Countries
Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama
Local Project Partners
El Salvador:
Banco Central de la República
Banco de Fomento Agropecuario
Banco Hipotecario
FEDECRÉDITO
Superintendencia del Sistema Financiero
Honduras:
Comisión Nacional de Bancos y Seguros
Cuba:
Banco Central de Cuba
Banco Popular de Ahorro
México:
ALIANZA Cooperativas de Ahorro y Préstamo
Banco del Bienestar
Caja Popular Cerano
Caja Popular Las Huastecas
Caja Popular Mexicana
Comisión Nacional para la Protección y Defensa de los Usuarios de Servicios Financieros (CONDUSEF)
Confederación de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Préstamo de México (CONCAMEX)
Coordinación general de Universidades Tecnológicas
Fundación León XIII
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO)
Nacional Monte de Piedad
Secretaria de Educación Pública
Tosepantomin
UNISAP Federación Nacional de Cooperativas Financieras
Universidad Ibero Puebla
Panamá:
Caja de Ahorros
Superintendencia de Bancos de Panamá
German project partner
Ostdeutscher Sparkassenverband (OSV) (East German Savings Banks Association)
Donator
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Duration
30.09.2014 - 30.09.2022
About half of the Latin American population has an account at a formal financial institution, but only about 14% of the population uses it to save. At the same time, over-indebtedness has been perceived as one of the biggest risks for many years.
Financial institutions can best counter the risk of over-indebtedness with well-trained advisors who, for example, pay attention to responsible lending processes and the promotion of savings products. By promoting their member institutions, banking-associations can do their part in professionalizing them and therefore help to stabilize the financial sector.
On the consumer side, the promotion of financial literacy is essential to raise awareness in an often credit-oriented culture to only take out loans that can be serviced. Financial literacy is also essential in making informed decisions about what credit terms are appropriate.
The overall objective of the project is to improve sustainable access to financial services by strengthening educational and associational structures. This will be achieved through the following four priorities:
- introduction of the dual education system to train specialists in the (micro-) financial sector
- establishing and expanding the range of training courses and consulting of partner institutions
- strengthening microfinance associations as representatives and service providers for microfinance institutions
- improving the level of basic financial education of the population
Project Tasks
- Introduction of dual vocational training
- Development and implementation of advanced training programs for technical and managerial staff, including training of local trainers as multipliers
- Improving the structure and range of services offered by partner associations, positioning partner associations as strong stakeholders
- Raising awareness of financial education e.g. with MFIs, associations, consumer protection institutions, government agencies, etc. in all project countries
- Training of multipliers for financial education and training of target groups (children, youth, women as heads of families, small (micro)enterprises, indigenous people, etc.)
