The Edufinet Project, a financial education program promoted by Unicaja and Fundación Unicaja, held its traditional annual kick-off meeting last Thursday, 10 October, at the Unicaja Financial Education Center in Malaga. This event is part of the series of activities that Edufinet has carried out throughout the week on the occasion of the Financial Education Day, an initiative promoted by the Financial Education Plan, promoted by the Bank of Spain, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise.
During the event, members of the Edufinet team presented the financial education activities carried out during the past year and advanced their new plan of activities planned for the 2024-2025 period, which coincides precisely with the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of this financial education program.
This meeting was also attended by representatives of the highest supervisory authorities, in this case the head of the Financial Education Division of the Bank of Spain, Roberto España, and the deputy director of Financial Education of the CNMV, María Eugenia Cárdenas. The head of the Edufinet Project, José M. Domínguez, the head of Education and Financial Education of Fundación Unicaja, Gerardo Lerones, and the head of Financial Education of Unicaja, María Eugenia Martínez-Oña, also took part.
Activities for the new school year
Other activities planned for the new academic year include the start of the 16th edition of the Edufinet Financial Education Workshops for Young People and its Financial Olympics, which this year features a new platform with interactive answers, from which students can solve the practical cases presented. Also its annual Congress, whose seventh edition will be held from 13 to 15 November, under the theme 'Financial education and cybersecurity: keys for the new digital era', with the collaboration of Funcas Educa.
In addition to this, there are other recurring actions within its program, such as the development of financial education workshops aimed at the general public, and especially at children and senior citizens. The latter is in fact one of the groups to which Edufinet has paid special attention in recent years and, more specifically, through its 'Ambassadors Project (Financial Education for Senior Citizens)', which has recently been recognized with the Finance for All 2024 Award, granted by the Financial Education Plan, in the category of best financial education initiative developed by non-collaborators.
The Edufinet Project will also continue to promote the creation and dissemination on social networks of audiovisual and digital training and informative formats, with the aim of promoting the accessibility and effectiveness of its educational content, with a special focus on cybersecurity and fraud prevention; in addition to the development of financial education publications, blog posts (EdufiBlog) and academic articles (EdufiAcademics). Specifically, on the occasion of the celebration of its 20th anniversary, Edufinet plans to produce a retrospective publication in digital format, which will offer an overview of the general trajectory of financial education in Spain over the last 20 years, as well as a new edition of its Financial Guide.
Within the framework of its agreement with the Fundación de los Bancos y Cajas de CECA (Funcas), Edufinet continues to work on the development of various initiatives. These include actions adapted to people with special needs and a series of conferences on financial education and sports. Also noteworthy is the production of a financial board game, which will be distributed to educational centers, to transmit practical concepts through simulated experiences such as the management of a personal budget or investment in financial products.
Summary of the period 2023-2024
During the last school year, Edufinet taught financial education sessions to more than 20,300 people and its audiovisual training content and podcasts accumulated more than 4.2 million views and reproductions on its social media profiles and digital platforms.
From September 2023 to last June, its trainers carried out a total of 574 workshops, of which 336 were aimed at 12,421 secondary school and vocational training students, and 41 at some 1,000 primary school students. Around 230 university students have received training in 14 workshops, while 6,144 senior citizens have attended 168 specific talks for this group. In addition, 12 conferences were held for the general public, attended by a total of 516 people, and three sessions were held for people with special needs.
All this training has been given by nearly 40 speakers, who have brought financial education to approximately 200 towns and villages in different areas of the country.
The Edufinet Project is one of the pioneering financial education programs in Spain. It currently has the collaboration of ten institutions and business organizations, as well as 17 universities. Its work has been recognized with various awards, including several CECA Social Work and Financial Education Awards.
Its website (www.edufinet.com) offers practical and educational information on the financial world 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, with adapted formats.
In addition, last December it added a new Edufinet Financial Education Center in Salamanca to its training offer, with the collaboration of Fundación Caja Duero and Funcas Educa.
