This webinar was jointly organized by SEEP's Children, Youth and Economic Strengthening and Youth and Financial Services working groups.

Can youth savings groups help foster entrepreneurship and employment among young people, supporting them in their search for decent work and their struggle against poverty? Two of SEEP's member-led working groups united to discuss.

Representatives from Freedom from Hunger, MarketShare Associates, MEDA, and Plan UK explored how savings groups targeting youth can alleviate the constraints to youth entrepreneurship and contribute to the reduction of youth unemployment. The webinar was a great opportunity to learn about informal financial inclusion approaches tailored to support youth in developing and expanding their businesses!

It presented:

• Key findings from a paper on the topic commissioned by Plan UK
• Programmatic considerations on what is working and what is not from the Banking on Change partnership (between Plan UK, CARE International UK and Barclays)
• Learnings from Freedom from Hunger's AIM youth initiative

Speakers:

Jennifer Denomy - Facilitator, Youth and Financial Services Working Group at SEEP

Jennifer Denomy , Director of Youth Economic Opportunities at MEDA, focuses on developing MEDA's strategy to promote increased financial access, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities for young people. She also facilitated the SEEP Youth Financial Services Practitioner Learning Program, and worked as the pedagogical manager of a teacher training centre in Germany and a curriculum designer for BRAC's Non-formal Primary Education Program in Bangladesh.

Erin Markel - Facilitator, Child and Youth Economic Strengthening Network

Erin Markel, Principal Consultant, Economic Opportunities at MarketShare Associates, specializes in economic development and household economic strengthening programs with a focus on empowering women and youth. She has led a variety of consultancies for MSA including work with the USAID LEO initiative, the IFC, SEEP Network, Plan and CARE. . Her past work experiences include working for the Aga Khan Foundation, Women's World Banking, ProMujer and Aspen Institute. Erin holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University.

Karen Moore - Economic Security Adviser at Plan UK

Karen Moore is the Economic Security Adviser at Plan UK. Prior to joining Plan, Karen worked with the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, based at UNESCO, and the DFID-funded Chronic Poverty Research Centre, based at the Universities of Birmingham and Manchester. She has undertaken research, provided advisory support and taught postgraduates on a range of development policy issues, including childhood, youth and intergenerational poverty. She holds BA and MSc degrees in development studies from the Universities of Toronto and Bath.

Eden Rock - Director, Savings Group Methodologies at Freedom from Hunger

Eden Rock leads Freedom from Hunger initiatives in developing and implementing strategies for extending integrated financial and nonfinancial services to savings groups of rural youth and women, primarily in West Africa and Latin America. She started her career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, and has a Master of Public Administration from San Francisco State University and a BA in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.