Throughout the past month, Bank of Palestine held a serious of workshops within “Felestineya” Program “Know Your Bank” for banking awareness to women at the main branch in Jericho, in order to educate women about the work of the banking sector and products that they can benefit from to expand and develop their work. Bank of Palestine began with this program at the end of 2014, and in less than one year, more than 450 entrepreneurial women and business owners from all Palestinian regions attended the banking awareness workshops.
These workshops are essential as they are held for women from marginalized areas, as the women attending this workshop were from a number of villages in Jericho governorate and Jordan Valley, including : Zubaydat village, Marj Ghazal, Marj Na’jeh, Jiftlik, Fasayel, Ein Dyouk and Ein Sultan. The women from these areas have high productivity in the fields of agricultural services, commercial, and agricultural industries, however, they are unaware of the services of the Bank and the banking sector. Raising their awareness will positively reflect on advancing their professional capabilities and the development of their projects, which will reflect on the Palestinian economy in the foreseeable future. The workshops held recently were in collaboration with the Spanish Foundation Alianza Por La Solidaridad.
During the workshops, banking concepts and various financial services were clarified and access to them were explained, which in turn will meet their needs and ensure their use in the best methods to enable their projects to achieve continuous growth. The services in the workshops includes definition of the banking sector, banking services and access to these services, accounts and their types, deposits, checks, types of facilitations, types of card and their usage and features, international financial transfers and their features, electronic banking services and other needed services.
“Felestineya” program that was recently launch by the Bank to empower women is considered the first initiative that deal with social, economic and familial aspects. The Bank aspires to reach all segments of women, including business women, employees and housewives, through the development of related innovative programs to improve financial opportunities, networking and capacity building.