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Revitalizing the Self-Help Group Movement in India

Growth of the self-help group movement in India has slowed in the past five years. How can challenges be overcome to improve and revitalize these programs?

Gender & Geography: Women-Owned SMEs in the Middle East

Women entrepreneurs in the Middle East face greater challenges than men in trying to access financial services. Providing women-owned SMEs with specific types of support will work to promote inclusive economic growth in the region.

Can Smartphones Help the Poorest Escape Extreme Poverty?

Trickle Up is piloting a project integrating smartphones into Graduation programs in India, affording a valuable opportunity to explore the potential role of technology in improving and scaling the delivery of the Graduation approach to ultrapoor women in remote areas.

What Do We Mean When We Talk About Empowerment?

What do we mean when we say a woman is empowered? How can progress toward empowerment be measured?

Enhancing Financial Inclusion for Women in Nigeria

Even though Nigeria has a higher level of financial inclusion than Sub-Saharan Africa across three of five indicators, the gender gap in Nigeria is higher. What can be done to lower the barriers to female financial inclusion?

Catalyzing Women’s Financial Inclusion: The Role of Data

For governments, the collection of sex-disaggregated data begins
 a virtuous cycle, where its availability informs stronger, evidence-based policymaking and helps regulators evaluate the effectiveness of policies intended to promote financial inclusion.

Policy into Practice: Zambia Advances Women’s Financial Inclusion

What can stakeholders do to facilitate women’s access to finance? How can they ensure that women can participate in the economy without facing constraints and barriers limiting their success?

5 Ways Digital Payments can Bring Women into the Economy

When women are locked out of the formal economy, development suffers and growth stagnates. Wiping out gender discrimination in financial access is not easy, but certainly incorporating more digital tools can help bridge the gap between men and women.

What Excludes Women from Formal Finance in the Arab States?

Women are less than half as likely as men to have an account in the Arab world. Why such a dismal record?

Why Women Self-Help Group Members Make for Good Bank Agents

Pilot projects that train women self-help group members as bank agents in rural areas in India are proving to be promising.

Banking on Change: Enabling Women’s Access to Financial Services

Women face barriers in proving their identity, traveling to a bank, opening an account, and building a credit score that all contribute to the gender gap in access to financial services.

How Hard Is It to Use Mobile Money as a Rural Bangladeshi Woman?

Women in Bangladesh have one of the lowest rates of mobile money usage in the world. Does the dearth of usage indicate a lack of appropriate products and services? Just how hard is it to use mobile money if you are a rural Bangladeshi woman?

False Neutrality: Ensuring Policies and Regulations Benefit Women

It's possible that financial regulations can be crafted in ways to increase and improve the quality of financial inclusion for women.

Mind the Gap: Women and Access to Finance

The Global Findex reveals a glaring gap between women and men when it comes to financial access. With all of the global progress, why would a gender gap persist?

Lessons on Customer Empowerment from Women in Rural India

CGAP is seeking to answer questions and test ideas that explore the concept of empowerment and the role it can play in building customer trust and confidence.

Digital Finance in Bangladesh: Where are all the Women?

Bangladesh has long been a success story for women’s financial inclusion, but in terms of digital finance, the story is very different.

Working with The Poorest Women in Pakistan

The design firm Continuum Innovation found that simplified ATM receipts and photographic instructions helped poor women in Pakistan access their money with more confidence.

Literacy a Hidden Hurdle to Financial Inclusion

Literacy is often a hidden hurdle to bringing financial inclusion to the unbanked. This means that the onus is on the designer of financial systems to make sure clients can use them confidently.

Banking on Including Women in Nigeria

In Nigeria, Diamond Bank is using customer insights to design and market a new savings product for women.

Advancing Financial Inclusion for Women in Africa

This blog discusses what role policy makers and regulators can play to advance financial inclusion for women in Africa.