National Bank of Ukraine issued the following announcement on Feb. 28.

Zhytomyr is Ukraine’s first city to host Economic Express, a series of two-day-long regional events that the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has launched in conjunction with the USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project and Kyiv School of Economics (KSE). The events will take place from 28 February through 1 March 2019.

This project comes as a continuation of Financial Awareness Days that the NBU and its partners have held for two straight years. Economic Express demonstrates the regulator’s transparency and willingness to maintain open dialogue with clients.

Says NBU Deputy Governor Roman Borysenko:

“This is one of the practical tools to promote financial awareness and a way to channel the efforts of all financial ecosystem participants in that direction. We are developing a national strategy to improve the financial literacy of Ukrainians that we plan to unveil as soon as summer this year. In that regard, the regional meetings carry special importance as we strive to reach out to every citizen regardless of where he or she lives.”

Says Robert Bond, Chief of Party for the USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project:

“The USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project is pleased to continue its support of the NBU’s public financial education outreach program. It is vital that we raise the financial awareness of Ukrainians and include more citizens in the financial system. Efforts like these contribute to public understanding and confidence in Ukraine’s financial institutions.”

Says Andrii Yanitskyi, economic journalist, Head of the Center for Excellence in Economic Journalism at KSE:

“Our ultimate goal is to see the Ukrainian economy grow. I am convinced that quality media can help individuals make more effective economic and political decisions. Unfortunately, the state of Ukrainian media leaves much to be desired, which is why we are working to raise the level of professionalism of Ukrainian journalists. We are aware of the difficulties that journalists working in various regions of Ukraine struggle with. Rather than wait for them to come to us, we come to them and give lectures.”

The two-day Economic Express program now underway in Zhytomyr focuses on the needs of various demographics and includes the following:

· lectures and workshops by NBU professionals and by experts from the USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project, KSE, and EMA for students and professors of Ukrainian universities

· workshops for journalists on how to write interesting articles about the economy by experts from the Center for Excellence in Economic Journalism at KSE

· a meeting between NBU Deputy Governor Roman Borysenko and representatives of the business community.

Overall, the regional project Economic Express will span nine cities this year: Zhytomyr, Lviv, Uzhhorod, Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Kherson, Dnipro, and Kharkiv. As soon as 12 April, the project is coming to Lviv.

For reference:

Financial Awareness Days is a joint educational project implemented by the NBU in conjunction with the USAID within the framework of the USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project and with the support of Visa international payment system.

The project was implemented in 2017–2018 in partnership with the State Higher Educational Institution Banking University, the Deposit Guarantee Fund, and the Independent Association of the Banks of Ukraine.

The standard program of the project included the following:

· themed lectures by financial market experts

· financial awareness workshops

· interactive seminars for high-school and university students

· an exhibition of Ukrainian money and modern commemorative coins by the Money Museum of the National Bank of Ukraine.

In 2017, events within the project’s framework were held in four cities – Odesa, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Dnipro – with nearly 7,500 guests in attendance. In 2018, Financial Awareness Days took place in the city of Poltava, gathering close to 2,600 attendees, including college students, schoolchildren, and professors. In addition, NBU experts visited another three oblast capitals – Odesa, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia – to deliver a series of financial lectures for college students.

Original source can be found here.