In the generations between 20 and 35 this situation seems better, but only in some areas of the country and for the more socially affluent environments, who are familiar with digital payments and basic banking activities.

From the Svimez 2023 Report (Association for the development of industry in Southern Italy) a worrying picture emerges on the situation of poverty and social exclusion.

Furthermore, the inequalities also in terms of education between Centre-North and South are in fact consistent and are part of an already worrying and general scenario of progressive decrease in investments in the school system of our country.

The report also underlines that in our country, and in particular in the South, the weakening of public action in the educational field and the demographic decline are two phenomena that feed on each other.

Svimez estimates 760 thousand new poor people caused by the inflationary shock (287 thousand families), of which half a million in the South.
2024 should instead be a year of recovery in the wake of the general improvement of the international economy, together with the continuation of the return of inflation which fell to +2.5% and +3.2% in the Center-North and in the South in the year.

For the above, we have implemented, as the Global Thinking Foundation, a series of digital initiatives and projects, free of charge, available to all citizens, which aim to make families, women and young people more aware of their economic and financial potential , and support them in consciously planning their life projects.

Promote and support the emancipation of vulnerable sections of society in order to avoid relapses into public welfare, thus increasing a widespread feeling of individual responsibility and awareness of the choices of investing one’s savings, avoiding the widespread problem of over-indebtedness and thus combating financial illiteracy.

The commitment of foundations and private associations of civil society, such as the GLT Foundation, in Italy as well as in the other G20 countries, assist each other in a strengthened role of active citizenship alongside the municipalities and in the territory in order to thus be able to support the efforts expected by the Government, which has launched a national strategy for financial education, already present in over 60 countries, which is entrusted with a broad and widespread function in terms of the numbers and quality of the actions implemented.

For the Global Thinking Foundation, this is an important opportunity to combat situations of educational poverty by promoting empowerment understood as strengthening, responsibility and awareness, to reduce the knowledge gap in economic and financial skills that is still widespread in our country, and above all in South.

Widespread financial inclusion requires an important element to achieve effects on the economic development of the country: adequate economic-financial knowledge and a basic level of “economic citizenship” skills, currently lacking in Italy.

The FOCUS SUD Program 2019-2025 was born on 5 October 2018 in Catania during the event: “How much and what financial education? A behavioral analysis for Italy.”

The event took place as part of the initiatives for the World Investor Week 2018 sponsored by IOSCO (International Organization of Securities Commission) – an association of which the supervisory authorities of around a hundred countries belong, established in 1983 to regulate the world securities markets securities and futures – and with the patronage of the Sicilian Region, the Municipality of Catania and the Presidency of the Chambers of Commerce of Eastern Sicily.

SOUTH FOCUS 2019-2025 brings together a series of activities that will take place in Puglia, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise, Calabria, Campania, Sicily and Sardinia thanks to the support of the memoranda of understanding already active in some Municipalities of the aforementioned regions and with the Regions themselves , and will embrace the Financial Education issues included in the economic sustainability objectives of the 2030 Agenda (SDGs), in particular for goals 4,5,8,11, and 12, and aimed at all citizens from the youngest to the least young people using the paper and digital materials of the Global Thinking Foundation and the AIEF (Italian Association of Financial Educators) certified volunteer teachers of the Women in the Square Task Force.

The Project will also make use of the strategic collaboration of local stakeholders for the PCTO paths (transversal skills and orientation paths), and of the experience linked to participation in the working groups of ASVIS and INFE/OECD, International Network for Financial Education.