German Sparkassenstiftung Western Africa in partnership with Konrad Adenauer, The Delegation of German Industry and Commence in Ghana and the German Embassy in Ghana has organized a training programme for students of Accra Girls’ Senior High school on financial literacy and the benefits of savings. The training forms part of activities to mark the 2021 World Savings Day.
World Savings Day is celebrated annually to call attention to the importance of savings as a way to reduce poverty, promote financial literacy, and educate people about saving and managing their finances.
Speaking at the event, the Regional Coordinator of the German Sparkassenstiftung Western Africa, Kwang-Yung Jung, admonished the young girls to consider savings as a way to ensure financial stability.
“World Savings Day is to showcase or to give young one’s an idea of savings and how to inculcate the habit of saving money. The aim of this training programme is to open their eyes at a young age to learn the habit of savings. Financial literacy, financial capability and saving goes hand in hand. This can create a brighter future for them. Also, saving is not only about money, it’s about planning right and foresight. So, it’s not about we trying to educate these children to open bank accounts, no, the key message here is to open their eyes and to show them how to plan for a better life and future”, he said.
Mr. Yung also bemoaned the discouraging savings culture among the youth in the country.
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“In Germany, the culture of savings and how to deal with money is already part of the education system. The children are growing up with the habit of saving part of their pocket monies, this is something very precious to them. When I came to Ghana, I realised this savings culture does not really exist. Of course, you have a savings account and pocket money but this culture of these youth ones saving for themselves doesn’t exist”, he added.
For her part, the Technical Advisor in charge of Pre-Tertiary education at the Ministry of Education, Sheila Naa Boamah said holistic education implies that young girls are taught complementary things such as the important elements of savings which will support their outcomes in the education they aspire for.
“Even as workers, sometimes, we struggle to achieve targets. And, it may be because we didn’t start the habit of saving early enough. Young girls seem to have the opportunity to be informed about the benefits of cultivating the savings habit early, which is very good. Basically, we are supporting this initiative to encourage the youth to cultivate the habit of savings and that habit would go a long way to make them functional and productive when they are out of school”, she said. The German Sparkassenstiftung is an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) partnering with local institutions to achieve core topics in Capacity Development, Financial Literacy, MSME Finance, Institution Building, Rural and Green Finance in West Africa.