An agreement signed between the Ok Tedi Foundation (OTDF) and the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) will solidify their collaboration to implement a Financial Literacy Program.
The OTDF and CEFI yesterday (Tuesday 12th March) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The program is aimed at empowering small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and women-led SMEs in selected regions of the Western Province.
Under the terms of the MoU, CEFI will conduct Training of Trainers (ToT) sessions in designated areas, equipping 25 trainers with the necessary skills and knowledge in personal money management concepts. These trained individuals will then be responsible for imparting direct retail training to 1,000 SMEs and women-led SMEs within the Western Province.
The signing ceremony, held in Port Moresby, saw Andrew Mari, Acting Chief Executive Officer and Executive Manager Program Services of OTDF, and Saliya Ranasinghe, Executive Director of CEFI, formalize the partnership.
The primary objective of this collaboration is to provide comprehensive financial literacy training and facilitate financial inclusivity for SMEs and women-led SMEs in the Western Province, particularly in the Community Mine Continuation Agreement regions.
Mari expressed his gratitude for the partnership, stating, "This marks the beginning of a crucial initiative for us at OTDF. This will be the first MoU that we (OTDF) will be signing with CEFI and we are privileged that CEFI will partner with OTDF to roll out the financial literacy training targeting respective women associations.”
He further emphasized the significance of the MoU in empowering women's associations financially and enabling them to meet the requirements for advancing their SME businesses in Western Province.
"Financial literacy is pivotal to the development process in the Western Province. We are eager to work with OTDF in rolling out the Financial Literacy program and empowering SMEs,” Ranasinghe affirmed CEFI's commitment to the partnership.
Ranasinghe encouraged women's association leaders to utilize the training effectively, highlighting their role as community role models. He also outlined CEFI's plans to expand financial services in the Western Province, collaborating with local financial institutions to bring services closer to the people.
“We are looking forward to this partnership as financial literacy is going to be the cornerstone in this whole development process that we would like to roll out in the Western Province,” he said.
He highlighted that Papua New Guinea has 16,500 access points that include banks, sub-banks, agencies, EFTPOS machines and ATMS.
He explained that CEFI would like to expand these services in Western province by working with financial institutions in the province to bring the financial services closer to the people.