both from the point of view of economic and environmental sustainability is a step forward towards social inclusion and strengthening the immune defenses of the most fragile sections of society." "With this project we have the opportunity to experiment in the Social Innovation Academy of MIND with new training and project proposals on the subject of financial education as a lever for inclusion and social innovation, providing an opportunity for growth also to third party realities sector of the territory who work with people in economic difficulty but also with the new generations", underlined Massimo Minelli, President of the Triulza Foundation.
“The collaborative model that characterizes this initiative and in particular the establishment of the Permanent Table declared Vincenzo Algeri, UBI Community Manager of UBI Banca it is an example of partnership at the service of the new generations, to actively contribute to the social, environmental and economic sustainability of their future". The initiative stems from a three-year project launched three years ago by FEduF with consumer associations which, at the request of some third sector subjects, have given life to a program dedicated to people in fragile conditions. The answer was the creation of the www.curaituoisoldi.it portal, an informative site where simple information tools are available for orienting oneself in money management and an entire section dedicated to difficult situations, called SOS, precisely to evoke an anchor to which to cling.
To complete the platform, the TGUtile, a series of twelve video pills, lasting about 2 minutes, of advice on relevant topics for those who have difficulty managing the family budget, presented today in preview. As part of the meeting, projects and good practices for the financial inclusion of groups in conditions of economic fragility were illustrated and explored thanks to the participation in the round table by Guido Ciceri, Director General of Sercop, Stefano Granata National President of Federsolidarietà, Luciano Gualzetti, Director of Caritas Ambrosiana, Luigi Pagano, former Regional Provveditore of the Penitentiary Administration, Carlo Piarulli, National Head of the Credit and Finance Department Adiconsum and Claudia Segre, President of the Global Thinking Foundation.
The aim of the initiative is therefore to create a network between different subjects, pooling experiences and skills for the benefit of the recipients of the same. According to the representatives of the partner Consumers' Associations who attended “it is essential to continue on the path of collaboration and creation of useful synergies between the world of associations, third sector entities and realities that have been dealing with financial education for years, with a view to being able to give rise to an increasingly constructive and useful dialogue to support people in greater difficulty".
