The College of Economics and Management through the Extension Services Division of CBSUA conducted a simultaneous Financial Literacy Training (FLT) to the following barangays: Barceloneta, Biong, Camagong, Castillo, New Poblacion, Pandan, San Pedro, Sta Cruz, and Sta. Lutgarda on 22 October 2020 to 4 December 2020.
The Financial Literacy Training is a part of the Extension Program of the University entitled “Promoting Livelihood and Sustainability among Small Farmers Fisherfolks through Agroenterprise Approach”. Landbank Countryside Development Foundation, Inc (LCDFI) worked with CBSUA through LBP’s Financial Literacy Program (FLP). The Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) assisted and facilitated the training by educating fisherfolks and farmers in Financial Literacy. The project has a budget allocation worth P132,000.00 for training supplies, meals, travel expenses, and other miscellaneous.
The training aimed to improve the financial management skills of the farmers and fisherfolks of Cabusao by enhancing their “agripreneurial mindset” and creating a positive effect on their business performance and operations. It also intended to initiate a change in the mindset among the farmers and fisherfolks of the town with regard to their household finance management. The ultimate goal of the project was to increase household income as well as enhanced financial literacy.
During the 10-day training, the participants engaged in parallel sessions simultaneously in different barangays. Each session started with video presentation from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas about Financial Education as a building block for a stable economy. Financial education, planning finances, managing cash flow, and investment were the videos presented during the session.
After the video presentation, simple exercise on determining the participants’ cash flow followed the brief lecture on Cash Flow Management. However, some major issues such as pandemic, typhoon, logistics, and venue affected the implementation of the training. Among the nine (9) barangays, the team recorded a total of 2,095 participants during the simultaneous training in the said barangays of Cabusao.