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Description
Recent survey confirms that 52% of Croatian citizens have a lack of financial means for covering their monthly costs in case of loss of income. Young people are most troubled by the increasing socio-economic problems: low-life standards, lack of life prospects and unemployment. The problem of young people is the lack of economic, financial and media literacy, as well as the lack of social and communication skills needed for better understanding of their role as responsible and active members of the society and effective participation in (personal and social) decision making processes.
Target group are 500 students of primary and secondary schools and 40 teaches including 100 students and 12 teachers of Czech minority, 20 of Roma minority and 25 elderly people.
The project contributes to increasing the civic competencies of target group in 5 underdeveloped counties (Bjelovar-Bilogora, Sisak-Moslavina, Virovitica-Podravina, Osijek-Baranja, Požega-Slavonia and Vukovar-Srijem) and Split-Dalmatia County and Zagreb by increasing the competencies of school staff and the content of teaching curricula. Financial, economic and media literacy activities are aimed at strengthening democratic culture, civic awareness and civic engagement of young people.
This will be achieved through activities of developing new educational programs, extracurricular activities for students, professional development of teachers, publishing e-manuals of civic education and financial literacy, workshops for vulnerable groups and training of volunteers to work with vulnerable groups, as well as advocating public policies to strengthen civic competencies of young people.
Local partners contribute in development of methodology, educational material and implementation of extracurricular activities (ten schools and two CSOs). Donor partner, Norsensus Mediaforum contributes in preparing of educational material and implementation of workshops for teachers.
Summary of project results
Research conducted by the Croatian National Bank (2016) and the OECD in 2019 confirms that young people are the most vulnerable group of citizens in terms of economic and financial literacy, while forecasters expect the highest youth unemployment rate in Croatia in the coming recession compared to other EU countries.
An EU survey from April 2020 shows that 52% of Croatian citizens do not have enough financial resources to cover their living expenses for a month in case of loss of income, which is the highest percentage in the EU. Research on the knowledge and attitudes of young people in Croatia conducted by the Institute of Social Sciences "Ivo Pilar" shows that civic education is important to start teaching during compulsory schooling in primary schools and to continue in secondary schools, so we have chosen students and teachers in formal education as the target group.
The Ministry of Finance coordinates activities in the field of financial literacy, and an Agreement on Cooperation on Improving Consumer Financial Literacy in the Republic of Croatia was signed, which was joined by 15 other parties to the agreement, including representatives of public law bodies, non-governmental organizations and financial institutions, who continuously undertake activities with the aim of financial literacy. literacy.
Students from partner schools acquired knowledge and skills that fit into the framework of civic education. Students were involved in educational workshops, debates and online quizzes in order to develop knowledge and skills for equal and active participation in economic and economic processes and the creation of new solutions in their communities. 40 teachers from partner schools were also involved in the project, who were trained to provide high-quality cross-curricular civic education. They developed their methodical knowledge for teaching about economic, financial and media literacy and are trained to continue teaching their students about these topics even after the end of the project. In addition, teaching materials were prepared, as well as an e-textbook of financial and economic literacy for students from the 5th to the 8th grade of the Novac i ja elementary school, which was approved by the Education Agency. The textbook provides basic information about money in an understandable and fun way, so that students can acquire the knowledge necessary to make smart financial decisions. Also, online quizzes on financial literacy were designed and implemented.
The project also included 45 members of vulnerable groups (young members of the Roma population, elderly people on the verge of poverty and students belonging to national minorities). Volunteers who work with these groups were trained in order to strengthen their knowledge in the field of financial literacy and continue to apply it in further work.
The Institute for Educational Development conducted a survey on the attitudes of the student population about financial literacy among students who participated in financial literacy workshops, and the results were published as an online publication Financial Literacy for 5. The results of the survey and the conclusions that arose from them served as the basis for formulating recommendations for the improvement of educational processes in the field of civic education, and addressed to competent authorities as a contribution to the adoption of evidence-based public policies.
Workshops were held to strengthen organizational capacities, which significantly improved the competencies of employees, especially because all workshops were open to all members of the consortium.
The main focus of the project Citizens for 5! was the creation of resources for actively engaging in the civic literacy of children and young people, with a special emphasis on teaching and acquiring financial literacy competencies, but also on encouraging active citizenship.
The main goal of the project is to strengthen democratic culture, civic awareness and civic engagement of young people through the development and implementation of civic education programs in three areas: economic, financial and media literacy, personal and social development and sustainable development.
Summary of bilateral results
A partner organization from Norway was involved in writing, designing and implementing workshops for teachers through 4 modules: 1. Money 2. Work, career choice and personal development 3. Consumption and sustainable development and the 4th module Personal financial planning, The leader and trainer is an employee of a partner organization, with more than 10 years of experience in the field of entrepreneurship and education and financial literacy activities in Canada, Romania and Norway.The partner was also involved in writing, designing and implementing 3 cycles of online storytelling workshops for teachers (the workshop will be led by an employee of the partner organization, the Project Manager and a trainer in the field of storytelling, strategic communication and advocacy.