Says former teacher, Andrew Toward, Edfundo’s Co-founder and COO.

Global Money Week – March 21 to 27, 2022

March 21 – the official launch of Global Money Week. Click here to register Webinar Registration – Zoom

We got extremely excited when we were told ‘you are good to go’ by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD), the coordinator of Global Money Week (GMW).

The ‘thumbs up’ sees Edfundo joined by an array of community associates throughout the UAE. Together we move into a week of activations focusing financial education for youngsters in support of GMW – the global campaign to raise awareness of the importance of ensuring that young people, from an early age, are financially aware. The goal is that youngsters gradually acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours, needed to make sound financial decisions, and achieve financial well-being and resilience.

The week runs from March 21-27 and we have produced bespoke learning modules and teacher handbooks and distributed them to more than 20 schools throughout the Emirates to encourage an upscaling of financial literacy education during and beyond GMW. These packs guide teachers on how to deliver lessons from our newly launched Edfundo Learning Lab – a purpose-built learning resource comprising a mix of face-to-face and micro online, free, and paid-for educational programmes aimed at plugging the financial literacy education gap at home, online and in the classroom.

Firstly, hats off to the OECD for recognizing the need for financial literacy education among our young; 2022 marks the 10^th Global Money Week. As the UAE is now an OECD member, we hope many more schools throughout the Emirates will help us mark the week this year, and beyond. Indeed, as the world’s first financial education hub, with a learning resource, a money management app and a pre-paid debit card created by teachers for kids, teens, parents and educators it was essential that we throw our weight behind the campaign.

We are are right behind the GMW2022’s theme – ‘Build your future, be smart about money’ – because it simply reflects the guiding ethos of Edfundo in that it captures the importance of being money smart from an early age to avoid the many pitfalls – financial and otherwise – that can befall us later in life.

Likewise, GMW’s official slogan ‘Learn.Save.Earn’ conveys the campaign’s key message of empowering children and youth to learn to manage their money wisely, save for their futures and earn for themselves and their families. It’s a message dear to Edfundo’s heart.

Andre Laboul, Counsellor of Financial Affairs at the OECD has summed financial literacy up as “an essential life skill” – and we couldn’t put it better ourselves. It’s essential for all, young and old, to support individual financial well-being, to empower individual financial lives and support financial well-being.

We will mark GMW here in the UAE by building upon Edfundo’s network of money mentors – our supportive school network marks another step. We are also keen to take part in webinars speaking to parents & teachers with a cross-section of community members joining the panels, from IBM, VISA, to The Aquila School, and even teens to tell us all what it is like ‘on the ground’ as the reality of a cashless society sweeps in.

For Edfundo, the timing of GMW could not be better. The app will soon go live with its range of digital tools and powerful dashboard giving parents access to flexible, built-in controls and motivating kids and teens to save by earning and allowing parents to track their youngsters’ spending and saving.

Edfundo though will be not just a financial tool available to kids and teens on their phones – it will be a digital learning device, as will our website: edfundo.com. Look out for games, quizzes and fun activities that will change kids and teens’ mindsets from money being boring, to money being interesting and powerful when handled right. And, while we eagerly support the Global Money Week, we want to point out one thing – a week is not long enough to undo the mistakes of the past in not putting enough emphasis on financial literacy. It will take a year-round effort and that’s why Edfundo, while supporting GMW, will be regularly collaborating with the financial and education sectors to ensure that we work consistently, year-round to get this important message across.