Deliver Your News to the World

Bulgaria: Citigroup & P&G Partner to Sponsor “Economics for Leaders” Program


WEBWIRE

August 17, 2006, Citigroup and the Gillette Business Unit of Procter and Gamble Company are teaming up to help improve Bulgarian financial and economic education. Contributions from the Citigroup Foundation and P&G are funding the Economics for Leaders program held for 50 Bulgarian high school teachers at the American University in Blagoevgrad from August 6 -12, 2006.

The weeklong program is an outgrowth of Economics for Leaders programs conducted by the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE) in the United States. The FTE’s local partners in the program are the Bulgarian Ministry of Science and Education and the American University in Bulgaria. The Ministry selects the teachers from all regions of Bulgaria to attend and also assists with the leadership instruction. The AUBG provides the premises and on-site management.

Economics for Leaders is designed to give the teachers professional development training, showing them how to use interactive teaching techniques to make economics more understandable. Teachers become better educators, leaving with new teaching strategies, a more complete understanding of economic concepts, and simulations, games and materials to make economics exciting to students. The staff includes both American and Bulgarian instructors. There are no fees or tuition for teachers to attend.

“P&G, Gillette Business Unit considers economics education an important area, since for every country it is the quality of education which influences the future of a country to a great extent. It is our pleasure to see that this FTE program has brought a new dimension to the philanthropy and community involvement of our company in this field,” said Cathy Chizauskas, vice president of P&G, Gillette Business Unit.

Evaluation shows that teachers leave with a better understanding of the economic forces that play such an important part in every day life. Most importantly, participants leave knowing the importance of distinguishing between value-laden judgments and empirically verifiable ones.

“Citigroup believes that strong Financial Education programs raise the quality of life for individuals, families and institutions and strengthen communities around the world. In April of 2005, Citigroup and the Citigroup Foundation announced a ten-year, $200 million global commitment to financial education. This program fits in perfectly with our strategy and its overwhelming success have convinced us to continue supporting it in Bulgaria and other Central European countries like Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. The summer camp is an excellent opportunity for participants to acquire knowledge and learn to enjoy economics.” said Amin Manekia, Citigroup Country Officer for Bulgaria. Citigroup
Citigroup, the leading global financial services company has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Major brand names under Citigroup’s trademark red umbrella include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com


# # #


Citigroup Foundation
The Citigroup Foundation focuses its grants primarily on financial education and community development, along with arts and culture, health and human services, and the environment. Additional information may be found at: www.citigroup.com.

Citigroup Financial Education Program
Based on the belief that knowledge is your greatest asset, the Citigroup Financial Education Program is a global, company-wide effort to identify, support and implement initiatives that help give individuals, families and communities the tools needed to make sound financial decisions. Citigroup’s 10-year, $200 million global commitment is focused in three areas: Personal Financial Education, Small Business Financial Education, and Institutional Financial Education. Additional information about Citigroup’s Financial Education Program, including Foundation guidelines, links and resources, including the Citigroup Financial Education Program Curriculum and Facilitator’s Guide may be found at: www.financialeducation.citigroup.com.

P&G, Gillette Business Unit
The Gillette brand is the global market leader in nearly a dozen major consumer products categories, principally in the grooming, alkaline battery and oral care businesses. In the more than 100 years since the Company was founded, Gillette has gained, held and strengthened leadership positions through the Company’s strategy of managing its business with a long-term, global perspective. This demonstrated ability to generate long-term, profitable growth in a changing global marketplace rests on several fundamental strengths. These include a constantly increasing accumulation of scientific knowledge in core businesses, innovative products that embody meaningful technological advances and an immense manufacturing capability that produces billions of flawless products every year — reliably, efficiently and cost-effectively. In 2005, The Gillette Company was acquired by The Proctor and Gamble Company.

Foundation for Teaching Economics
The mission of the FTE is to introduce young individuals, selected for their leadership potential, to an economic way of thinking about national and international issues and to promote excellence in economic education by helping economics teachers become more effective educators. The FTE is dedicated to emphasizing the important role of individuals as productive, responsible citizens in free societies. Our teacher and student training programs provide a small classroom setting where serious discussion can take place to better understand the free market system. Additional information about the FTE may be found at www.fte.org



WebWireID18719





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.