The Edufinet Project, promoted by Unicaja and Fundación Unicaja, has been recognized with the 'Finance for All 2024 Award' for the Best Financial Education Initiative, for its program 'Ambassadors (Financial Education for Senior Citizens)', aimed at this demographic. This award, given by the Financial Education Plan, promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, the Bank of Spain and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), highlights the work carried out by Edufinet in this initiative, aimed at promoting financial education, encouraging financial inclusion and reducing the digital divide among the over-60s.
The 'Ambassadors Project', an initiative that Edufinet develops with the collaboration of Funcas Educa and Guadalinfo's Red Vuela centers, seeks to transfer to this demograhic, especially in the rural environment and with a practical approach, knowledge and skills that allow them to act with greater autonomy in the management of their own finances, as well as to improve their skills, both in the field of cybersecurity and in the management of digital banking tools and services.
In this sense, several training sessions are held periodically throughout the year, where concepts on personal finance (transactions with bank accounts, cards, etc.), security and cyber-risk prevention, as well as other aspects to be taken into account when making online transactions and operations, especially in the digital banking environment (apps and websites) and ATMs, are addressed with an eminently practical approach.
During these sessions, participants are also provided with the use of technological tools and resources that allow them to carry out the most common transactions, such as bank app and ATM simulators developed by Edufinet, in collaboration with Funcas Educa, as well as tablets equipped with these simulators. Through these tools, based on real devices under the generic brand of 'Edufibank', they can directly put into practice the knowledge acquired, contributing, at the same time, to facilitate their transition to the digital and technological framework.
In parallel to these specific conferences, Edufinet also promotes from this project the insertion and training of 'ambassadors' in different municipalities, as a unique and novel initiative. This is a figure with an intention to last, whose role is played by people who, on a voluntary basis, act as a liaison with people over 60 years of age to learn first-hand about their main concerns and needs, thus making it possible to improve and adapt, at all times, the contents taught by the Edufinet team to this group.
Senior citizens: a priority group
The Edufinet Project is aware of the importance of bringing the keys to the financial world closer to all sectors of the population, regardless of their age, in order to ensure that they make the right decisions in the field of economics and finance. In this sense, senior citizens are a priority group of interest within its educational program, as evidenced by the implementation over time of various educational activities, both on-site and online, aimed at adults in general and the seniors in particular, which are held throughout the year.
The workshops for seniors and, specifically, the 'Ambassadors Project' are part of this set of actions, which are intended to respond to the need to offer more training and to support and promote the financial and digital inclusion of the over-60s. The aim is to help them learn to manage their own finances with greater autonomy, improve their skills in the use of digital banking in its different supports, and help them to prevent and detect possible fraud and cyber risks in different channels and contexts, as well as in online transactions.
Specifically, during the 2023-2024 school year, a total of 6,144 people benefited from the 'Ambassadors Project (Financial Education for Senior Citizens)' during 168 sessions, with more than 300 hours of training, which were given by 15 trainers. In addition, a total of 11,421 people viewed 20 online sessions, in which a total of 483 senior citizens were enrolled.
Edufinet Project, a pioneering initiative
The Edufinet Project, which will celebrate two decades of existence in 2025, is one of the pioneering financial education programs in Spain. It currently collaborates with ten institutions and business organizations, as well as with 17 universities.
Its website (www.edufinet.com) offers a wide variety of content, with practical and educational information on the financial world, which can be consulted through different sections (Edufinext, Edufiemp, Edufitech, Edufiblog, Edufisport, Edufiagro and Edufiacademics). Other lines of action include courses and conferences (in-person and online) and publications, in addition to the educational work carried out through its social media profiles (YouTube, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok) and the podcast platforms iVoox and Spotify.
Since it was launched, almost 260,000 people have participated in person in the various seminars, workshops, courses and conferences it has organized. To date, its web pages have accumulated more than 20 million visits, with access from almost 180 countries.
