The Center for Financial Inclusion (CEFI) and the Department for Community development have signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that allows financial inclusion training for those in the informal sector.
It will be implemented in three districts.
The MoU will see a Training of Trainers program in financial literacy, carried out for 100 members of the informal sector from the Imbonggu District in the Southern Highlands, the Gazelle District in East New Britain and Bialla in West New Britain.
The MoU has a life of one year, with training set to begin this September in Imbonggu. CEFI will carry out the training, with the support of Community Development staff on the ground.
DfCDR Acting Secretary, Jerry Ubase said the informal sector provides for the day-to-day needs for 80% of the participants.
“The Informal sector critically addresses a lot of development issues such as employment, and should be regarded as an equal partner in development. The negative connotation should be removed and should become everyone’s business,” he said.
Executive Director for CEFI, Saliya Ranasinghe said the goal of this exercise is to bring people into the financial mainstream and to have them partner with financial institutions.
Ranasinghe said, “All these financial institutions belong to you and you have to patronize them. To do that, we are suggesting that financial literacy is the first step in moving towards that particular direction.”
CEFI will also be conducting a two-day training on budget and savings for staff of the department for community development & religion in preparation for the informal sector financial literacy training.