Making financial services meet the needs of the world’s most vulnerable
People living in poverty constantly juggle an evolving set of risks and crises in their daily lives. Climate change, the pandemic, and the ongoing food crisis, among others, have increased these risks substantially, contributing to a rise in global poverty and inequality. Meanwhile, a third of the world’s adult population lacks the financial services they could use to significantly improve their lives. CGAP is working to change this, and we believe that positive trends in inclusive finance offer hope for a green, resilient, and inclusive future.
This paper introduces a menu of 19 indicators to measure Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) through increased financial inclusion. Developed with experts and the FinEquity community, it provides actionable guidance for stakeholders to assess and track WEE outcomes, generating evidence to drive more effective financial inclusion interventions across diverse contexts.
A new approach integrating public and private sector efforts is crucial to address women's financial inclusion (WFI). CGAP’s gender conceptual framework aims to offer a new vision of WFI through a whole-of-market approach, requiring commitment from both sectors to drive impactful change.
This paper summarizes two decades of insights to help practitioners unlock the social and business case for young women’s financial inclusion. It outlines tailored strategies for product design, delivery, financial capability, and social intermediation to meet the needs of this diverse and vital client group.
Customer-centricity means understanding people's financial needs and realities. Sistema.bio in India uses this approach to offer affordable biodigesters to rural women, leveraging carbon credits.
Featured Topics
An inclusive financial system empowers vulnerable people to pursue their own climate resilience strategies, making it an absolute necessity for a just transition.
Emerging evidence shows that data trails generated by poor people can be harnessed for developing inclusive financial services. Learn what CGAP is doing to unlock how data can be leveraged to catalyze financial services that reach poor and underserved people at scale and in a responsible manner.
Rural women face disproportionate threats from climate stresses and shocks compared to men.
Featured Platforms and Resources
