QNET is proud to partner with the Foundation for The Support of Women’s Work (KEDV) in Istanbul, Turkey, to improve financial literacy among women. The partnership is part of QNET’s signature financial literacy programme, FinGreen, which aims to foster financial autonomy and inclusion for vulnerable groups, such as women, by addressing knowledge gaps and empowering individuals to make informed financial decisions.
Financial literacy, or the ability to understand and effectively use financial tools, is key to making informed decisions for one’s economic well-being over the long term. QNET believes that financially literate individuals can experience a better quality of life and financial resilience as they know how to handle their personal finances, plan for the future, and recover from economic shocks or distress. The OECD’s 2020 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy highlighted an imbalance in financial literacy rates between genders, where men have statistically greater financial knowledge than women worldwide.
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In Turkey, only 54 per cent of women have a bank account, compared to 83 per cent of men, making it one of the most significant gender gaps in financial literacy and inclusion in a developing economy. This stems from various social and structural barriers, such as:
- Many women not opening a personal bank account as they do not understand the benefits of having access to banking services.
- Women earn a lower wage on average, compared to men. This means they are less likely to open and maintain a bank account at financial institutions due to the high associated costs.
- Many women are not part of the labour force (for example, homemakers or caretakers of the family) or are involved in the informal economy and deem bank accounts unnecessary.
To help reduce the financial knowledge gap between genders, QNET partnered with KEDV to organise financial workshops and training sessions for women from diverse backgrounds to become financial literacy advocates and lead knowledge transfer opportunities for their peers under its FinGreen programme.
The programme is structured based on FinGreen’s three pillars: assess, train, and advocate:
- Assess – FinGreen’s first approach to educating communities on financial know-how is planted from the ground up. QNET partners with KEDV, a women-focused non-profit organisation in Turkey, to assess who, where, and how best to implement training sessions— developing a track record of progress and understanding the core messages.
- Train – Training is divided into short sessions that are conducted face-to-face or online, where peer-to-peer conversations are highly encouraged. Trainers for each session are highly qualified and selected based on their knowledge, ability to share information effectively, and teaching methods.
- Advocate – A unique facet of FinGreen is its commitment to building a sustainable programme, serving as a foundation for developing curiosity, self-esteem, and relational skills through education. QNET and KEDV will nurture participants to become points of reference for their peers and community on financial literacy topics, creating a ripple effect that makes financial knowledge more accessible and has a long-lasting influence on the community. These women will also be empowered to become financial literacy knowledge leaders in their respective social circles and in future FinGreen training in Turkey.
The first session kicked off with professional trainers from KEDV who introduced basic financial concepts such as budgeting, wages and labour, inflation, and more to a group of thirteen women who consisted of homemakers, entrepreneurs, and corporate employees. These women will attend six training sessions that focus on topics such as budget management, wealth handling, basic investment skills, and managing personal finance responsibly before leading upcoming FinGreen training for other women.
QNET’s Marketing Manager in Turkey, Irmak Sütçü, says that QNET is committed to its FinGreen programme to empower women as leaders and create a safe space to discuss their financial concerns and well-being. “From wage gaps to cultural stereotypes and systemic barriers, financial challenges impact women differently than men. Many women struggle to achieve financial independence and the capacity to sustain a livelihood well into the future, which further underscores the importance of our FinGreen programme to educate women on financial literacy.”
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One of the participants, Yadigar Kaya, said that women are often overlooked when it comes to financial education and training. “Women contribute to the economy by caring for children, managing our households, and ensuring our families are happy and healthy. However, the reality is that we do not make money from our labour, so we rarely get the opportunity to understand how money and the economy work. I wanted to attend this financial literacy training because I realised it should not be that way, that women deserve to learn how to manage their finances too. The programme helped me grasp financial terminology in an easy-to-understand format, and I’m keen to educate my friends and other women on what I’ve learned here.”
Sütçü further comments that QNET is pleased to partner with KEDV to expand its FinGreen programme in Turkey, as KEDV is one of the longest-running organisations supporting grassroots women’s movements to transform and empower their lives.
She adds, “Our first financial literacy training session in Turkey was held online in May, where we spoke with 45 women from different walks of life – especially those from economically challenged backgrounds – and it was an eye-opening time for us. They made us realise we needed to expand our programme’s footprint in Turkey. Women are eager for more opportunities to become leaders in advocating for financial literacy – many of the trainees from our first few sessions were so excited to share the knowledge they received from the sessions with their friends, peers, and family. It’s inspiring to see QNET’s FinGreen programme’s impact on women’s financial education and leadership.”
Gülfidan Yıldız Sürekli, one of the founders of KEDV who participated in the training sessions, said that financial literacy is vital for a woman’s self-development and future. “I hope for the women who attend our training to educate other women on how financial literacy can help them lead better, more financially stable lives,” she said.
Besides educating women on financial literacy and empowering them to become peer leaders in their communities, QNET is also advocating for the same for youth in emerging economies. In Nigeria, FinGreen is partnering with Financial Literacy For All (FLFA), a non-profit organisation providing on-the-ground financial training workshops for students and young adults in underserved communities.
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