FINCARE

Financial Literacy for Social Inclusion (FINCARE)

Discover more about FINCARE

Liverpool John Moores University is participating in the EU-funded, Erasmus+ project: Financial Literacy for Social Inclusion (FINCARE) through its Research Unit for Financial Inclusion, situated in the School of Nursing and Allied Health within the Faculty of Health.

FINCARE is established under the Erasmus+ key action, “Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices” and brings together British credit unions, Romanian Casele de Ajutor Reciproc (credit unions) and Italian co-operative banks. It is a knowledge exchange and research programme in the fields of credit union governance and financial education.

Research and training materials outputs are in two areas:

  • Credit union governance for board members, senior executives and members
  • Financial education, in particular for low income adults in Romania

Partners:

  • Great Britain - Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and The Co-operative (Co-op) Credit Union
  • Italy - Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione (the trade association for co-ops in the Trentino region) and Formazione Lavoro (a co-op training organisation)
  • Romania – Asociatia Laboratul de Solidarite (ALS, a social enterprise development organisation) and Uniunea Nationala a Caselor de Ajutor Reciproc (UNCARSR, the largest trade association for credit unions in Romania).

There has been considerable co-operation and sharing between the partners, with Romanian and Italian visitors joining LJMU and Co-op Credit Union for a week’s training and knowledge exchange at LJMU in Liverpool in June 2018 – including visits to local credit unions, and a conference in Manchester in January 2019.  British and Romanian delegates participated in a week-long series of seminars in Trento in October 2018, and British credit unionists undertook further knowledge exchange and training in Romania in July 2019.

LJMU and The Co-operative Credit Union are leading the work on governance, while ALS is leading on financial education. The final materials are due for completion by November 2019 and will be made available to all credit unions. The outputs are adapted to be relevant to all the project partners.

Two completed outputs are available for download:

Contact details

Get in touch with staff from the Financial Literacy for Social Inclusion research group

If you'd like to ask a question or find out more information, please contact the team using the details below.

Contact: Dr Paul Jones  Deputy Editor of the Journal of Co-operative Studies  (Editor 2006 - 2015)

Email: P.A.Jones@ljmu.ac.uk

Website: Research Unit for Financial Inclusion