Financial Literacy Archives - Page 8 of 12 - Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc.

Conference on Migration and Development Held in Davao City

Wimler, Ateneo de Davao, MINCODE and PhilSmile staged a conference with the theme “The Role of Migrants in Sustainable Development” in Davao City on January 24, 2015. The event attracted at least 120 participants from all over Mindanao to discuss pressing issues of migration and development.

The conference had four sessions that aim to explore the link of migrant remittances to sustainable development. The sessions were: (1) migrant remittances and sustainable development; (2) migrant remittances and families left behind; (3) savings, investments and entrepreneurship; and (4) impact of remittances on education.

SEDPI’s President and CEO took part on the first session on linking migrant remittances to sustainable development. He shared how SEDPI’s financial literacy programs to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) abroad are able to invest in microfinance institutions and social enterprises in the Philippines. “SEDPI aims to strengthen the personal finance status of migrants abroad in the hope that they become social investors. To date, approximately 100 SEDPI-trained migrants have invested in in SEDPI Development Finance that were used to leverage resources from commercial banks. The leveraging effectively increased SEDPI’s resources that were in turn invested in microfinance institutions and social enterprises all over the Philippines.”

Other speakers of the conference were representatives from various government and non-government organizations such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Council of Filipinos Overseas, Department of Labor and Employment, ERCOF, Atikha and ASKI Global among others.

1,383 Students Trained on Financial Literacy

Now on its third year, SEDPI trained students of Sisters of Mary Schools (SMS) Boystown and Girlstown. The trainings were held in the campuses of SMS on June 20, 2014. There were 456 male students and 927 female students who attended the financial literacy trainings.

To date, almost 4,000 SMS have already been trained on the importance of personal finance, savings, managing expenditures, setting financial goals, budgeting and insurance. At the end of the training, students showed their appreciation to the trainers. The evaluation of the trainings gave a rating of 4.93 out of possible score of 5.00. This shows that the students enjoyed and learned a lot from the training event.

The Sisters of Mary School is a non-stock, non-profit, non-paying, live-in secondary institution for the marginalized poor of our country. The school is maintained and supported mainly by donations, gifts and bequests coming from noble, selfless and well meaning persons and entities, local and foreign.[1]

The financial literacy trainings are held in partnership with the Philippine Transmarine Carriers – Carlos Salinas Jr. Foundation (PTC-CSJ). PTC-CSJ is the corporate social responsibility arm of Philippine Transmarine Carriers (PTC). It provides support for students through financial literacy and feeding programs among others.

[1] http://www.thesistersofmaryschools.edu.ph/sms_history.php

SEDPI Conducts Financial Literacy Training to Palaweños

SEDPI trained a total of 696 residents of San Vicente, Palawan on Financial Literacy (FL), December 12-15, 2013. The training is part of SEDPI’s partnership with the Climate Change Commission (CCC) in a project to create eco-towns or ecologically sustainable and economically stable communities. Those who benefitted from this project were mainly entrepreneurial mothers and most were also beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4 Ps).

The FL Training aims to change the conservative mindset of its participants about money by providing basic financial dos and don’ts to more comprehensive advice on livelihood and income management. It is a crucial first step of the project where after being financially trained, the participants may qualify for loans and venture to economically and ecologically sound livelihood. The participants, coming from baranggays Poblacion, Alumanguan, Sto. Niño, and New Agutaya, had to sit through the 6 parts of the FL training—Importance of Personal Finance, Managing Expenditures, Setting Financial Goals, Savings and Creating Savings Plans, Insurance, and Debt Management—where they also get to interact and share their financial situations with SEDPI trainers.

The success of the trainings is evident with the feedback SEDPI received from the participants. A participant from Poblacion commented, “Masaya po kami sa pagtuturo namin at marami kaming natutunan lalo na sa aming pag-iipon at pagsavings.” (We’re happy in the training and we learned a lot especially in saving) A Sto. Niño participant expressed, “Thanks po sa pagpunta sa amin at sa pagpapaliwanag kung ano ang dapat naming gawin at marami po talaga akong nalaman.” (Thank you for visiting us for explaining what we should do. We really learned a lot.

SEDPI is positive that the FL training will build a solid foundation to make San Vicente an eco-town. More importantly, SEDPI looks forward to the concrete results with more economically empowered and disaster-resilient families of San Vicente.

Financial Literacy at the Sisters of Mary Schools

SEDPI conducted its financial literacy training program for the graduating class of the Sisters of Mary Schools last June 13, 2013 at their campus in Silang, Cavite. The morning session was attended by 449 boys from the Sisters of Mary—Boystown, and about 690 girls from Girlstown joined in the afternoon.

SEDPI President and CEO Mr. Vince Rapisura started the plenary session by discussing the Importance of Personal Finance. Students eagerly listened to strategies in making an effective personal financial management that can benefit them at such an early age. It was followed by an inspirational sharing of the life story of Mr. Edwin Salonga (SEDPI’s Chairperson) who managed to prevail against his financial difficulties as an adolescent and is now an accomplished individual with his own businesses.

After the plenary, the students were divided into several groups for breakout sessions on Budgeting and Managing Expenditure, Setting Financial Goals, and Creating a Savings Plan. The students raised their worries about the challenges of life after high school and the expectations of contributing to the family’s income. In addressing those, SEDPI educated them on distinguishing their needs from their wants, and determining their personal financial goals. Likewise inculcated in their young minds were learning how to set their priorities, and having an awareness on how saving can be advantageous for the future.

The students, in their closing remarks, expressed their gratitude that the sessions were interactive and provided practical examples. According to them, they truly appreciate that the Philippine Transmarine Carriers – Carlos Salinas Jr. Foundation (PTC-CSJ) has a vision of encouraging self-upliftment and promoting quality of life*, and its sponsorship of financial literacy courses to high school students with the help of SEDPI as its training lead, are life-changing.

SEDPI Trains OFWs in France, Italy and UAE

A total of 131 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) attended the introductory sessions of financial literacy and social entrepreneurship in Paris, Turin and Dubai. Six training sessions were conducted on weekends from May 24 to June 2, 2013. The participants are registered in the Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (LSE) Program of the Ateneo School of Government (ASOG). The Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) and Overseas Filipinos’ Society for the Promotion of Economic Security (OFSPES) are partners of ASOG in implementing the LSE Program. SEDPI founders Mariel Vincent Rapisura and Edwin Salonga delivered the sessions. Both were evaluated as excellent in the delivery of their sessions.

Joy Sipin, 36, and an OFW for over a decade in Turin, Italy expressed her enthusiasm about the course, “It was a very enriching session. I am being empowered on how I am going to manage my monthly salary. The speakers are also exceptional and have much knowledge to share with the participants.”

The financial literacy session had the following topics: personal financial management; savings planning, budgeting and managing expenditures, debt management and financial goals planning. The social entrepreneurship session covered the following topics: concept of social entrepreneurship; motivation and characteristics of social entrepreneurs; understanding and identifying social issues; opportunity recognition and creative thinking; and external analysis.

LSE envisions a united, empowered and respected Filipino migrants and their families contributing towards Philippine development. ASOG, SEDPI and OFSPES are dedicated to forming economically empowered and socially responsible Filipino leaders. They partner with Filipino organizations overseas and government agencies that cater to Overseas Filipinos to make the LSE program possible.

There are three core modules in the LSE Program: leadership, social entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Four sessions are allocated to each module. Ten classroom sessions are held every two weeks on a weekend to fit the schedule of the migrants. The remaining two sessions are online sessions on financial literacy. The speakers are experts in their respective fields and are mostly practitioners who volunteer their time to deliver sessions.

Since 2008, 517 Overseas Filipinos have completed the LSE course. There are five LSE programs concurrently implemented in Hong Kong, Dubai, Turin and Paris. Students from the Ateneo de Manila University found out in their research that the financial literacy module of LSE has a social return on investment of 20 times per peso investment made in the program. This means that the combined economic and social change of the program is truly effective.