Project: Financial Education for a Better Future
Applicants: Florencia Aguirre and Juan Cruz Moroni
Location: Montevideo, Uruguay
Field: Education Policy
The project idea of Florencia Aguirre and Juan Cruz Moroni is about boosting financial literacy among the low and middle-income earners in Uruguay. Those who have had at least three consumer credits in a non-bank financial institution and are also low and middle-income earners, which have never had a consumer credit before, are among the population that is more likely to fall for the debt trap. This vulnerable population is more likely to consider taking consumer credit in Uruguay, with the possibility of expansion later to other Latin American countries. ‘The project aims to provide the users and potential users of consumer credits with the necessary tools and alternatives so that they can manage their finances in the most efficient way, in order to prevent them from falling in a debt trap and enhance the impact of the financial tools available to them’, says Florencia.
The ultimate aim of the project is to establish a non-profit organization (NPO) that can increase financial literacy in Uruguay, which would later expand to Argentina and Brazil and to other educational areas. The initial phase of the project will be from August 2017 until March 2018 in Montevideo. The workshop is will be organized under the institutional support of the Catholic University of Uruguay, after which they plan to undertake the administrative procedure to register a non-profit organization (NPO) in Uruguay. The project will be evaluated based on the number of people trained and it will include a follow up training and feedback session, to know how the financial status of the participants has changed. The prize money received is expected to cover the costs of the first two rounds of workshops (materials and publicity), to set up the NPO and to promote the initiative.
The project is to be managed by the duo of Florencia Aguirre who has experience in market research focusing on financial institutions for 3 years and Juan Cruz Moroni has extensive work experience in coordinating projects in the private sector, both of them are currently pursuing a master’s degree in Public Policy at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, Erfurt.
The project is to be managed by the duo of Florencia Aguirre who has experience in market research focusing on financial institutions for 3 years and Juan Cruz Moroni has extensive work experience in coordinating projects in the private sector, both of them are currently pursuing a master’s degree in Public Policy at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, Erfurt.
