Published 26.05.2021
During the Diversity Awards Lëtzebuerg ceremony, which took place on 20 May 2021, the Fondation ABBL pour l’éducation financière was awarded for the Zuumer Academy. This initiative, launched in 2019, promotes social and financial inclusion by offering a 10-day training course to teach participants how to better manage their personal finances and to acquire the necessary skills for proper budget management.
Participants are mainly people who have recently arrived in Luxembourg (often refugees), but also people who have been living in Luxembourg for several years. Integration difficulties can be due to a variety of reasons: lack of language skills, abandonment of the labour market due to illness, etc.
When the financial sector reaches out to vulnerable people
The basic idea of this project is the sharing of skills: the ABBL and its members share their banking and financial skills with the most vulnerable. This encounter between the financial sector and people in a situation of financial fragility gives the volunteer trainers (ABBL employees and ABBL members) the opportunity to play an active role in social inclusion. The participants, for their part, discover the human side of financial institutions and will feel more comfortable contacting their bank advisor when necessary.
The May session of the Zuumer Academy has just finished and the ABBL is looking forward to welcoming future participants – 3 additional sessions are planned in 2021.
By Jessica Thyrion