The events brought together nearly 80 representatives of the 26 interested institutions, including Khokimiyats of Samarkand and Andijan regions, training and research centers and other non-governmental institutions from Uzbekistan such as Makhalla Foundation, Association of Teachers of Business Disciplines, National Association of Accountants and Auditors of Uzbekistan, Business Women Association of Uzbekistan, and others.

The overall objective of the Financial Education Program (FEP) is to improve financial capability of low-income households in Uzbekistan through starting a process of institution building, innovation and creating relevant infrastructure at local, regional and national level. It is expected that the undertaken financial education activities will contribute to the significant improvement of financial behaviours of low-income households in terms of planning, saving, borrowing and effective use of financial services. It will in turn, help them to protect their assets and inspire to build new ones, therefore reducing their vulnerability to poverty, which is the ultimate purpose of this initiative.

Two day Regional Orientation Meetings were organized with the goal to build buy-in of local partners and transfer necessary know-how to find the right partners locally and establish the local advisory points. The meetings consisted of introductory sessions delivered by MFC trainers Elena Amerova and Volodymyr Tunickyy presenting objective and activities of the project, financial education agenda, Plan Your Future toolkit and social communication tools. The core part of the meetings were devoted to building local partnerships and establishing local advisory points. This was based on a simulation game, which gave a case study of local setting. Participants were divided into groups and worked out best solutions for the particular contexts.

The project is funded by the European Commission under the EC’s Action Programme 2006 agreed with the Government of Uzbekistan, in the framework of Institution Building and Partnership Programme (IBPP) and implemented by the Poland-based Microfinance Center (MFC) in cooperation with the local partner Association of Microfinance Organizations and Credit Unions of Uzbekistan (NAMOCU). Uzbek National Association of NGOs (NANNOUZ) is the official implementation partner for IBPP programme.

Microfinance Centre (MFC) is a grass-root network of 110 member institutions that play an active role in shaping the microfinance industry in the Europe and Central Asia region with headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. Members range from banks, non-governmental organizations, social and commercial investors, to development institutions and international PVOs. MFC plays a catalyst role in bridging the market gap between dramatic unmet demand for microfinance services and the sector current offering through supporting development of a wide range of financial institutions, promoting microfinance among policy makers, regulators and formal banking sector. MFC have implemented a number of financial education initiatives and programs in the countries of transition including Poland, Macedonia, Bosnia, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. MFC is the lead partner in this project.

Association of Microfinance Organizations and Credit Unions of Uzbekistan (NAMOCU): is an organization with the mission to consolidate the efforts of non-banking microfinance institutions to increase the quality and access of microfinance services by building the capacity of microfinance sector and creating enabling environment for its development. NAMOCU is the local partner in this project.