White Paper on Financial Literacy - ja-ye europe

<strong>White</strong> <strong>Paper</strong>
on Financial Literacy
Skills for Employability | Entrepreneurship | Financial Literacy

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Why do we need better financial education?
At a time when levels of personal debt are at record highs, securing a
loan to finance further education, set up home or start a business is
increasingly difficult, and public spending cuts are going to severely
impact everyone’s personal finances for years to come, spare a
thought for the younger generation.
Young people hit hardest.
Young people entering the job market are experiencing record
levels of youth unemployment: on average double that of the overall
unemployment rate, and in countries like Spain up to a staggering
40%. That’s almost 1 in 2 young people unable to find work 1 .
Change in the unemployment rates over the last three years:
Country 2008 2009 2010
Ireland 13.3 24.4 27.3
Portugal
16.4 20 22.3
Spain
24.6 37.8 41.6
United Kingdom
15 19.1
Austria
Germany
Denmark
Belgium
France
Finland
Netherlands
Norway
Italy
Greece
Source Eurostat, 2010
8 10 9.5
9.9 10.4 9.1
7.6 11.2 14.3
18 21.9 22
19.1 23.5 23.9
16.5 21.5 21.4
6.5 7.7 8.7
7.2 8.9
21.3 25.4
22.1 25.8
Not only that: research 2 shows that people who lose their jobs during
a recession never really make up the pay gap, even when they find
another job relatively quickly. What will future research reveal about
the impact on young people who are waiting a year or more just to
get a foot on the jobs ladder?
1
The European Commission’s Employment in Europe 2010 report underlines
how young people have borne the brunt of the crisis, with unemployment
disproportionately hitting 15-24 year olds. See summary of the report’s findings in
the margin.
2
Chapter 3.5.3. asks: Does youth employment produce blemishes of lasting scars?
And states that: “There isample evidence that a spell in unemployment early in adult
life (i.e. in the early 20s) has long lasting negative effects in terms of both future
employment and wage prospects, well beyond the duration of the initial episode”.
Impact of the recession on young people
in Europe according to the European
Commission report on Employment in
Europe 2010.
The effect of the recession on young people
(aged 15-24) has remained dramatic,
despite recent stabilisation.
In the second quarter of 2010 there were
5.2 million youth unemployed, or 20.4%
of the youth labour force. By comparison,
before the onset of the economic crisis,
total youth unemployment in the EU stood
at 4 million or 14.7% of the active youth
population (beginning 2008).
While it is the low-skilled that continue to
show by far the highest unemployment
rates among all youth, there has also been
a marked increase in the unemployment
rates for medium and high-skilled youth
between the end of 2008 and the end of
2009.
In 2009, 12.4% of youth aged 15-24
were neither in employment nor in any
education or training (NEET). Young
women are more likely to be NEET than
young men, but with differences across age
groups. At 15-19, female teenagers tend to
have lower average NEET rates than their
male counterparts, but the opposite is true
for the age group 20-24.
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As we ask ourselves what lessons should we learn from the crisis, economists
and politicians continue to argue over the route to recovery when what we
should be asking is how do we start preparing our young people for a more
sustainable financial future?
Nowhere is there recognition that the economic crisis and the resulting
changes to financial regulation are creating a new financial landscape which
will in turn require financial education to bridge the widening skills gap.
The European Commission urgently needs to focus on the
need to improve the financial skills and capability of Europe’s
youth.
We need to act now to equip our young people with the financial literacy
skills they will need to face the challenges ahead.
Bridging the financial skills gap.
A JA-YE Europe survey 3 of attitudes
to personal finance and financial
capability amongst 1249 young
Europeans revealed that 78%
think young people’s knowledge
of their personal finances is ‘little’,
‘next-to-none’ or ‘none at all’, while
an overwhelming 97% feel it is
important to learn about financial
management whilst still at school.
Contrast this with the fact that
the level of financial education in
schools is generally low and we
begin to see the scale of the skills
gap.
At the Financial Literacy and Capability for Young People event organized by Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise in
Brussels, Caroline Jenner, CEO of JA-YE, set out the problem: “The financial crisis has raised concerns about what we know
about managing and being responsible for our finances. There is a great deal of concern for young people’s financial
capabilities. JA-YE believes that it is important that students, as future employees and entrepreneurs, consumers,
parents and citizens gain a better understanding of financial capability whilst they are still at school”.
For a start, schools should be teaching their pupils basic personal finance
skills: how to make sensible spending and saving decisions, drawing up
a budget (and sticking to it), opening and managing a savings account,
understanding credit, and so on.
But are schools properly equipped to teach financial
literacy?
According to Professor Michel de Wolf, teacher of business studies at the
Université Libre de Bruxelles, they are not properly equipped for the task:
“In today’s financial world, financial capability needs to be taught as a basic
life skill, alongside mainstream subjects, to provide students with the ability
to understand and make their own financial decisions. The problem with
the school environment is that it has no real application of money. Practical
programmes for teaching financial literacy are required not only for students,
but also for teachers themselves who often have limited exposure to the
world of finance.”
Of course, this requires governments to make the necessary changes to the
educational system as well as allocate funding for training teachers.
What should governments be doing?
“Financial education is a great
idea and under a Conservative
government will continue to be part
of the curriculum. The free national
financial advice service that we are
launching will help boost financial
literacy among young people.
This would be funded by a new
social responsibility levy on the
financial sector.”
David Cameron, MSE leaders’
debate, April 2010.
www.moneysavingexpert.com
No-one is suggesting that governments should be responsible for managing the personal finances of individuals. But
governments do have a responsibility to adopt financial and educational policies which create the best economic
conditions in which people can prosper. Politicians are facing hard choices about what to cut and what to prioritise.
And yet, crisis brings with it the opportunity to make changes which can have significant positive impacts on society,
young people in particular. Policies and funding choices made by politicians in the current difficult economic climate
will affect the futures of children for years to come.
Governments need to seize the moment, to look beyond the crisis to the kind of financial education that will equip
young people to enter the job market with the skills they need to adapt to the shifting demands of today’s economy.
There have been many initiatives over the years, but it is the combination of enterprise education with financial
education that achieves the best results in terms of how well students can understand and apply the concepts in their
own lives or businesses later on. Setting goals as individuals or as a “company” in school and learning what it takes to
get there financially is a critical learning process.
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March 2010.
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“Education in financial literacy and capability is intrinsic to sustainable
livelihoods and businesses. This is why it’s an essential component of JA-YE’s
learning-by-doing programmes. Young people will understand the concepts
much better by seeing how it works in real life. Policymakers can significantly
increase the level of financial literacy in society by promoting curricula that
make the link between enterprise and financial literacy.”
Caroline Jenner, CEO JA-YE Europe
Norwegian Tax Administration
Experiences from The Norwegian Tax
Authorities
• Cooperation Forum AgainstThe Black Economy
• A special education program for youth
• Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Norway
The role of business
In today’s economic climate, business has a responsibility to contribute to educating our young people to make sound
financial decisions. Whilst politicians need to take steps to improve financial literacy teaching in schools, business also
needs to play its part by supporting programmes designed, through mentoring, volunteering and practical schemes, to
bring financial experience into the classroom. When students have to run their own enterprise at school, which involves
handling bank accounts and money transactions as well as accounting, they are learning the fundamentals of finance
and money management.
Governments should be encouraging their Ministries of Education to carve out
space in the curriculum for programmes that achieve such objectives—finance
is not to be taken in isolation but in association with many aspects of life, work
and enterprise.
In addition, governments should encourage businesses to co-invest time
and resources with community partners so that students have as many
opportunities as possible, as young as possible, to learn from entrepreneurs
and business people themselves.
In Norway, the government has created a strategy to promote Entrepreneurship
in education. The focus on entrepreneurship in education encouraged the taxadministration
to develop cooperation with JA-YE Norway to provide young
people with knowledge and understanding of the ethics and regulations
involved in business and working life.
Booklets made in cooperation between JA-YE Norway and
Directorate of Taxes / /Cooperation Forum against Black
Economy
About Taxes- Rules
and regulations
Economy and
accounting
Many banks already support financial literacy programmes as part of their corporate responsibility. The ‘Banks in Action’
programme sponsored by the Citi Foundation is a particularly good example of learning by doing for the younger
generation. It teaches secondary school students the principles of the banking industry and challenges them to come
up with innovative products and services in a competitive environment. It is taught by teachers with the support of
volunteers from the business community.
Winning entries from the 2010 challenge included low interest rates for eco-services related loans, combined savings
and low interest loans for further education, and long-term low interest rates for students in return for part-time work
in the healthcare sector.
Working with JA-YE Norway and the Cooperation Forum Against the Black
Economy, the tax authorities have made special brochures about the legal and
fiscal framework for student companies and, in collaboration with audit and
accounting organizations in Norway, have established a national competition
and award for the best accounts among student companies.
Norwegian Tax Administration
Through these kinds of measures, young people have access to the kind of
information which helps them appreciate the importance of making the right
financial decisions. Key to the collaboration is the involvement of public and
private organizations in entrepreneurship education.
“It is very important for us that young people learn
to do things right from the very start. Through JA-YE
Norway’s programmes and competitions for young
people we have seen that there is a real and exciting
commitment from everyone involved and – not least
– we get young people engaged in discussions in their
own environment.”
Private
Education
Enterprise in
education
JA-YE Norway
Start up
Public
Svein Kristensen, Director of the Norwegian Tax
Administration
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The financial community would do well to take note of these innovative
ideas coming from their future customers.
In addition to the principal benefit of learning how to manage money,
notable learning effects from such programmes include:
• Understanding how banks and the financial markets work
• Understanding what business is all about and how companies operate
• Understanding of financial concepts
• Feeling better prepared for the future
In practical terms, students learn accounting and budgeting skills, as well as
gaining transactional experience and understanding of profit and loss.
Citi is one of the financial institutions which have understood that we
all need to start preparing for a more sustainable financial future. Their
research shows that understanding the financial life-cycle is key, not only for
managing our personal finances over our lifetimes, but for developing the
financial products and services which will enable us to do so.
“We believe strongly that a very
educated and knowledgeable
climate is the one to have. A lot of
the financial education that we
are trying to do directly through
our foundation and indirectly
with volunteers is really aimed
at enabling all parts of society to
learn about how to manage their
financial life-cycle in a better way
than they have before.”
Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi,
Vice-Chairman, Citibank Europe
For young people beginning to find their way in the world, seeing beyond their immediate job prospects is hard enough.
By helping them to understand the natural peaks and troughs in earning capacity and disposable income over a typical
life-time we can help them make the most of their maximum earning periods to make better financial choices early on.
At the same time, with everyone having to adjust to making do with less, banks will also need to adjust their products
and services to a generation of consumers with less disposable income. Financial inclusion will need to be a core
consideration as banks and financial institutions seek to repair their reputation and demonstrate their “social utility” 4 .
Romania’s Banca Commercial Romana is addressing this, for example, through a pilot project with an NGO to create a
bank for disadvantaged families. Banca Commercial Romana is also working with public institutions to address the
problem of financial literacy through the school curricula. The focus is on education, not products and services, to
prepare young people for when they have their own bank accounts and need to be able to manage money.
Banca Commercial Romana also see the value of focusing on financial literacy in the early years of education, e.g. by
asking primary school children to think about the various things they can do with ten euros: instead of simply spending
it on sweets, perhaps buying a book, putting it towards a school trip, or maybe lending some to a friend and saving
what is left over.
4
Phrase coined by Lord Turner, head of the UK’s Financial Services Authority, August 2010.
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Erste Bank is another company promoting financial literacy in the Central and East European region. Working with
Junior Achievement Romania, 103 volunteers from Erste Bank participated in a “learning by doing” personal finance
programme during the academic year 2008/9 involving 3573 students and 52 teachers from 35 cities in Romania.
JA Personal Finance provides hands-on classroom activities and real-life applications designed to foster financial
decision-making as students prepare to enter the workforce and global marketplace. Through a series of five sessions
students gain critical thinking skills related to personal finance decision-making in the current global insecure market.
Financial education in isolation is not enough however.
A study 5 , produced by the Confederation of British Industry’s Higher
Education Taskforce, comprising CEO’s of major corporations and
university chancellors, argues that effective collaboration between the
higher education sector, business and government will be critical to …
economic recovery and sustainable international competitiveness.
Ensuring students have the skills to succeed
A survey undertaken for the Task Force showed that many recent
graduates felt they had not received high-quality careers advice.
Others thought more could have been done to help them develop the
employability skills necessary to secure the jobs they wanted.
“Business has to step up to the
challenge, as does the higher education
sector, in providing highly employable
graduates and value for money.
Finally government must provide the
incentives, framework and funding
necessary for sustainable success.”
Sam Laidlaw, Chairman, CBI Higher
Education Task Force and CEO,
Centrica plc
Having committed to invest USD 200 million in financial education by 2014, Citi and the Citi Foundation decided to take
a step back and evaluate progress at the halfway point. Based on an analysis of their work expanding the availability of
classroom-based financial education programmes and publications, they came to the realization that while providing
classroom-based financial education is an important starting point, more innovative delivery mechanisms and
approaches are necessary to achieve long-term, sustainable results at scale.
According to the study: “Action here would be in the interests of both students and businesses. Improving the availability
and quality of information and advice will help to influence the choices students make, and their demands for particular
courses. While they are still at school, students need much more information about the value business places on particular
skills.”
A study commissioned by Citi Foundation found that the most effective interventions integrate the following
characteristics:
• Relevance – they address specific concerns and financial situations that are meaningful in order to capture the
attention and motivate change
• Timeliness – they coincide with key life events and moments of decision
• Actionable – they enable people to put the newly gained knowledge into action right away
• Ongoing – learning takes place over time – long-term relationships provide support, instill a sense of accountability
and track progress
These findings provide valuable guidelines for all organizations seeking to influence financial literacy outcome.
However, it is the combined efforts of business, governments, educators and social partners
that will provide the level and scale of activity needed to truly change financial attitudes and
behaviour.
Skills for Employability | Entrepreneurship | Financial Literacy
Ironically, today’s students are learning about the political and social consequences of the 1930’s Depression, not the
lessons which are being thrown up in countries across Europe by the aftershocks of the recent financial crisis.
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Stronger together
Businesses and universities in turbulent times, a report from the CBI Higher Education Task Force. September 2009.
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Europe 2020 : towards a sustainable economy?
So in the shadow of a slow and painful recovery, what are European
policymakers doing to equip the next generation with the financial skills
they need to find jobs and restore growth that will build a more sustainable
economy?
In its report on Employment in Europe 2010, the European Commission states
that upgrading skills is not only required to promote smart, sustainable and
inclusive long-term growth, but also to increase the speed and intensity of
the economic recovery.
“European labour markets will emerge
from the crisis profoundly changed.
That’s why workers and employers
must be ready with the right skills and
incentives to adapt to the changing
realities.”
Laszlo Andor, EU Commissioner
for Employment, Social Affairs and
Inclusion, presenting the European
Commission’s flagship initiative
“New Skills and Jobs”.
By investing in financial literacy skills amongst the young, we can create a
virtual circle between financial capability, employment and sustainable
livelihoods.
“The economic and financial crisis has made it harder for young Europeans
to enter the labour market. The number of young people looking for a job has
increased from 4 to 5 million since the onset of the financial turmoil, with EU
youth unemployment now at nearly 21%. These challenges call for concerted
action and robust policy coordination to identify action at EU level and in
Member States.”
Youth on the Move, DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion.
Skills for Employability | Entrepreneurship | Financial Literacy
Marko Curavic, Head of Unit in DG
Enterprise and Skills, explains the
European Commission’s approach
to entrepreneurship education
and financial capability.
“Entrepreneurship as a key
competence for life should be seen as a
mix of mindsets, skills and knowledge.
These will support everyone in dayto-day
life at home and in society,
while providing a foundation for
entrepreneurs establishing a social
or commercial activity. In this broad
definition, the entrepreneurship
competence includes horizontal
attributes and skills (such as creativity,
sense of initiative, the capacity of
working in a team, self-confidence,
etc.), as well as more specialised
knowledge and business skills.
This is particularly visible for instance
in student company programmes,
where students not only develop a
set of personal skills as a result of
working on their own project, but also
acquire at the same time business
skills like financial literacy, drafting
a business plan, developing market
research and raising finance, among
others. Therefore financial literacy
and capabilities are an important
component of this set of mindsets,
skills and knowledge that we call
“entrepreneurship”.
In light of the financial crisis and
ensuing recession, the first political
act of the 2010-2015 European
Commission was to put forward its
centerpiece initiative “Europe 2020 –
a strategy for smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth”.
Youth on the Move, a new flagship initiative launched by the
European Commission aims at helping young people to gain the
knowledge, skills and experience they need to make their first
job a reality.
Youth on the Move actions will also help Member States reach
the headline EU target for 75% employment over the next ten
years by helping to ensure that young people have the right
skills for the jobs of tomorrow.
“These initiatives are both designed to respond to immediate
challenges and yield effects rapidly, and to shape Europe’s
future for the long-term benefit of its citizens.”
Commission’s Work Plan, 2010
Strategic Initiatives to take the strategy forward include a
Communication on Youth Employment, an Agenda for New
Skills and Jobs, and ‘Youth on the Move’, a 28-action programme
launched by the Commissioner for Education and Youth in
September 2010 to mobilize young people on the path to
education and employment.
Other initiatives include the entrepreneur exchange programme
– ‘ERASMUS for young entrepreneurs’ - and a mobilisation of
the business sector to recruit youth, as well as increased direct
support to innovative projects such as the Youth in Action
Programme.
Skills for Employability | Entrepreneurship | Financial Literacy
Mr Curavic continues:
“In the European Commission we are engaged
in fostering the entrepreneurial mindsets and
skills of young people through education at
all levels.
Activities jointly developed with the EU
Member States made it possible to build
a wide consensus on the importance of
entrepreneurship education and on its
objectives, and to boost activities all over
Europe. Efforts focus currently on increasing
coordination, so as to develop more
systematic strategies.
Progress in the Member States is slowly but
steadily increasing, also thanks to the steering
role played by the Commission. In some cases
entrepreneurship education is the object of
a new national strategy (e.g. in Denmark,
the Netherlands and Sweden), while other
countries currently are consolidating their
strategic approach in this field (like Austria
and Portugal).
Besides having this role of stimulation
and coordination, the Commission is also
supporting concretely cross-European
projects in this field, aiming for instance at
training teachers and at the development of
new pedagogical approaches and material.”
“The current difficulties in the US sub-prime mortgage market, where many consumers have taken on mortgages
beyond their means owing, in part, to a lack of understanding of product features, serve as a reminder of the magnitude
of the problem.”
European Commission Communication on Financial Literacy, 2007.

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Provision of Financial Education within the European Union
• Two wide-ranging studies funded by the European Commission in 2007 provided an overview of the various
initiatives in place in the Member States concerning financial education in the EU.
They found that:
• Financial education is provided by a wide variety of actors, ranging from financial supervisory authorities to adult
literacy agencies, debt advice clinics, social workers, financial industry federations, microfinance organisations,
consumer representatives, education authorities, individual financial firms, housing authorities and others.
• The provision of financial education seems to be particularly strong in certain EU Member States.
• The most common subject of financial education programmes is “money basics”, such as how to use a bank
account. This is followed by budgeting skills, including managing credit and debt. The issues of investment, saving
and retirement, insurance and risk management featured less highly, indicating that these may be areas requiring
greater attention in future.
In its November 2007 Communication on Financial Education, the Commission set out eight basic principles for the
provision of high-quality financial education schemes that could aid public authorities, financial services providers,
consumer organisations, employers and other stakeholders in their efforts to launch and run financial education
programmes.
Principle 3 stated that: Consumers should be educated in economic and financial matters
as early as possible, beginning at school. National authorities should give consideration to
making financial education a compulsory part of the school education curriculum.
The purpose of this Communication was “to assist stakeholders in the development of financial
education schemes by:
• Raising awareness of the need to address low financial education.
• Encouraging and promoting the provision of high-quality financial education within the EU, including the sharing
of best practice.
• Developing certain practical, facilitating tools to achieve these aims.”
In its Communication the
Commission highlighted three main
problems:
• Individuals find financial matters difficult to
understand.
• Individuals often overestimate their
understanding of financial services.
• Many individuals fail to plan ahead or
choose products that meet their needs .
Initiatives to tackle the problems included:
• The creation of a network of financial education practitioners.
• Providing sponsorship to Member States and community actors in the organisation of national/regional conferences
on financial education.
• The publication of an online database of financial education schemes and research in the EU.
• Development of a teacher training module on financial literacy (see Dolceta Financial Literacy Programme for
Teachers on : www.dolceta.eu).
Three years and a major financial crisis later, what does the financial literacy landscape in Europe look like? In the
European Commission’s own words “reaching a wide audience is one of the success factors for financial literacy
programmes”. There are certainly examples of best practice by companies, governments, teachers and social partners.
Yet there appears to be no significant penetration or model for success across Europe.
It is time to shine a light on financial literacy policy.
The European Commission’s plan “to provide strategic direction for the development of European higher education in
the next ten years” is an opportunity to promote integration of financial literacy into the higher education curriculum.
In order to achieve the required step-change however, the European Commission and Member States need to set
financial literacy targets, promote effective models of collaboration and develop tools to measure impact. DG Internal
Market’s upcoming assessment of the financial literacy measures taken since 2007 will provide a baseline. Looking
forward, the EU needs to develop an effective roadmap to take financial literacy learning to the next level.
The role of financial institutions
“It is very important for young
people to understand all the
issues concerning financial
education. They are going to
face financial institutions at
some point. ”
John Dalli,
EU’s Commissioner for
Health and Consumer Policy
and former finance minister
of Malta
Finally, what about our financial institutions? What role should central banks and financial regulators play to equip
young people with the skills they need to make sound financial choices?
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The European Central Bank has produced
leaflets for teachers and pupils on price
stability as it pertains to monetary policy
across the Eurozone. Whilst these are
informative in explaining the macroeconomic
aspects of monetary control, they
do not empower individuals to make better
informed personal financial decisions.
Certainly, post crisis, there is an argument for
financial institutions having a more handson
role in the education of consumers,
particularly the financially vulnerable.
The UK’s Consumer Financial Education Body
(CFEB) is a good example. It was established
by the Financial Services Authority with
a focus on educating consumers at the
various financial stages of their lives.
Its website www.moneymadeclear.
fsa.gov.uk contains a section targeted
specifically at young adults: What about
money? contains step-by-step guides,
budgeting tools, comparison tables and
videos of young people sharing their
financial experiences.
The CFEB is also embarking on a three-year
Collaborative Venture with other financial
institutions, including the central Bank of
Poland, to improve financial capability for
Europe’s youth and retirees.
Under the umbrella of the business network
CSR Europe’s Enterprise 2020 initiative, the
CFEB will be a key stakeholder working with
business and NGOs to address the financial
capability that challenges Europe’s Next
Generation (16-24 year-olds).
When asked about general economic conditions in opinion
polls, European citizens usually express their desire to live in an
environment without inflation or deflation
(Source: European Central Bank)
This innovative collaboration between banks, financial regulators and NGOs is breaking new ground. In so doing, the
participants hope to create momentum for regulators, central governments, central banks, the private sector, consumer
groups and academics to collaborate on specific projects to raise the level of financial capability across Europe.
Ultimately, the project aims to help governments define a long-term framework for financial education delivery –
especially with regard to the next generation of consumers currently in school. This highly ambitious programme might
just create a new, more successful model for pan-European public and private sector collaboration to deliver financial
literacy education.
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Call to action
If there is one lesson that we should learn from the financial events of the past few years, it is that financial understanding
and capability are more important than ever. Given the state of government finances in Europe, it seems likely that we
will need to take more personal responsibility for our financial future by making financial provision for education,
healthcare and pensions. That will require investment in financial literacy education and a step-change in attitudes and
behaviours towards financial capability and skills from an early age.
We all know that young people are the future of our society, the generators of tomorrow’s wealth and the eventual
custodians of our financial and social capital. If we invest in the financial literacy skills they will need, we will be endowing
them with the best possible chance to create a prosperous future for themselves and for generations to come.
We need to prepare young people both for the immediate financial challenges they will face and for the changing world
economy they will eventually inherit.
We need:
References
• CBI Higher Education Task Force (2009), Stronger together Businesses and
universities in turbulent times;
• Commission for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Commission (2010),
Employment in Europe 2010 Report, European Commission, Brussesls;
• European Commission (2010) – Europe 2020 strategy;
• www.moneysavingexpert.com (2010) - MSE leaders’ debate;
• Governments to place more importance on improving financial education and awareness – by integrating
financial literacy into the school curriculum and linking it to entrepreneurship education policies.
• Business to invest in financial capability skills – through consumer education as well as reaching out to
young people via schools, volunteering schemes and community programmes.
• A focus on public-private partnerships as the most effective way to scale up best practice.
• Together, we need to start preparing our young people for a more sustainable financial future.
We need to act now.
Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE)
JA-YE uses hands-on experiences to help young people understand the economics of life. In partnership with business
and educators, JA-YE brings the real world to students, through enterprise and economic education programmes for
over 3 million young people aged 6-25 implemented through a partnership between local business and schools across
Europe.
www.ja-ye.org
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