by Angela Karali, Ph.D., Techniki Ekpefetiki KEK SA and
Professor Joseph Hassid, University of Piraeus Research Center (UPRC)

If you believe that teaching basic finance can be an effective way to combat social exclusion then you may find this article interesting. It contains information about how seven partners from six European countries decided to propose and implement the project “FINALLY – FINAnciaL LiteracY for Roma”- under the LLP – Grundtvig Programme.

The project aims at creating a non-traditional course in Finance for Roma living in the six countries of the project’s implementation:Slovenia,Italy,Greece,Slovakia,BulgariaandSerbia. All seven project partners and especially the course development leader University of Piraeus Research Center (UPRC – Greece) are focused on improving the target group’s understanding of basic concepts related to daily family money management, small business finances and dealings with “the financial system” – the banks.

The course that may be taught in Roma camps, second chance schools and other non-traditional venues will not be based on words but on visual information and narrative. Story books, role playing and other educational tools will be used to facilitate the target group’s understanding of the course content. It is the partners’ hope that the project will bring us closer to the ultimate goal, that is, social inclusion for Roma through information and understanding of this fundamental for all modern societies’ area of knowledge and practice.