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2024 Young Minds Savings Campaigns begins in Milne Bay Province with six schools – Over 100 savings accounts opened for schools students

The 2024 Young Minds Savings Campaign (YMSC) in Milne Bay province concluded successfully with visits to six schools in Alotau.

YMSC is one of the objectives outlined in a MoU signed between the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) and the Milne Bay Provincial Government (MBPG). The campaign is one of the key ticket items to be implemented under the new three (3) year MoU signed between CEFI and MBPG and is expected to end in 2027.

Schools visited included, Koeabule Primary, Alotau Primary, Rabe Primary, Cameron Secondary, Lelehoa Primary and Goilanai Primary.

CEFI, the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG), Securities Commission of PNG (SCPNG), MBPG and financial intuition’s, MiBank, Womens Micro Bank (WMB), BSP and TISA visited the respective schools from August 07 to August 09.

On Wednesday August 07, MiBank visited Koeabule and Alotau Primary schools, Thursday August 08, WMB and MiBank visited Rabe Primary and Cameron Secondary and BSP and TISA visited Lelehoa Primary and Goilanai Primary schools respectively on Friday August 09.

The activities included awareness on savings, question and answer sessions followed by opening of bank accounts. Over 100 savings accounts for students were opened with follow up visits by the banks to continue for the respective schools.

Deputy Provincial Administrator – MBPG, Ms. Sharon Mua thanked CEFI and BPNG for the initiative and support to run the YMSC in Alotau.

“The Young Minds Savings Campaign is an activity of the Provincial Financial Inclusion Steering Committee’s 2024 Work plan which had been implemented successfully with the assistance from CEFI and the Central Bank,” Ms. Mua said.

“This is the first of its kind in Alotau to witness BSP, MiBank, TISA and the Mama Bank, mobilized and jointly visit selected schools within the urban settings to promote their products specifically focusing on promoting the savings culture to the children and young people.”

“The Steering Committee will continue to highlight this activity in its annual work plan to build the young minds and empower them to continue to save money for their future needs,” Ms. Mua said.

Students interviewed at respective schools were all appreciate of the YMSC and happy to have the financial institutions come to their schools and open banks accounts.

“The Young Minds Savings Campaign is really good and educational because it helps young people like myself to learn how to save up for our future,” said thirteen year old grade 7 student Israel Togumagoma of Koeabule primary school.

“I think that the Young Mind Savings Campaign is important and helpful because it encourages young people, including students, to save money and learn how to manage it wisely,” said fifteen year old grade 8 student Jenny Paul of Alotau Primary School.

Head teachers from the six schools express their gratitude to CEFI, BPNG, SCPNG and the MBPG for the campaign which they said was important to the students for their personal and educational development.

“As a teacher am very grateful that the Young Minds Savings Campaign was brought to the schools, I believe that it goes back to assisting the children to save at a very early age,” said Lelehoa Headmistress Ms. Didee Isreal.

“Usually when the children go to the banks to open accounts the processes at the banks make it very complicated for them but thanks to the campaign the financial institutions are coming all the way to our school (Lelehoa) and the children are very privilege to open accounts. We hope that it’s going to open up their minds to start savings at an early age,” she added.

CEFI Special Projects Manager Mr. Busa Jeremiah Wenogo told students during their respective visits to practice a savings culture at an early age so when they are adults they will understand the importance of managing their money.

“The objective of the Young Minds Savings Campaign, as the name says, Young Minds is to do with school kids or children. The reason why we are doing this is because we understand the importance of empowering the next leaders of tomorrow,” Mr. Wenogo told the students.

“I’m sure that all of you are also using money whether it’s your parents giving you the money for bus fares or lunch money.”

“You are actually coming in contact with money and money plays an important role in our society today, we need to be able to know how to manage money,” Mr. Wenogo encouraged the students.

“I encourage the Milne Bay Provincial Government to take ownership of the campaign and roll it out annually to all the schools in Milne Bay Province,” he added.

Mr. Abraham Moroka from BPNG stated that as school students they must make it their priority to learn about saving money in a bank account.

“We are here to tell you that your future must be secured with savings. Savings is the message that we want to pass on to you. You must look after money so that money will look after your future.”

“If your parents give you money don’t spend it all, learn to save some of that money in that way you grow into the habit of saving,” Mr. Moroka told the students.

Mr. Newman Tandawai explained the importance of the link between financial inclusion and investing in the capital market.

He pointed out that Papua New Guineans can buy shares and stocks in public listed companies if they start to develop good savings habits, that is without savings there is no investment.

Mibank Branch Manageress, Alotau Branch, Mrs. Keilo Nelson, told the students that MiBank had a product specially tailored for young children called MiPikinni Savings Account.

Mrs. Nelson said after a child opens the account they will be issued a MiPikinni Passbook, where they will use it to record their savings.

“Our account opening fees are not free but to open an account you have to start off with ten kina but for now because of the Young Minds Savings Campaign we will give you the opportunity to open a MiPikinini Savings Account for five kina.”

“We want to introduce the savings culture here into young minds and at MiBank we want to encourage you (students) to have a bank account and start savings at a young age.

“When you have a passbook savings account your money is growing and you are growing with the bank, as you grow, the bank also grows so grow with MiBank,” Mrs. Nelson encouraged the school students.

Image Captions:

Image 1.  MiBank Officers opening banks for Koeabule Primary grade 7 students, Israel Togumagoma, Tasman Dotaona Kesa, Shauntae Boga and Methusela Napatali.

Image 2.  Koebule primary school students and teachers with MiBank Officers and representatives from CEFI, BPNG and MBPG.

Image 3.  Alotau primary school students and teachers with MiBank Officers and representatives from CEFI, BPNG and MBPG.

Image 4.  Alotau primary grade 8 students, Jenny Paul and Samantha Stanley assisted by MiBank officers to open their bank accounts.

Image 5.  CEFI Special Projects Coordinator Mr. Tobias Toumne speaking to students at Rabe Primary.

Image 6.  Womens Micro Bank Officer Quentin Thomas opening bank accounts for Rabe primary students.

Image 7.  MiBank Officer Andrew Sakius talking to Cameron Secondary student on opening of savings accounts.

Image 8.  Cameron Secondary grade 12 students, Ephraim M’olu and Roweena Norris glad to be part of the YMSC.

Image 9.  Lelehoa primary school students and teachers with Officers and representatives from CEFI, BPNG and MBPG.

Image 10.  Lelehoa primary grade 8 students (L to R) Raymond Tarumuri, Concepta Manase, Cynthur Grace James, Amua Leldo, show their savings card and piggy banks after opening their respective bank accounts with BSP.

Image 11.  Goilanai primary school students and teachers Officers and representatives from CEFI, BPNG and MBPG.

Image 12.  (L to R) Goilanai primary grade 7 students, Hadasha Molabei, Charlayne Falwatta, Titus Willy and Ellison Kavanamur glad to be part of the YMSC.

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Impact Stories

Julie’s hardwork pays off

Thirty-nine year old Julie Aris is thankful to the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) for certifying her to be VFLI Training of Trainers Trainer.

Julie was among 20 trainees who undertook a two week Village Farmers Livelihood Improvement (VFLI) Training of Trainers Training (VFLI) training at the Kimininga Hotel in Mt. Hagen from May 13-27, 2024.

CEFI and Market for Village Farmers Project (MVF) Project signed a Memorandum of Agreement to deliver Financial Inclusion training for profiled farming households under the project.

The MVF Project is executed by the Department of Agriculture and Livestock and implemented by Fresh Produce Development Authority. The project is funded by the International Fund for Agriculture Development and the Government of Papua New Guinea.

The project aims at improving the livelihoods of village farming households in five target provinces of PNG (Western Highlands, Jiwaka, Simbu, Eastern Highlands, Morobe and East New Britain) by facilitating their transition from semi-subsistence agriculture to market-oriented production and framing as a business.

CEFI is responsible for training the 25,000 farming households and linking them to the financial institutions in order for them to open bank accounts and have access to loans to support the growth and expansion of their farming business.

The participants are being trained to deliver financial literacy training and taught skills on how to train a group of Farming Households on Family Visioning, Managing Household Income, Budgeting, Marketing of Farm Produce, Financial Records, Banking Services, Debt Management and Farming as a Business
Twenty Participants are also given the opportunity to practice session planning, customizing and delivery. To complete their training, the participants will be assessed on their competencies to deliver Group Based Learning for Adults.

For Julie, It was not an easy journey for the mother of two who had to overcome many obstacles and challenges to look after her family and achieve her goals to educate farmers like her the basic skills to save and budget.

In order to be able to be a trainer and educate other farmers Julie knew she had to start with her own household, her own family and work her way up.

It started 11 years ago when Julie seriously thought about teaching people about financial literacy and her first training came in 2013 when she attended and completed a financial literacy training conducted by CEFI.
“I didn’t have any idea about savings and budgeting but after attending the training run by CEFI, I had a fair idea and started going out to my communities and rolling out the training,” she said.

CEFI’s financial literacy training for trainers gave Julie the confidence she needed and not long she graduated from IBBM with a microfinance certificate and landed her a job with financial institution whom she worked with until 2016.

After leaving formal employment Julie never gave up, she enrolled for her first VFLI Training of Trainers Training and that set the platform for her capsicum farming business.

She attended three more VFLI refresher trainings the following years to improve and better her skills and knowledge on educating farming households in her community on savings and budgeting.

After completing her recent VFLI training in May, Julie started to see changes in her family’s financial habits especially the way they saved and managed their household budget.

“We did not have a proper budget to follow and we spent unwisely, but after attending the trainings I started to realize what we were doing wrong and started educating my husband and children.”

“I started to see the changes slowly and realized how the trainings that I attended were starting to have a big impact on myself and my family.”

“We were more disciplined in the way were spending our money and we made wise decisions to follow a budget so we knew how our money was spent. My husband and children accepted the changes I was doing for the family because they agreed it was for the betterment of our family.

Julie’s wise decision to educate her small family paid huge dividends as this trickled down to her capsicum farm business and she able to apply the same principle on her farm business and this financially benefitted her family.

The investment in her farm produced better quality and quantity of production as a result of her trainings.

“We introduced a savings culture in our family and I saw that at the end of the week we had extra money left for savings. I applied this same teachings when I was rolling out my trainings, and told my trainees how the knowledge I acquired helped improved my family and farming business financially.

Image Captions:  Julie receiving her certificate and Julie at her vegetable farm.

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Media Releases

CEFI & SMEC sign MoU to advance financial inclusion in Papua New Guinea

The Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) and the SME Corporation (SMEC) will work in partnership together in advancing financial inclusion in Papua New Guinea following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

CEFI Executive Director Mr. Saliya Ranasigne and SMEC Managing Director Mr. Petrus Ralda signed a MoU on Tuesday August 13 at the SMEC Head Office in Port Moresby.

The MoU which will run for three years will see both organizations advancing financial inclusion and fostering the growth of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises across the nation of Papua New Guinea.

Mr. Ranasinghe in his opening remarks stated the partnership between CEFI and SMEC is important as both share the same goals in building and developing skills through their business skills training and financial literacy training respectively.

“We strongly believe that development of MSME sector definitely be the engine of growth of this country in the future. And we really appreciate the contribution made by SME Corporation for driving the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise.”

“As two national entities, this particular partnership will definitely drive policy influence where we can definitely change the mindset of building this faculty.”

“We are looking forward to this partnership as it will bring a new dimension for Micro Small and Medium enterprise development in PNG and to contribute to a much more prosperous future and a better standard of living for all of the people in this country and also for a better future for the next generation,” Mr. Ranasinghe.

In response SMEC Managing Director Petrus Ralda stated through the MoU, SMEC and CEFI can share resources and will be able to integrate the components of programs host by CEFI and the programs host by SMEC and be able to support the MSME sector throughout the country.

“We have to work together, go back to the basics, see the changes, do the integrations, and then work together, and share resources so that we can be able to achieve our objectives and make a lot of impact at the end of the year.”

“Access to finance is a very key component of MSME development, one of the key constraints in SME policy implementation. Working together like this with your network, with the CEFI’s cooperation network, we can be able to work together, CEFI can achieve its objectives, and SMEC can achieve its objectives, and we can be able to work together and support MSME sector going forward,” concluded Mr. Ralda.

Some of the compelling reasons for this partnership highlighted in the MoU include; complementary objectives, integrated support ecosystem, capacity building, policy advocacy, regional reach and innovation and technology.

According to the MoU, the partnership between CEFI and SMEC has the potential to catalyze inclusive growth, empower MSMEs and contribute to the socioeconomic development of Papua New Guinea, by combing their strengths and resources, they can create a synergistic impact that benefits both MSME sector and the broader economy.

 

Image Captions:

Image 1. (2nd from left) CEFI Executive Director Mr. Saliya Ranasinghe and SMEC Managing Director Mr. Petrus Ralda sign the MoU documents. Witnessing the signing are CEFI’s Deputy Executive Director Mr. Peter Samuel (far left) and Mrs Diana Guria of SMEC (far right).

Image 2. (from left to right) CEFI Executive Director Mr. Saliya Ranasinghe and SMEC Managing Director Mr. Petrus Ralda shake hands to signify both organizations partnership in advancing financial inclusion in PNG.

For further information on the work of CEFI please contact CEFI Communications Team: +675 3225300, email: lomaro@thecefi.org  or visit www.thecefi.org

 

 

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Media Releases

ANZ signs an MoU with BPNG and GGGI on the Inclusive Green Finance Project

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, July 25, 2024 – The Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG), Australia and New Zealand Banking Corporation (PNG) Ltd (“ANZ”) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to integrate and reinforce the Inclusive Green Finance Policy (IGFP) into ANZ’s operations and services.

The MoU establishes a framework for cooperation and collaboration between the parties to support Papua New Guinea’s IGFP. This collaboration leverages ANZ’s comparative advantages, ensuring complementarity and mutual reinforcement among all parties. Under the MoU, ANZ will pilot the inclusive green taxonomy through green loans.

ANZ is the fourth financial institution to join this initiative, following the Bank of South Pacific (BSP), Nationwide Micro Bank (MiBank), and Women’s Micro Bank Ltd (Mama Bank), who signed similar MoUs with GGGI and BPNG earlier this year.

Funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (NZ-MFAT) through the “Low-Emissions Carbon Reduction Development” Program, the Green Finance Centre will provide policy advisory services, technical assistance, knowledge-sharing, and capacity-building activities to all four financial institutions. GGGI is providing all technical and administrative support to GFC who is guided by the IGFP Steering Committee chaired by BPNG.

As part of the MoU, GFC will conduct a needs assessment on ANZ to shape the development of green loan products aligned with the taxonomy. GFC and ANZ will also hold periodic consultations to review the planning, implementation, and outcomes of their cooperation, identifying opportunities for enhancing collaboration.

In anticipation of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) funded program “Greening the Pacific Financial System” (GPFS), GFC will establish and capitalize the Green Refinancing Facility (GRF) with 1.8 million Euros in Papua New Guinea. Financial institutions aligned with the IGFP and the MoUs will qualify to access the GRF.

BPNG Governor Mrs. Elizabeth Genia expressed her excitement and gratitude at the MoU signing event, noting ANZ’s commitment to developing green products aligned with the Green Taxonomy. She also thanked GGGI for its guidance and support in coordinating with ANZ to implement the MoU.

ANZ CEO Mr. Lachlan Halstead remarked on his enthusiasm for signing the MoU and participating in this important initiative. He emphasized that such initiatives align with ANZ’s goal of developing social and sustainable loan products in the PNG market. Given PNG’s developing economy, these initiatives are essential, he added.

GGGI PNG and Solomon Islands Country Representative Mr. Sakiusa Tuisolia highlighted the significance of the MoU signing with ANZ, noting ANZ’s long-standing presence in PNG for over 100 years. Mr. Tuisolia stressed that despite international efforts to combat climate change in PNG, more support, funding, and resources from the domestic private sector are necessary. Financial institutions like ANZ play a critical role in this endeavor.

Image Caption:

Group Photo (L-R) BPNG Assistant Governor (Finance & Payments), Mr. Simon Gaius, BPNG Assistant Governor (Financial System Stability Group) Mr. George Awap, GGGI PNG & Solomon Island Country Representative Mr. Sakiusa Tuisolia, BPNG Governor Ms. Elizabeth  Genia, ANZ Country Head Mr. Lachlan Halstead and BPNG Deputy Governor Mr. Jeffery Yabom at the Inclusive Finance Project MoU Signing Ceremony

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