By Country: General (Global reach)

Public sector programmes | Civil society programmes | Private sector programmes | Research and articles

Public sector programmes

• Financial inclusion, UN Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors, www.UNadvisorsgroup.org. 
• Disaster Risk Management and Learning Program (International: Public Sector)
  The World Bank Institute Disaster Risk Management Learning Program provides online courses and printed materials to promote proactive disaster risk management practices by raising awareness among key stakeholders and by advancing the analytical skills and professional knowledge of development practitioners in specific areas of disaster risk management.
  http://web.worldbank.org
• Eduplan Hemisferico (International: Public Sector)
  This initiative of the Organization of American States (OAS) promotes the adoption of policies for safe schools, disaster risk reduction education, and schools as hubs for community education. This policy advocacy and awareness effort has spurred several important initiatives in Latin American.
  http://www.oas.org/nhp/nhpcatalog/Webpages/PPNAccionesHemsf13.htm
• The European and Mediterranean Major Hazards Agreement (EUR-OPA) (International: Public Sector)
  Twenty-five members states are party to the Council of Europe' Major Hazards Open Partial Agreement which reinforces cooperation between member sates to ensure better prevention, protection and organization of relief. Ministerial Sessions raise awareness among policy-makers, adopting resolutions and making recommendations regarding knowledge transmission, education on disaster reduction, school curricula and teacher training (Council of Europe, 2005, 2006).
  http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/MajorHazrds/Default_en.asp
• The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department (International: Public Sector)
  The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department (DG ECHO) launched the DIPECHO programme in 2006 to invest finances in disaster preparedness. This programme now covers 6 disaster-prone regions and has invested more than EUR 120 million since its inception. The projects funded by the programme include simple and inexpensive preparatory measures, often implemented by the communities themselves.
  http://ec.europa.eu/echo/field/dipecho/index_en.htm
• Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (International: Public Sector)
  The World Bank Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is developing various instruments to support its client governments to integrate risk reduction strategies in development processes, building capacities at the local and national levels to “disaster proof” the Millennium Development Goals and supporting ongoing UNISDR processes.
  www.worldbank.org/hazards/gfdrr
• Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into School Curriculum (International: Civic-Public Sector Partnership)
  The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center's Regional Consultative Committee on Disaster Management is currently developing RCC Guideline 6.1 “Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into School Curriculum”. These guidelines for Ministries of Education in Asia are intended to guide the introduction and infusion of disaster risk reduction into school curricula. Priority Implementation Projects are designed to kick-start these efforts in selected countries.
  http://www.adpc.net
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (International: Public Sector)
  The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has developed several publications on managing disasters, including: Large-Scale Disasters: Lessons Learned, Catastrophic Risks and Insurance, Terrorism Risk Insurance in OECD Countries and Keeping Schools Safe in Earthquakes. Their projects include: Futures Project on Risk Management (which has produced studies of floods, earthquakes and a variety of hazards in France, Japan, U.S. Denmark, Italy, Norway and Sweden) and The OECD Directorate for Education, Programme on Educational Buildings (which has led several meetings on school safety issues and published Educational Facilities and Risk Management: Natural Disasters).Their recommendations on Safe Schools have been adopted by 30 countries.
  www.oecd.org/
• United Nations Centre for Regional Development (International: Public-Civic Partnership)
  The UNCRD, based in Hyogo, Japan is conducting a multi-year School Earthquake Safety Initiative "Reducing Vulnerability of School Children to Earthquake" in Fiji, India, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. This project includes public-awareness raising efforts for school safety. Other projects promote community-based disaster risk reduction.
  http://www.hyogo.uncrd.or.jp/
• United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014 (DESD) - (International: Public-Civic Partnership)
  The UNESCO-led education effort is to encourage changes in behaviour that will create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society. Specific initiatives within this framework, particularly in Asia, address stocktaking and policy advocacy for disaster risk reduction education.
  http://portal.unesco.org/education/
• United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (International: Public-Civic Partnership)
  The UN/ISDR aims at building disaster resilient communities by promoting increased awareness of the importance of disaster reduction as an integral component of sustainable development, with the goal of reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards and related technological and environmental disasters. The World Conference on Disaster Reduction which adopted The Hyogo Framework for Action, and the biennial Global Platform meetings, and campaigns focus the attention of national decision-makers on disaster reduction. The Disaster Reduction Begins in Schools Campaign (2005-2007) in particular highlighted the importance of awareness and risk reduction education. Follow-on activities of the Knowledge and Education Platform and Regional Task Forces are expected to continue this work. Prevention Web provides a common information platform for the DRR community. It plans to launch the Global Online Library for Disaster Risk Reduction developed in association with UNESCO. This online library will share and permit evaluation of public education and children's education materials and strategies.
  http://www.unisdr.org/  and www.preventionweb.net/

Civil society programmes

• Financial Literacy for the Carribean, http://financialliteracycaribbean.com.
  This Financial Literacy Website is a project initiated by the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre  (CARTAC). 
• Global Financial Education Program, Microfinance Opportunities
• Child Social and Financial Education, Aflatoun
• Junior Achievement Worlwide
• Financial education programmes, a+b=3, developed and developing countries
• Financial Services for the Poor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, http://www.gatesfoundation.org/topics/Pages/financial-services-for-the-poor.aspx
  The foundation is working to expand the availability of savings accounts and other financial services for poor people in the developing world.
• Financial Education Program, Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (MFC), Eastern Europe and Central Asia region

Private sector programmes

• Citi’s Financial Education Program, presentation by Dara Duguay at the OECD/US Treasury International Financial Education Conference, May 2008 and Citi’s Financial Education Program Highlights
• Encouraging Financial Literacy, Visa, http://www.corporate.visa.com/av/about_visa/csr/csr_financial_literacy.jsp
• World Savings Banks Institute (WSBI), www.wsbi.org. A publication which depicts some of the initiatives launched by member banks around the world (Thailand, Malaysia, Senegal, Uganda, Spain, Hungary, Austria, France, Germany, Sweden, Portugal, Lithuania, UK) on various apects of financial education (teaching school children about the importance of savings, raising awareness of young people about the menagement of money, educating households about money matters and private finance etc.) can also be accessed from: http://www.wsbi.org/uploadedFiles/Publications_and_Research_(WSBI_only)/financialeducation%20wsbi%20screen.pdf.
  A similar document exists for European cases, accessible from: http://www.wsbi.org/uploadedFiles/ESBG/CSR_Activities/financialeducation%20for%20screen.pdf.
  Also of interest: The contribution of financial education to the enlargement of access to finance, WSBI involvement, views and proposals, WSBI, January 2009. 
• European Savings banks Group (ESBG), www.esbg.eu: at European level, savings banks through the European body, ESBG, coordinate a pan-European stock market learning initiative for young students, currently deployed in Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Luxembourg and soon to be extended to Sweden. More information is available from: www.stockmarket-training.eu

Research and articles

• Zvi Bodie (n.d.), Life-Cycle Investing in Theory and Practice, accessed 5 July 2007.
• IMF (2005), Global Financial Stability Report 2005, Overview (Transfer of risks to households)
• IMF (2005), Global Financial Stability Report 2005, Chapter III Household Balance Sheets
• Elaine Kempson et al. (2004), Policy level response to financial exclusion in developed countries: lessons for developing countries, The Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol, September 2004.
• Darren Duxbury and Barbara Summers (2004), Financial risk perception: are individuals variance averse or loss averse?, www.sciencedirect.com  (Then type in name of journal: Economics Letters 84 (2004) 21-28)
• Principal (2004), The Principal Global Financial Well-Being Study, 2004 Executive Summary.
• Ivy Lai, (n.d.), The Role of Financial Regulators in Shareholder Education