Albania

GMW national coordinator: Bank of Albania Participating organisations: Albanian Associations of Banks, Ministry of Education and Sports, Albanian Deposit Insurance Agency, Junior Achievement , Young Enterprise, 13 high schools, 8 universities Total number of participating organisations: 173 Number of children and young people reached directly: 8,225 Number of adults reached directly: 1,536 Number of people reached indirectly: 300,014

Albania participated in GMW for the eighth time. This year’s aim was to raise awareness about financial responsibility in the younger generation as a way to ensure a better future. Bank of Albania in cooperation with the Albanian Association of Banks and with the support of the Ministry of Education and Sports and the Deposit Insurance Agency, organised educational and awareness-raising activities all over the country, reaching directly more than 8,000 students from almost 140 schools of all levels. Their GMW activities included school competitions, lectures in university auditoriums, visits to the Museum of the Bank of Albania, as well as presentations carried out in primary schools, in middle schools and in high schools.

Albania’s GMW2022 ceremony was organised in the premises of the Bank of Albania, under the slogan “Build your future, be smart about money” on Thursday, March 24. This event was launched by the Governor of the Bank of Albania, the Minister of Education and Sports, and the President of the Albanian Association of Banks. During the programme, winners were announced for different competitions initiated by the Bank of Albania and Albanian Association of Banks. The CEOs of the commercial banks that sponsored the activities handed out the prizes and took pictures with the winning students.

Throughout the last week of March, Albanian students were able to participate in six different GMW contests: (1) drawing competition for 3-4th graders (2) meme competition for 9th graders (3) the European Money Quiz for 13 and 15-year-olds (4) video competition for high school students (5) the Countdown Challenge for high school students and (6) essay competition for university students.

During GMW2022, Junior Achievement Albania (JAA) organised the International Trade Game which reached 30 high school and university students. Students were divided into teams of 2-10 people and each group represented one country. This game was played by 30 JAA Alumni members from ages between 15-20. During the initiative, countries competed against each other to cut paper shapes (circles, triangles, rectangles, etc.) and sell them to an international commodity market trader at posted prices, which varied with supply and demand. The objective for each country was to make as much money as possible.

During the project, which is a version of the World Trade Game, youth learned about earnings, saving, investing, budgeting, credit, risk management and giving. They also learnt to apply these skills to create a personal financial plan enabling them to set specific goals for their future financial needs.

Throughout the Week, 14 young people were able to engage in the Speed Learning online event in collaboration with JA Europe. Students had the chance to interact with Arrow Global Volunteers from Albania, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and the UK. The goal was to learn more about career options in the financial sector in an interactive way.

Furthermore, this year 14-16 years old students had the opportunity to participate in a Financial Bootcamp where students were divided into groups to create a business idea with a financial plan.