Фондация "Оренда"
Budget time - K2 Cooperation partnership project funded under Erasmus +
"Budget time" is implemented by a consortium of 3 partners - Fab Lab (Romania), Orenda (Bulgaria) and Tavo Europa (Lithuania). It was born out of a tangible need among the young people in our comminities - they're not prepared to manage their own finances when they finish high school, yet they are expected to start a job (studies) and support themselves which causes anxieties and difficult moments. Some need to take a student loan to start their studies. Some feel so confused that they prefer to do nothing (NEETs) - if you don’t try, you can’t fail. Some may fall into debt or start to have low self-esteem (if their peers are better off financially).
Financial literacy is key to helping young people manage money effectively so that they can become financially stable, build assets and achieve their personal goals. Decisions made in early adulthood can have lasting financial consequences. Many young people receive no formal financial instruction. Instead, they learn about money through socialisation, such as observing and listening to their parents, care givers, other adults and peers.
The objectives we set to achieve with this project are:
1. Develop the competencies of 42 youth workers from the 3 partners countries in creating, adapting and applying non-formal education methods about financial management with youth aged 18-25
2. Creating a financially accurate non-formal education program that will target 900 young people and help them better understand and administrate their finances.
3. Creating a competent network of youth workers that can support youth and other youth workers in understanding and applying NFE methods about financial education.
See more about the activities we implemented during the project and the results we've achieved for 18 months.
Training of trainers on financial education
During the LTTA held in Bulgaria between 12-16 April, 21 youth workers from the 3 partner countries underwent a comprehensive training to learn how to implement the methodology with young people - how to approach the topics of budgeting, saving, investing, avoiding fraud and many more. Those 21 youth workers trained 21 other colleagues from the partner countries, so we could expand our reach to 3 more cities - Plovdiv, Kaunas and Craiova.
Online webinar on savings and investment
With the help of Nikolay Stoykov, entrepreneur and investment expert, we organised a webinar. It had a dual purpose - to deepen the knowledge of youth involved in the Financial Clubs and to reach other young people who live outside of the two main cities where we implemented the project. 25 youth attended the webinar live and 60 more received full access to the recording and the presentation.
Workshops for youth
More than 300 youth in Bulgaria (from Varna and Plovdiv) went through non-formal training workshops, helping them manage their finances effectively, learn how to set smart goals and strive for financial independence.
The program had 3 editions in total and included youth in the final years of high school and the beginning years at the University. In Varna, we collaborated with Neofit Bozveli high school and the Naval Academy, PGHTT Plovdiv and all those other youth who joined our open events and webinars.
Treasure Hunt at the University "Key to money"
In collaboration with the University of Economics Varna we developed and implemented a treasure hunt with riddles, challenges and tasks aimed at increasing financial literacy among youth through gamified approaches. 13 teams, 65 participants and 20 volunteers took part in the event. Apart from having tons of fun, youth learned more about the University and had the chance to see it on the inside. They increased their knowledge about many of the topics covered in the program in an engaging way!
Online App and Manual
One of the main activities of the project was to develop a methodology that includes 12 topics on financial literacy, gathered in a Manual that youth workers and teachers can use in their work. The Manual in English and Bulgarian can now be found on our online App - a one-stop-shop for youth interested in enhancing their financial literacy - featuring videos, self-assessment quizzes and useful reads.
Download the manual:click here
Visit the App here:click here
Closing event to share the results
Of course, after doing all of this work and generating so much content and outputs, it was time to share it with other professionals working with youth so they can implement the methods in their daily work with youth. We held a conference which was attended by more than 45 people, among which psychologists, social workers, teachers, youth workers, volunteers and parents.
It was a great opportunity to form a network and discuss possibilities to multiply and scale the program even further!
Impact and results
As the project is approaching its end, we can more confidently share some of the impact and results we've achieved: