Bangkok--9 Mar--Kenan Institute Asia
Citi Thailand and Kenan Institute Asia (K.I.Asia) Sunday announced the launch of a new program to help women at risk to better manage their uncertain finances, now made even shakier by the impact of the global economic downturn.
The new training program starts March 14 for women in the Pravej area and adds to an effort by Citi and K.I.Asia underway since 2006 to promote sound financial management for small companies. Citi has supported the two programs with more than US $100,000 and with corporate volunteer experts, demonstrating Citi’s commitment to helping the Thai economy and Thai people develop sustainably.
Citibank At-Risk Women Financial Literacy Training
As a financial institution, Citi Thailand is all too aware of the dangers, both financial and physical, of turning to the informal lending sector to help meet household needs or cover emergency expenditures. Sadly, the people most likely to borrow from loan sharks are poor women with uneven income flows — often high one week and low the next. With few financial life skills, these women have the daunting tasks of deciding when to save and how to borrow to keep their households running.
Working in cooperation with Citibank volunteers, K.I.Asia, a Thai non-profit development organization, designed an innovative program to meet the difficult task of teaching financial literacy to at-risk women. During the pilot year, 75 at-risk women will receive instruction in financial life skills’ concepts through a highly interactive learning process based on small groups and game play, with exercises tailored to their educational and income levels - be they women with low incomes, sporadic income, or high incomes for short durations.
Topics covered include key issues such as reducing household expenses and debt, understanding wants vs. needs, saving for future needs, and the real costs of borrowing money. A special publication with simple savings tips is also being produced and will reflect questions and issues raised by the women during training.
Citi SME Financial Skills Capacity Building
Often overlooked when it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programming, small and middle-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the largest employment sector in Thailand. They are also the most likely to hire from within their own communities and the most likely to provide opportunities to the poor. Recognizing their strategic importance, Citi Thailand was an early adopter of SME programming as a means of poverty elimination. After curriculum development in 2006, Citi began training under the SME Financial Skills Capacity Building project in 2007.
Working closely with the Thai Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and prominent universities in Thailand, the project implementation team surveyed over 100 SMEs and analyzed data relating to their financial training needs. The result was a targeted curriculum serving the real needs of SMEs in Thailand, offering training based upon their level of financial knowledge.
During the pilot year, this targeted training was provided to 106 top SME managers and owners. In order to bring real world experience to the classroom, successful SME managers, such as Ms. Kannikar Chinprasithchai of Black Canyon Coffee, shared their management experiences with participants.
Survey results showed the training achieved high satisfaction rates and follow-up consultations showing continued use of the materials learned.
During the coming year, the project will target an additional 110 SME managers. The next four-day training session will be held in mid-March 2009.
Background Information
Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through its two operating units, Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.
Citi Foundation
The Citi Foundation is committed to enhancing economic opportunities for underserved individuals and families in the communities where we work throughout the world. Globally, the Citi Foundation is focusing its giving on Microfinance and Microentrepreneurship, which helps individuals become economically self-sufficient; Small and Growing Businesses, leading to economic expansion and job creation; Education, which prepares young people for personal and professional success; Financial Education, which helps individuals make informed financial decisions; and the Environment with a focus on sustainable enterprises that generate jobs and stimulate economic growth while preserving the environment. Additional information can be found at www.citigroupfoundation.org.
Citi Financial Education Program
Based on the belief that knowledge is your greatest asset, the Citi Financial Education Program is a global, company-wide effort to identify, support and implement initiatives that help give individuals, families and communities the tools needed to make sound financial decisions. Citi's ten-year, $200 million global commitment is focused in three areas: Personal, Small Business and Institutional Financial Education. Additional information about Citi Financial Education Program, including Citi Foundation guidelines, links and resources and the Citi Financial Education Program Curriculum and Facilitator's Guide may be found at http://financialeducation.citigroup.com.
Kenan Institute Asia (www.kiasia.org)
K.I.Asia is the leading provider of CSR services in Thailand; offering training, assessment & evaluation, policy & strategy development, program design, project implementation and research services. Since 2003, over 200 managers from more than 80 companies have completed our certificate training program. Since 1998, K.I.Asia has implemented over $3.5 million USD in corporate-community projects in business training for SMEs and entrepreneurs, education, financial literacy, logistics, health, and the environment.
Today, K.I.Asia’s staff of expatriate and local consultants have developed and refined our CSR methodology to ensure cutting-edge, global CSR practices are tailored to meet the specific needs of businesses and communities in Thailand and the Greater Mekong Subregion. Our goal is to equip our clients with the tools necessary to implement effective, meaningful CSR strategies that align business objectives with stakeholder needs on social, environmental and economic issues, and to produce measurable program results.
Media Contacts:
Contact Name
Contact 1:
Tohphan Tuchinda
+66 2232 2706
Contact 2:
Hassaya Hasitabhan
+66 2232 2904