Successful Regional Conference on Financial Literacy of the Young in Radovish

In 17th June 2025, the regional conference “Financial Literacy for Young People” was held at the premises of the Creative Community Centre NEKSUS in Radovish – an event that opened important questions and topics related to the financial education of the young people, their economic independence and the role of all community stakeholders in improving the financial culture.

The conference has brought together more than 30 participants from the South-East region – young people, teachers, representatives of the local self-government, the business sector and CSOs – who discussed together about the real challenges that the young people face in the domain of financial know-how and personal finance management.

During the four-hour programme, there were four key topics reviewed:

· Financial education and formal education – the participants opened a debate on why the financial literacy has not become part of the curricula, how the young people obtain (or do not obtain) their know-how on money and what can be done to improve this situation via informal and participatory learning.

· Consumer culture and “fast money” – via real examples, the influence of social networks on the young people was underlined, as well as overspending and abundant availability of micro loans and on-line shopping. There was a discussion on the need for critical thinking and development of conscious habits with the young people.

· Money psychology – the session analysed the emotional aspects of spending, the relation between personal values and financial choices, as well as the importance of self-discipline and setting priorities.

· Budgeting at different levels – from personal to municipal budget: there were discussions on the role of planning with the young people, but also with the institutions, businesses and CSOs, stressing the meaning of transparency, accountability and joint involvement in the processes of budget creation and monitoring.

The session “The Young People Ask – the Experts Answer” was especially interesting, as the young people posed specific questions to the financial advisors and representatives of various institutions on topics such as saving, budget creation, up to selection of expenditure monitoring applications and dealing with long-term financial goals.

Apart from its educational character, the conference was also a platform for networking, exchange of ideas and encouraging new initiatives in the local communities. The participants indicated the need that these topics have continuity and they are brought even closer to the young people, via workshops, trainings, digital resources and cooperation with educational institutions.

The conference was organized as part of the project “Youth Network for Financial Literacy in the South-East”, which aims to improve the level of financial literacy, provide practical tools and access to resources for the young people of the South-East region. The project is supported by the Swiss government via Civica Mobilitas programme, and it is implemented by KRUNA PLUS association from Radovish, Promo Idea and Novus from Strumica.