Blog
The Essential Role of Finance in Education, Housing and Health Care
CGAP’s research suggests that financial services are important tools for advancing equitable access to quality essential services like education, housing and health care.Blog
Let’s Talk About Resilience
While the need to expand opportunity for the poor has historically animated the financial inclusion community, it is high time we recognize the equally critical role of resilience building and expend similar effort in service of that goal.Blog
Small but Mighty: CGAP and the Future of Financial Inclusion
In her final leadership essay as CGAP’s CEO, Greta Bull shares her perspective on the impact COVID-19 has had on global development and some lessons she’s learned about financial inclusion.Blog
Women and Finance: Enabling Women’s Economic Empowerment
Reducing the gender gap requires that we put a gender lens on everything we do. CGAP CEO Greta Bull writes that without fully including women, we won’t solve financial inclusion or, for that matter, end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity.Blog
Beyond Access and Usage: Financial Services for Livelihoods
Not only have financial services have changed dramatically over the last 30 years, so have the ways people earn a living.Blog
After the Storm: How Microfinance Can Adapt and Thrive
There has been a need for traditional microfinance to face the challenge presented by digital technology for some time. COVID has simply accelerated this process.Blog
The Best Laid Plans...CGAP's Response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
CGAP spent time thinking about how we can add unique value to a coordinated crisis response. The work we are doing to combat the effects of coronavirus is refocusing those efforts in new and unanticipated ways.Blog
What’s a Donor to Do? The Financial Impact of COVID-19 on the Poor
Inclusive financial systems are understood to be part of the solution to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, donors are often unclear how most effectively to tailor their interventions. In this Leadership Essay, Michael Tarazi outlines a path forward.Blog
Open Data and the Future of Banking
Although growing numbers of low-income people are entering the formal financial system, many are not yet leveraging its full value. Emerging regimes for data sharing and payments flexibility have the potential to bypass traditional financial sector development and give poor customers better products and more choices.Blog