The project will increase knowledge, awareness and change attitudes related to personal finance management among girls and young women suffering of social exclusion due to the inheritance of poverty or its possibility. This change will be initiated by developing the educational kit "Wealthy Minds" with e-learning course aiming at helping non-governmental organizations working with this target group. The concrete objectives of the project are as follows: 1. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS: - increasing the potential, quality and comprehensiveness of services they provide - increasing knowledge, awareness and changing attitudes among NGO beneficiaries - increasing and developing skills of youth workers and leaders, especially in the field of support for marginalized girls young women - being a part of social change - developing educational and professional path of youth workers and leaders 2. GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN AT RISK - increasing knowledge and awareness of personal finance management as well as changing attitudes and habits - taking the initiative of getting out of poverty or not leading to such a situation - change of perspective and thinking about themselves - getting the chance to change their lives
Since the population of the Earth is increasing, it is more and more important to pay attention to the future and well-being of the new generations, thus of the growing number of children. These generations do not only have a key role in shaping and changing social tendencies, but they are also the most vulnerable members of every society. The difficulties they might face include domestic violence, sexual abuse, unsatisfying nutrition, child labour and limited opportunities for education, information, working and leisure. 30% of the globe’s population and 19% of the European Union consist of children, and 22.2% of them are at the risk of poverty in the EU. Based on the data of the European Court of Auditors, there were approximately 20 million children in 2017 who belonged to this endangered category. Documents such as the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights express the fact that an international collaboration is needed to fight against descrimination, social exclusion and inequality, while programs like the European Guardianship Network, the European Child Guarantee or the Convention on Children’s Rights in behalf of the United Nations intend to improve the general conditions of the children including many different sectors. Since poverty can increase the risk of the dangers mentioned in this summary, it is essential to support the children and their families who are in need, lift them above the poverty threshold and help them with ‘breaking out of the cycle of disadvantages’. Most of the studies and statistics agree that since the children are financially, emotionally and intellectually dependent, the circumstances of the families are crucial by understanding the reasons for poverty. Even if a child does not have to experience any sort of abuse, exploitation or trauma, being born in a family with monetary poverty can determine their whole future. Due to financial limits, it is more challenging to have access for a higher education, a good quality of nutrition, clothing, various facilities for everyday usage, but even free time activities. In case the parents have a low level of education, debts or poor living standards in the household, there can be many obstacles rising that stop the integration of the following generations. Children coming from socially-excluded families with disadvantages have a good chance to remain in the same social class and become excluded themselves due to the cultural background and patterns they inherit from their parents, which lead to a lack of social, emotional and cognitive skills among them. Those who are at the risk of poverty usually perform worse in school meaning that they will potentially gain a lower education and will not have the proper professional qualities to find a place in the labor market. The current COVID pandemic has pointed out that learning remotely caused many difficulties even for children with better online access, while children facing poverty are getting more isolated due to the fact that they have limited options or no chances to participate at all. However, as reported in the publication of the European Institute for Gender Equality "Poverty, gender, and intersecting inequalities in the EU": "gender perspective is a key to understand poverty. This is partially due to the fact that the poverty of households and individuals depends largely on income. [...] Prevaling gender inequalities in public and private life [...] indicate that the routes into and out of poverty are gender-specific. Women are systematically at a higher risk of poverty accross EU [...] . Young people are at a much hiher risk of poverty than the rest of society."