In a world where 2.5 billion people have no access to formal financial services, at Barclays we believe that giving young people the skills to save and manage their money effectively is an essential part of building long term economic stability, not only for individuals but also for our communities.
Barclays' commitment
Basic skills that many of us take for granted such as opening bank accounts, managing money, and nurturing savings are essential to enabling individuals to become economically secure and achieve their ambitions. To help combat these issues – we have set ourselves a goal of helping to improve the enterprise, employability and financial skills of five million young people around the world by 2015. By making sure our community investment activity matches our core business skills and expertise, we are providing more than a financial contribution – we are able to directly support young people and their communities by sharing the skills of our employees. As a financial institution this is a powerful contribution to developing the financial capability of the next generation.
To meet our commitment, we run global and regional programmes. We work in collaboration with respected charities, community organisations, NGOs and social enterprises, which are best placed to understand local needs and successfully implement projects.
Building Young Futures
One of these is our partnership programme with Unicef – Building Young Futures. This programme has enabled us to combine our financial expertise with Unicef's global experience of supporting young people around the world. This partnership works closely with local governments to help unlock resources and support more young people to make real and sustainable positive changes in their lives, both now and in the long term.
Ired from Chilimboyi in Zambia is one such beneficiary. She has a small plot of land where she grows fruits and vegetables. Before attending the Building Young Futures training, the land provided food but no income to support her or her family. However, by being given the opportunity to learn and develop her financial skills she has been able to turn her land into a business, managing her own money, and now has a small shop where she sells her produce. This has transformed Ired's future and her family's, and we're proud to say she is just one of the many young achievers our work has been able to support.
Banking on Change
Another successful programme is Banking on Change – run in partnership with CARE International UK and Plan UK. Through this we aim to break down the barriers to financial inclusion, and improve the quality of life for people in some of the world's poorest countries, by giving them the skills to save and manage their money more effectively. Since 2009, Banking on Change has made a difference to the lives of over half a million people around the world living on less than US$2 a day. By 2015, we aim to support the creation of 10,000 youth savings groups that provide young people with financial literacy, employment skills and enterprise training.
Local programmes
While we have global programmes that operate in many countries, we also manage regional programmes to help make an even greater impact. In the UK, our programmes, including Barclays Money Skills and LifeSkills, provide platforms to support young people in getting help with money management, tackling topics such as opening a bank account, budgeting, saving and spending. We operate many similar programmes and work in collaboration with many regional partners to meet our commitment.
It is clear that financial institutions have an important role to play in helping young people realise their ambitions and successfully transition into adulthood, but we know we cannot do this alone. It is only through collaborative partnerships that we will be able to change the lives of individuals, their families and their communities. When institutions successfully draw on each others skills and expertise, they have the opportunity to change attitudes and policies that will help young people thrive in the future.
Paulette Cohen leads Barclays' Global Programmes
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