YFS Training Courses

Serious Business: Making a Case for Youth-Inclusive Financial Services

Duration: 1/2 day

Participants: Executives of financial service providers (i.e., commercial banks, credit unions, MFIs)

Description: This half-day course will equip top executives to decide whether their institutions should offer youth-inclusive financial services, and if so, provide insights on how to do so successfully. In addition, it will give decision-makers key information regarding the social and business case for offering youth-inclusive financial services, drawing significantly on case studies of other institutions who have done it successfully.  By the end of this course, participants will have gained an understanding of the youth market segment and insights into the emerging guidelines to develop and deliver quality, demand-driven youth-inclusive financial services.

Implementing Sound Practices in Youth-Inclusive Financial Services

Duration: 2 days

Participants: Senior or mid-level managers of youth-serving organizations and financial service providers

Description: This interactive course offers a practical step-by-step framework for understanding what it takes to offer youth-inclusive financial services. Through hands-on activities and case study discussions, this course provides microfinance practitioners and youth enterprise and livelihoods practitioners with an introduction to designing and implementing interventions to expand youth-inclusive financial services.  Participants will also learn about key steps in youth-inclusive financial services including market research, adaptation or development of services, partnerships, delivery channels and simple evaluation systems.

Market Research with Young Clients

Duration: 3 days

Participants: Senior or mid-level operational managers of financial service providers

Description: This "how to" course offers a framework for financial service practitioners to understand how to conduct market research to young people and use the information to lead the adaptation or development of financial products and services for youth. Participants will specifically learn the kinds of skills, knowledge and tools needed to undertake effective market research with young people, including consideration of cognitive development and life stage factors. Participants will develop skills in developing market research tools, plans, using data collection tools and using market research tools with young people directly in the field.

Adapting and Developing Financial Services for Young Clients

Duration: 3 days

Participants: Senior or mid-level operational managers of financial service providers

Description: This course offers financial service practitioners the opportunity to enhance product development knowledge and skills with a focus on serving young clients. Participants will be able to assess how the product development process is different for younger clients and how to tailor existing or new products and services to young people. By the end of the course, practitioners will have gained the skills and tools to offer adapted or new services to younger clients through case study discussions, use of the 8 Ps of product design, and application of profitability analysis.

Partnering for Improved Service Delivery with Young Clients

Duration: 2 days

Participants: Senior or mid-level managers of youth-serving organizations and financial service providers

Description: This course offers both financial service practitioners and youth-serving organizations an opportunity to explore ways to partner to improve the availability of financial and non-financial services for young people as well as leverage delivery mechanisms that exist in communities. Participants will be led through a series of case studies, interactive exercises and partner mapping tools to effectively develop strategic partnerships and understand how to leverage core competencies of each partner to deliver improved services to young clients.

Staffing for Youth-Inclusive Financial Services

Duration: 1 day

Participants: Senior or mid-level managers and human resources staff of financial service providers

Description: This course provides human resources staff with an understanding of the key knowledge, skills, and attitudes for frontline staff in the successful delivery of financial services to youth. It will equip financial service providers with strategies on how to identify internal and external staff and to build their capacity to effectively interact with youth while delivering financial services. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to create a youth-friendly office environment and the role of their staff in doing so.

Savings Products and Services for Young Clients

Duration: 1/2 day

Participants: Senior or mid-level operational managers of financial service providers

Description: This course deepens the understanding of savings products and services for young clients. Through case study discussions and interactive activities, financial services practitioners explore how savings products can be tailored to be youth-inclusive and are led through an exercise to assess their own savings product line to better overcome institutional and regulatory constraints related to youth savings products.