Karina Broens Nielsen

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Karina Broens Nielsen is a senior financial sector specialist and leads CGAP’s work on evidence and measurement of financial inclusion impact. She also facilitates CGAP’s strategy development process and leads CGAP’s corporate results measurement and evaluation. 

Karina has extended experience working for various international development institutions on project management, measurement, learning and evaluation related to digital financial services, rural finance, small and medium-sized enterprise finance, agriculture and local governance. Before joining CGAP, she worked for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the European Commission’s delegation to the United Nations, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she designed, managed, and evaluated multimillion dollar international programs with private sector actors and government partners in Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia. In these positions, Ms. Nielsen developed guidance and frameworks to assess results for various types of investments.

She is based in Paris, has a Master’s degree in Public Administration (Candidata Scientiarium Administrationis) and a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and Social Science from Aalborg University, Denmark. She also studied International Relations and Development at London Guildhall University.

By Karina Broens Nielsen

Research

Opening the Black Box on the Impact of Inclusive Credit

Inclusive credit is one of the most celebrated and contested tools in development. This Focus Note reframes that debate. Rather than asking whether credit works, it asks: for which borrowers, through what product designs, and under what conditions does inclusive credit generate meaningful benefit rather than harm?
Blog

Financial Health Matters: It’s A Bridge to Resilience and Prosperity

In an era of economic volatility and rapid financial innovation, the concept of financial health has emerged as a critical bridge between financial inclusion and positive outcomes for people and economies.
Blog

Rethinking Evidence: When Does Inclusive Finance Work and for Whom

This leadership essay reassesses what we think we know as a sector, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the existing evidence base and proposing new methods for building a better one.
Blog

Beyond Account Access: Converting Financial Inclusion into Resilience

Account ownership in LMICs has nearly doubled since 2011, but financial resilience remains stubbornly low: just 56% of adults can access emergency funds within 30 days. Achieving true progress on financial resilience will mean moving beyond account ownership as the primary metric of success.
Blog

Measuring Financial Health: Findex Broadens Its Scope

Financial health is rising on global agendas, but measuring it remains fragmented. The 2025 Global Findex expands coverage across four key dimensions, offering a step toward global benchmarks while balancing local realities.