EduFin Summit 2018: How can financial education contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

A group of international scholars, researchers and professionals, all leading voices in the field of financial education, will gather at Torre BBVA in Buenos Aires with the aim of helping establish the EduFin Summit as the world’s most prominent intellectual forum on the subject, creating a cross-disciplinary debate space to address a comprehensive range of financial education and inclusion matters.

The overarching theme of this year’s edition will be the inclusive agenda of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to address the root causes of poverty and promote consensus to bring about a positive change for people and the planet. For this purpose, both speakers and participants will weigh on the link between financial education and sustainable development, and the function of financial education as lever to contribute to the achievement of the SDG.

Financial education as driver of SDG

According to the Center for Financial Education and Capability - a platform created by BBVA to encourage the exchange of knowledge in the field of financial education and inclusion and the institution promoting the Summit – the following are the six SDG where financial education can make a bigger difference.

• The challenge of ending poverty (SDG 1) and how to take on it through financial inclusion.
• Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages (SDG 3), emphasizing financial inclusion and the opportunities afforded by longevity.
• The challenge of achieving a quality education (SDG 4), also in financial education, analyzing its impact in the youngest, lending them a voice and listening to their testimonials.
• Progress toward gender equality (SDG 5) in the access, knowledge and use of financial services.
• Innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), the impact of digital transformation on financial education and consumer security.
• The fight against climate change (SDG 13) through socially responsible investments.

During the EduFin Summit, whether as speakers or members of different panels, experts will foster debate on these topics, and will also discuss the link between financial education and gender equality or financial literacy in the digital era.

Buenos aires, the host city of EduFin Summit 2018

By choosing Buenos Aires as host city of this year’s edition of the EduFin Summit, the Center for Financial Education and Capability seeks to build on the success and impact achieved through last year’s event, held in Mexico City. One of the reasons that contributed to this decision was the wealth of experience that BBVA Frances’ has amassed in the country through its financial education youth programs and scholarships.

At institutional level, the EduFin Summit will be held concurrently with this year’s B20 meeting. The B20 - the business forum of the G20 - will be represented in the Summit by Carolina Castro, Executive Sherpa B20, who, together with Gonzalo Verdomar, Head of Institutional Relations of BBVA Francés, will host the summit’s welcome session.  Also, B20 Chair Daniel Funes de Rioja will join José Manuel González-Páramo, Executive Member of the Board, Head of Global Economics, Regulation and Public Affairs at BBVA, in the closing session, to recap the key takeaways of the summit.

The Ministry of Modernization of the Argentine Nation’s has qualified EduFin Summit 2018 as part of the official program of the National Institute of the Public Administration for the training and education plan of all public employees. This means that attendance to the summit will grant public employees points for their career scores. This qualification represents a pivotal milestone for EduFin Summit and a major step in becoming the world’s leading financial education event.