Financial literacy promotes financial inclusion, says USAID

Business

FINANCIAL literacy promotes financial inclusion and security for the rural folks, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) says.
“They are unable to access formal financial services or start their own family or community based enterprises,” it said in a statement.
USAID said it was expanding the pool of trainers for financial literacy and that the USAID PNG Lukautim Graun Programme (LGP) had partnered with the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (Cefi) to raise the level of financial literacy, with emphasis on women.
It said 19 people were trained for financial literacy trainers in Lae last month.
It had already successfully trained 21 trainers in Eastern Highlands, Jiwaka, Morobe and Cimbu and next trainings would be in Milne Bay and Madang.
The focus is on strengthening financial inclusion in remote and rural areas in Eastern Highlands, Jiwaka, Madang, Milne Bay, Morobe and Chimbu.
USAID said the newly certified trainers would teach the rural folk on how to open bank accounts with MiBank, another LGP partner that was developing mobile banking services specifically for rural and remote communities.
Gregory Tepe said he was now in a better position to serve both MiBank and MiBank customers and communities after the training.
“The most exciting thing for me is that those excluded are now included in financial literacy,” he added.
Newly certified trainer Fredah Wele, from Wau-Waria, said she made a reasonable living selling alluvial gold but struggled to manage their income to meet family household needs.
“The cash flow is there, but they do not know how to manage money. Now, I can help them better understand financial management to settle things like school fees and health costs,” she added.