Category: Financial Literacy

SEDPI Speaks on First BanKO Financial Education Roadshow

“Sa produkto ng BPI-Globe BanKO, pinapadali ang mag-save, kumuha ng insurance at soon maka-loan para sa negosyo”. These were words imparted by Vincent Rapisura to over 200 BanKO current and potential clients in its first Financial Education Roadshow, held in Barangay Holy Spirit, Quezon City on September 1, 2012.  This event aimed to help BanKO’s clients be more financially empowered.  It also highlighted the benefits of having a BanKO account.

BPI Globe BanKO is the Philippines’ first mobile phone-based, microfinance-focused savings bank.  BanKO was established in partnership between Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Globe Telecom, and Ayala Corporation.  It delivers financial services to communities through mobile banking and its network of partner outlets that performs cash in and cash out transactions.

BPI-Globe BanKO President, Ms. Teresita Tan, welcomed audience of the Financial Education Roadshow.  Vincent Rapisura, the guest speaker, posed questions that assessed the audience’s financial standing.  A financially literate individual is one who a) has adequate savings and insurance coverage; b) budgets; c) uses credit for productive purposes; and d) sets financial goals. In the following module, he shared ways on how to increase savings and income, and lessen expenses.  Lastly, he discussed the definition and importance of insurance.

People learned more about BanKO’s services through videos and advertisements shown.  Throughout the event, interested individuals opened their BanKO accounts in BanKO booth.  In between modules, audience got the chance to win prizes through games and raffle draws.  Some won additional deposit to their BanKO accounts, while top winner received a cellular phone unit.

Vincent Rapisura also conducts financial literacy trainings to Filipino migrants based in countries abroad.  He is currently the President and CEO of SEDPI Group of Social Enterprises, a faculty of Ateneo de Manila University, and Program Manager of Ateneo Microfinance Capacity Building Program.

SEDPI’s Financial Literacy Training Inspires 1,459 High School Students

On June 13, 2012, SEDPI facilitated its “Financial Literacy for Teens” training to approximately 1,459 fourth year high school students in Silang, Cavite. The Sisters of Mary Schools (SMS), a non-stock, no-paying, live-in institution for the marginalized poor in the Philippines houses the students.  The school chooses students from poor families all over the Philippines and reside in either the Boystown or Girlstown.

In partnership with PTC-CSJ Foundation, SEDPI trained a total of 890 girls and 569 boys. The participants were divided into two training events: one was conducted in Boystown and another in Girlstown. Each training event was composed of a plenary of participants, who were eventually divided to six breakout groups. The training focused on the importance of personal finance, budgeting, managing expenditures, setting financial goals and creating a savings plan. By using the life of Mr. Edwin Salonga as an example, SEDPI stressed that financial literacy can help the youth have better control of their future. It also provided the students with knowledge and tools which they could use to better manage their finances once they start working.

For four years, the students are enrolled in an educational program that includes an intensive vocational and technical skills development.  Towards the end of their education, the students start their on-the-job training to practice their knowledge and skills.  Sister Laresa Morasa, the principal of the Girlstown, said that from the moment the students entered the school, all their basic needs are provided for.  They stay in the campus for an entire year except for the annual two-week vacation after each school year. Also, the students are not allowed to bring money once they enter the school.  As such, the students are not familiar with handling money. Sister Moresa added that, “since the students are about to graduate, financial literacy training is very important because it prepares them for when they leave the school and the support it provides.”

The students received the training well. Many commented that financial literacy will indeed be an important step towards achievement of their goals. In one of the breakout sessions, participants shared that the training will be of great help, not only for themselves, but also for the journey of their families to move out of poverty. One student even said that, “I am so inspired… I want to become an entrepreneur!” Another added that she was inspired by the life of Sir Edwin through the examples that the trainers shared. The trainers – SEDPI’s Program Manager, Emilenn Kate Sacdalan and SEDPI’s Program Officers, Florence Adviento, Enid Madarcos, Denise Subido, Cherryl Si, Charmie Lising and Romeo Arahan, Jr. – were all rated excellent in terms of delivery, knowledge and overall skills as resource persons. In particular, the students commended the trainers for making the discussions lively, easy to understand, and relevant.

SEDPI Presents Achievements in Jerusalem

On June 11-13, 2012, the Government of Israel and the Jewish Distribution Council held its inaugural biannual conference on Diaspora-Homeland Partnerships in Jerusalem. Some 150 delegates from 40 countries participated in the conference. The conference spotlights policies and programs that have proven effective in mobilizing and engaging diasporas, as well as providing insights into the experience of Israel and other countries with their diasporas.

On the first day of the conference, SEDPI’s President and CEO, Mariel Vincent Rapisura and SEDPI’s adviser on migration and development, Leila Rispens-Noel presented the Leadership, Financial Literacy and Social Entrepreneurship (LSE) Program as a case study. The LSE was showcased as a program that have proven effective in promoting trust and accountability among migrants. LSE is a capacity building program that empowers Filipino migrants with leadership skills to be an agent of change and transformation; financial literacy knowledge and skills to improve economic well being; and social entrepreneurship to explore their options in changing their current livelihood. View the full case study here.

On the second day, SEDPI Group of Social Enterprises (SEDPI GSE) presented its experience and achievement in supporting Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and Social Enterprises (SEs) through financial literacy to and investment mobilization from migrants. SEDPI’s President emphasized in his presentation that capacity building is the main challenge and strategy in effectively harnessing the diaspora for development. Unfortunately, the government nor international development organizations, do not provide enough support for capacity building. SEDPI GSE’s core strategy is to build the capacity of migrants on financial literacy so that they are able to invest in socially responsible investment in the long run. This is coupled with technical and mentoring assistance to MFIs and SEs to strengthen them to effectively absorb investments to maximize social impact and financial sustainability. With these, SEDPI GSE’s total portfolio invested in MFIs and SEs reached PhP135 million (USD3 million) reaching at least 500,000 poor households in the Philippines. View presentation here.

Ekaterina Miroslavkaya, one of the conference participants, wrote in her email to SEDPI after the conference, “It is always very inspiring to meet outstanding personalities who strive for making a difference and who are professionals in what they are doing.” This statement encapsulates how SEDPI GSE has transformed into a highly professionalized institution in the course of eight years.

SEDPI Conducts Financial Literacy Trainings to LSE Students in Italy

“Marami akong natutunan. Yung pagbibigay pala ng sobra-sobra sa Pilipinas mali pala,” says Ms. Analou Gamutan. (I learned a lot. I learned that giving too much remittances in the Philippines is wrong.) Analou is one of the 96 students of the Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (LSE) Program for Overseas Filipino Workers. The training she attended on “Financial Literacy” is part of the 12 training courses she will have to attend to complete the program.

One of the immediate results of the LSE program is strongly felt in the financial literacy classes that SEDPI delivers. The financial literacy trainings were delivered in two batches – Turin, Italy (LSE-10) and in Milan, Italy (LSE-11). The training emphasizes the need to take care of ones personal finances first before helping others. Analou adds, “Magsisimula na akong mag-budget. Sa pinapadala ko, dapat ang covered na lang ang nanay ko, tatay ko at ang anak ko. Tapos yung sa kapatid ko… dapat mag-trabaho na siya.” (I will start to make a budget. The remittance I will send should only cover for my parents and child. My sibling should look for a job.)

The financial literacy training provides practical suggestions on how to manage remittances. Through this, the program hopes to break the cycle of dependency on remittances. The training covers topics such as the stages of the migration process; importance of personal finance; setting financial goals; managing expenditure; creating a savings plan; and debt management.

Mr. Leo and Raquel Ramos, LSE graduates, explain that they started to consolidate their debt after attending the financial literacy class. They charted a clear path to paying their debt and started accumulating savings. “Gumastos kasi kami nang malaki sa aming kasal at bakasyon kaya lumaki an gaming utang,” he explains. (We spent a lot on our wedding and vacation that’s why our debt grew.) “Mali pala ang gagastusin mo na ang kikitain mo pa lang,” he adds. (It is wrong to spend now what you will earn tomorrow.) According to the couple, the things they learned in LSE are not new but reinforced their commitment to face the challenge and change their lifestyle for the better. They are now half way into paying their debt in full, earlier as planned.

The Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship Program is implemented by a consortium of organizations – Ateneo School of Government, OFSPES, SEDPI and various government agencies. Almost 400 Filipino migrants from Italy finished the program. It is currently implementing the 10th and 11th batch in Turin and Milan, Italy. Last week, the 12th batch was launched in Hong Kong.

SEDPI has conducted over 45 financial literacy trainings to Overseas Filipino Workers in 14 countries worldwide. It has trained close to 1,800 participants. It also runs an online platform on financial literacy for migrants.

OFWs from Bern, Switzerland use “Paluwagan” to Invest

SEDPI’s President and CEO, Mariel Vincent Rapisura, trained 18 Overseas Filipino Workers in Bern, Switzerland on May 26, 2012. Samahang Pilipina in Switzerland organized the training on Financial Literacy for Remittance Senders. The training aims to identify the current financial status of the participants; define their financial goals and provide suggestions on how to attain their financial dreams.

At the end of the session, SEDPI Capital Credit, Inc.’s (SCCI) Sustainable Investment Fund (SIF) was introduced. The SIF aims to mobilize socially responsible investments from migrants that SCCI will use to fund microfinance institutions and social enterprises in the Philippines. It is an alternative investment platform made available to migrants. SIF gives a return of 7.5% to investors with a term of one year. To date, SCCI has mobilized approximately PhP12 million SIF that are invested in 11 microfinance institutions and 12 social enterprises reaching an estimated 500,000 poor households in the Philippines.

The participants in Bern, Switzerland were inspired of the SIF and took it upon themselves to be proactive and invest in SCCI. Ms. Maria Teresa Eviota, President of Samahang Pilipina, initiated to use “paluwagan” to enable them to invest. Paluwagan is a rotating savings and credit scheme widely used in the Philippines. Each participant in the paluwagan will contribute CHF120 every month. The total amount collected will then be used to invest in SCCI assigned to a particular person. There are 12 participants in the scheme. “This is our way to enable us to invest because it is easy and affordable for the members,” explains Ms. Eviota.

 

SEDPI Fosters the Season of Sharing

Annually, Social Enterprise Development Partnerships Incorporated (SEDPI) celebrates Christmas season through a series of activities that aim to give back to communities in simple yet meaningful ways. SEDPI’s 2011 Christmas celebration was started with an afternoon spent with the orphans and street children living at Tanglaw House of the Virlanie Foundation.  The activity – which was held last December 15 – was attended by a total of 43 children with age range of 6 to 12 years old. The afternoon was filled with games and dance numbers which all the kids and the staff members of SEDPI enjoyed.  As gifts, SEDPI provided the children with school supplies and other basic needs such as rice and toiletries.

The celebration continued with a Christmas party for the staff. It was held last December 16 at the Phillip’s Sanctuary in Antipolo. Phillip’s Sanctuary is a nature park that features amenities for relaxation and team building activities for organizations.  The staff happily participated and finished all the challenging games and team building activities conducted by the official facilitators of the sanctuary. The Christmas party was highlighted by the annual exchange of gifts between the staff members.

The tragedy that struck Northern Mindanao barely a week before Christmas dampened the spirit of the holiday season. Typhoon Sendong ravaged the cities of Cagayan De Oro and Iligan as well as other neighboring municipalities.  It left on its wake thousands of dead bodies, hundreds of missing individuals and billions of properties destroyed. SEDPI reached out to the victims through donating PhP10, 000 to the Ateneo Disaster Response and Management (DReaM) Team. The donations were primarily used for relief efforts for the victims.  In the same way, SEDPI also donated PhP20, 000 to Ateneo DReaM Team when typhoon Pedring devastated Northern and Central Luzon last September, 2011.

SEDPI Speaks at The Global Microcredit Summit 2011

SEDPI’s President and CEO, Mr. Mariel Vincent Rapisura, was one of the speakers in a workshop for the fifth Global Microcredit Summit 2011. This year’s summit was held on November 14 to 17 in Valladolid, Spain. It focused on sharing best practices and reviewing the progress of efforts to attain the goals of the Microcredit Summit Campaign.

In the summit’s workshop titled “Remittances and Microfinance: Using Remittances for Productive Investments that Contribute to Sustainable Community Development”, Mr. Rapisura presented relevant SEDPI research results on remittances and microfinance. He shared SEDPI’s strategies geared towards improving the current situation of migrants and microfinance clients.

SEDPI conducts financial literacy to migrants. To date, it has conducted 45 financial literacy trainings to 1,678 migrants in 14 countries worldwide. Through its financing arm, SEDPI Capital Credit, Inc. (SCCI), it mobilizes investments from migrants. SCCI mobilized USD 300,000 from migrants. These migrant investments are then invested to local MFIs. SCCI has provided USD 2.5 million wholesale loans to 16 MFIs reaching 131,219 households in the Philippines. Most of these MFIs have operations in the rural areas. To protect migrant investments, SEDPI strengthens MFIs through extending capacity building and continuous monitoring and mentoring. SEDPI also conducts financial literacy to family members of remittance senders. A total of 575 remittance receivers in the Philippines were already trained. SEDPI also developed a comic book for remittance receivers and  conducted training of trainers (TOT) to enable staff of MFIs to deliver the trainings to remittance receivers.

Through its programs and services, SEDPI is able to share in the attainment of Microcredit Summit Campaign’s goals for 2015. These goals are to 1) ensure that 175 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, are receiving credit for self-employment and other financial and business services and 2) ensure that 100 million families rise above the USD 1.25 a day poverty threshold. Given the current demographics and pressing needs of both migrants and MFI clients, SEDPI is all the more passionate in improving the delivery of its services for the migrants, MFIs and its clients, and remittance receivers.

ABS-CBN Features SEDPI Study on OFW Financial Status

SEDPI’s study on the financial status of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) was the highlight of an ABS CBN report. ABS CBN’s Europe News Bureau posted the report which covered SEDPI’s training on Financial Literacy for Remittance Senders in Oslo, Norway last November 5. (Read ABS-CBN Article) Eighty five participants, mostly au pairs in Oslo and neighbouring cities of Norway, attended the training. Au pairs work in European households as babysitters and household workers and live with the host family.

The study reveals that 1 in every 10 OFWs is financially broke even after years of working abroad. Moreover, 8 in every 10 OFWs also do not have savings. Of all the OFWs who participated in the study, only 20% save regularly. OFWs and families also tend to be dependent on regular remittances and invest on idle assets. They also lack financial preparation for retirement.

The figures affirm SEDPI’s commitment to continue implementing its financial education program. The training is part of the financial literacy program that aims to equip migrants and their families on how to save, spend, budget, craft financial goals and manage debt. To date, SEDPI trained close to 2,000 OFWs in 14 different countries on financial literacy. For more details on how to partner with SEDPI to conduct financial literacy trainings, you may send an e-mail to info@sedpi.com

SEDPI Trains 106 OFWs on Financial Literacy

Last February, SEDPI conducted five financial literacy trainings in Switzerland and Italy. SEDPI’s President-CEO Vincent Rapisura and Chairman Edwin Salonga conducted the trainings. A total of 106 OFWs attended the training. The training was made possible through the support of Pilipinas-OFSPES in Italy and Samahang Pilipina in Switzerland.

According to the Philippine Overseas and Employment Agency and the Central Bank of the Philippines, Switzerland and Italy are among the European countries that sent the most amount of remittance to the Philippines. In relation to that, the training provided by SEDPI aims to equip the OFWs with knowledge and tools that will help them manage their earnings effectively so that they could realize their dreams. Mr. Salonga said, “During our workshop, we ask the participants to draw their dreams and aspirations. We do this to remind them of the reason why they left the Philippines in the first place and endure living in a foreign place.”  To add to that, Mr. Rapisura points out to the participants that there is stage in attaining financial freedom. He said, “Achieving financial freedom is not easy, especially for migrant workers. Gaining insight on financial literacy is a step that could take them nearer to their aspirations.”

One participant, Ms. Ginafe Sison said that she attended the training in order to have knowledge on handling her finances. She hopes that this could help her start a business once she returns to the Philippines. Most participants expressed that their intention to attend the training is to gain personal growth to help them achieve their dreams.

This project is a spin off from the previous literacy training program funded by the Catholic Organization for Relief and Disaster Aid (CORDAID). Today, SEDPI provides a counterpart of one percent of the mobilized social investment from OFWs to fund the trainings. In the future years, SEDPI hopes to continue this initiative in order to contribute to the welfare of Filipinos working abroad.

SEDPI Conducts Financial Literacy Trainings for OFWs in 10 Countries

The Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) successfully completed training 1,145 Overseas Filipino Workers on financial literacy for remittance senders. The trainings were held in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria and the United Arab Emirates.

Rhoda Amodia, 36 years old and a domestic helper in Rome, Italy expressed, “For the first time, I was able to go home to the Philippines without spending all my savings and income. Thanks to the training conducted by SEDPI.” Rhoda first attended the financial literacy training in February 2009 and has applied what she learned since. Ariel Centeno, 29, an architect working in Dubai, was able to use his savings when he got laid off due to the global financial crisis. He has found a better job in Dubai since. Corine de los Reyes, planned to work for one last year in Amsterdam before she retires in the Philippines. She cried during the financial literacy training when she found out that it would take her close to five years to attain the retirement fund she needs. Tita Coring, as she is fondly called, actively saved and invested and is right on target for her target retirement.

These are just three of the many positive stories of OFWs who attended SEDPI’s trainings on financial literacy. The training provides practical advice and true to life applications on establishing savings discipline, debt management, setting financial goals, spending and differentiating needs from wants. During the training, skilled facilitators provide animated advice on how OFWs should communicate their financial plans to their family members back home and gain commitment to the financial plan at the same time.

Vincent Rapisura, SEDPI’s President and CEO jolts OFW participants when he delivers his opening statements, “If your family members in the Philippines treat your remittance as permanent, it only means one thing. They do not want you back in the Philippines.” He then proceeds to deliver the training in an animated and entertaining fashion that both strikes the minds and shakes the core of the migrants’ emotions.

SEDPI implemented the financial literacy course in partnership with Cordaid. It also forged strategic partnerships with Stichting Habagat in the Netherlands and OFSPES in Italy to promote finance education and investments in the Philippines among Filipino migrants. SEDPI links with Philippine embassies abroad to engage them in this advocacy.

SEDPI’s financing arm, SEDPI Capital Credit, Inc. (SCCI) was able to facilitate close to eight million pesos (PhP8,000,000) worth of socially responsible investments from Overseas Filipinos. These were invested to Microfinance Institutions all over the Philippines to emphasize the developmental nature of the investments.