Community investment

Diana Priechodska Brodnianska looks after our community investment work in Slovakia. Building on a long-term relationship with the Children of Slovakia Foundation, Diana initiated Provident Slovakia's involvement as the main partner of the School of Family Finance programme.

"We're the main partner for the School of Family Finance which is run with the Children of Slovakia Foundation, one of the most important non-governmental organisations in Slovakia. The aim of the School of Family Finance is to raise levels of financial literacy among people on low incomes, especially the unemployed, women on maternity leave, young people leaving foster homes, school leavers and retirees.

"In 2007 we started to tackle the area of financial literacy more seriously. We looked at levels of financial literacy provision in Slovakia, what the needs were and what interest there was from the governmental, corporate and non-governmental sectors. We didn't find a great deal. The Slovak Banking Association commissioned a study which found low levels of financial literacy among Slovakians. For example, it found only 19% of respondents understood the Slovakian terms for 'APR'; when presented with two loan offers, 84% of respondents did not choose the one with better conditions; and many respondents could not differentiate between a credit and a debit card.

"So, in early 2008 we started a pilot, training 12 teachers to deliver a School of Family Finance workshop. The workshop covers issues such as personal and family budgeting, investing basics, modern payment tools, how to communicate with financial organisations, credit and cash loans, as well as the change over to the Euro.

"The workshop brings financial literacy right into the community, taking place in schools as they are focal point of many communities and most people know where they are.

"Following an evaluation in October we've seen good feedback and results. So far 110 workshops have taken place for a total of 570 participants. The lecturers found a strong appetite for this type of workshop. Participants found the most useful and interesting topic areas were how to create a family budget, minimising expenditures, how to communicate with financial institutions and the Euro changeover.

"We've also found a strong media interest in what we are doing and will be continuing to promote this internally and externally. Our plans for 2009 involve training another four lecturers to help us roll this out nationally. We also hope to bring in other partners to extend outreach and work with consumer protection groups to develop the materials further."