Event
Training of trainers on financial education to empower youth and entrepreneurs in Southern Iraq, with support from Italy.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) in Iraq hosted a training that aims to equip future trainers with knowledge in financial management topics to enhance the financial skills of young people and entrepreneurs. This initiative falls under an ILO program to improve institutional and MSMEs capacities through the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) Programme and promote financial literacy in Iraq funded by Italy through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
Description: The training aims to equip future trainers with knowledge in financial management topics to enhance the financial skills of young people and entrepreneurs. Funded by Italy through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), this initiative falls under an ILO program to improve institutional and MSMEs capacities through the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) Programme and promote financial literacy in Iraq. The training is conducted in collaboration with the ILO’s Social Finance Programme (SFP), utilizing financial education tools adapted for the Iraqi context.
Twenty trainers from various sectors, including the Central Bank of Iraq, banking, microfinance institutions, the Iraqi Company for Banking Guarantee, NGOs, universities business development centers, private business service providers, as well as freelance trainers, attended the five-day training held in Erbil.
This training is linked to the upcoming Financial Inclusion Week, scheduled from 27 April to 2 May, with this year's slogan: 'Towards Encouraging Savings to Enhance Financial Inclusion', which the project is launching in the south of Iraq in collaboration with the Central Bank of Iraq.
Training focus: During the training participants were introduced to various concepts aimed at enhancing knowledge and skills in financial management, including setting smart financial goals, managing money wisely, creating budgets to ensure prudent debt management, choosing savings products, establishing good relationships with financial institutions, and understanding insurance products.
Training certification: Participants will have the opportunity to become certified ILO trainers by fulfilling a series of criteria, including the rollout of pieces of training to target beneficiaries in the Governorates of Basra and Muthanna in southern Iraq. Subsequently, Training of Beneficiaries (ToBs) will target 600 youth and entrepreneurs referred through the ILO’s Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) training and those interested in accessing financial services through partner financial institutions.
Project background: This initiative falls under the project “Towards more and better employment through enhanced support to private sectors in southern Iraq – with a focus on green business”. Led by the ILO and supported by AICS, the project aims to enhance support for private sector development and decent job creation in Southern Iraq. This includes promoting sustainable green businesses and providing access to financial services for young women, men, and small businesses to start and develop their own ventures while improving private sector capacity to address the needs of youth and MSMEs.
Towards more and better employment through enhanced support to private sectors in southern Iraq – with a focus on green business
Iraq