North Macedonia

GMW national coordinator: National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia Participating organisations: Ministry of Finance, Securities and Exchange Commission, Fully Funded Pension Insurance Supervision Agency and Insurance Supervision Agency, NGOs, schools, universities Total number of participating organisations: 176 Number of children and young people reached directly: 34,004 Number of adults reached directly: 2,290 Number of people reached indirectly: 281,720

The National Bank organised many activities during the 10th edition of Global Money Week in North Macedonia. For example, an Educational Caravan visited students from elementary schools in rural areas, a virtual lecture and an educational quiz were organised for youth from the secondary school of economics. An educational infographic on financial education of youth was presented. Winners of an organised financial education quiz received rewards.

As part of the Global Money Week, representatives of the Ministry of Finance held lectures on higher education institutions. The Minister of Finance also joined the campaign with his lecture about budgeting, functions, priorities and goals.

Macedonian Banking Association in cooperation with the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of North Macedonia organised the national competition “European Money Quiz”, a project of the European Banking Federation.

MAPAS, in coordination with the pension companies and a NGO held in-person educational activities in 55 secondary schools in several cities in the country, four online events and a panel discussion. They also prepared educational materials and brochures.

In addition, Komercijalna Banka made the “Financial Classroom” project, created in 2018, available to everyone online. The purpose of the project is to highlight the importance of financial education for youth and help them prepare for better futures. The tool teaches all users about financial products and services.

Stopanska Banka AD Skopje was actively engaged in promoting GMW. Their advertising agency developed an easy memory game about money functions and history to help users learn to become better money managers. The online campaign attracted the attention of children and their parents. Halk Bank organised lectures, painting contests and ECO activity.

Savings House Moznosti advised young people when applying for a loan. For example, how to ask for a pre-agreement information form, request loan repayment simulation, all loan costs, when, and how the interest is calculated and other rights. There were activities about advices on setting goals, how not to buy impulsively, being careful with small expenses, keeping track of costs, and more. Moznosti set an educational quiz game on Instagram and chose a winner based on the correctly answered questions and gained rewards.

Savings House FULM created educational programme for smart savings, cyber protection and personal data protection. This programme was realised through educational tips for children and parents, on FULM Savings House profile on social media platforms.

Global shapers Skopje Hub within the “Financial Literacy for Youth” project organised a panel discussion on the GMW topic at Europe House Skopje. Through the discussion, four experts in the field of finance and the participants had an opportunity to find out more about financial literacy, personal finances, how crisis can affect income, how to be smart in buying, saving, investing and insurance, why it is necessary from an early age to think about retirement and how young people can prepare for the future.

Junior Achievement Macedonia, organised a series of workshops dedicated to entrepreneurship and financial education in order to raise financial awareness and inspire young people. Three innovation camps brought together students, business volunteers and teachers. The challenge that was given to the youth varied from social, banking, IT or other industry sector.