About 500 youth from all regions of Uzbekistan participated at the training on financial education, including personal finance management, family budget and others.

During the training, the participants reviewed various aspects of financial education, planning, regular savings, wise borrowing, etc. They also received information about Financial Education Program and its initiatives.

The Financial Education Program is funded by the European Commission under the ECs Action Programme 2006 agreed with the Government of Uzbekistan, in the framework of Institution Building and Partnership Programme (IBPP) and implemented by the Poland-based Microfinance Center (MFC) in cooperation with the local partner Association of Microfinance Organizations and Credit Unions of Uzbekistan (NAMOCU). Uzbek National Association of NGOs (NANNOUZ) is the official implementation partner for IBPP Programme.

The overall objective of the Financial Education Program (FEP) is to improve financial capability of low-income households in Uzbekistan through starting a process of institution building, innovation and creating relevant infrastructure at local, regional and national level. It is expected that the undertaken financial education activities will contribute to the significant improvement of financial behaviours of low-income households in terms of planning, saving, borrowing and effective use of financial services. It will in turn, help them to protect their assets and inspire to build new ones, therefore reducing their vulnerability to poverty, which is the ultimate purpose of this initiative.

Microfinance Centre (MFC): is a grass-root network of 110 member institutions that play an active role in shaping the microfinance industry in the Europe and Central Asia region with headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. Members range from banks, non-governmental organizations, social and commercial investors, to development institutions and international PVOs. MFC plays a catalyst role in bridging the market gap between dramatic unmet demand for microfinance services and the sector current offering through supporting development of a wide range of financial institutions, promoting microfinance among policy makers, regulators and formal banking sector. MFC have implemented a number of financial education initiatives and programs in the countries of transition including Poland, Macedonia, Bosnia, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. MFC is the lead partner in this project.

Association of Microfinance Organizations and Credit Unions of Uzbekistan (NAMOCU): is an organization with the mission to consolidate the efforts of non-banking microfinance institutions to increase the quality and access of microfinance services by building the capacity of microfinance sector and creating enabling environment for its development. NAMOCU is the local partner in this project.