The workshop is part of a participatory research activity on "Financial sector and wellbeing" carried out within the research project FESSUD, that aims to map the different perspectives on the existing features of the mainstream financial system and the potential avenues for change, in what concerns its inclusiveness for different categories of stakeholders. A key outcome of this participatory exercise will be identification of potential changes that could increase the inclusiveness of the financial system. The participatory consultation will be carried out by civil society organisations coming from 10 different countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom and will involve participants belonging to different social groups or categories: women, unemployed, elderly people, people with different ethnic identities, dwellers of urban and rural areas, small scale producers, etc.

Since financial exclusion is typically accompanied by social exclusion, the consultation process will seek to give voice to people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The rationale behind involving people from different social backgrounds is to capture a wide range of perspectives on access to financial services and their impact on the wellbeing of people. The workshops are expected to produce meaningful insights into the access of the different categories mentioned above to financial services and equally important, the reforms these groups envisage to better tailor the financial sector to their needs.       

The workshop organised by PLS in Brussels, between the 11th and the 13th of February will set the conceptual framework of the research and equip participants with knowledge on financialization and financial exclusion and the methodology to be employed in the national consultations.