Recent Blogs
Young Women Speak: Lessons on Inclusive Finance from Ghana & Tanzania
Based on research and experimentation in Ghana and Tanzania, CGAP identified three opportunities for providers and funders to help close the gender gap that widens between ages 15–24. Broaden on-ramps to the financial system, prioritize secure savings over credit, and protect young women’s financial gains with better life and health insurance.
Tailored and Systemic: Navigating Climate Risks With Market-Aligned Responses
Climate risks pose challenges for vulnerable communities, FSPs, and their supporters. Understanding these risks—and how public and private actors can respond—is key to advancing climate adaptation and building resilience.
Savings at the Pump: Financing Solar Irrigation to Support Rural Women
Solar water pumps can be a sustainable, low-cost solution for irrigating farms. Asset financing from organizations like PEG Africa could help more women to obtain these cost- and time-saving tools.
How Ghana’s New Digital Finance Policy Can Drive Women’s Inclusion
Ghana launched the world's first digital finance policy earlier this year. Here are five ways the new policy can be implemented to help Ghana close its gender gap in financial inclusion.
Ghana Launches World’s First Digital Finance Policy Amid COVID-19
While the new policy has been years in the making, the government hopes the policy will support its measures to leverage digital financial services in its COVID-19 response.
African Digital Credit Goes West
Digital credit is emerging in West Africa. Despite early reports of low default rates, consumer protection policies will be key to avoiding problems witnessed in East Africa.
Building Rural Digital Ecosystems, One Small Payment at a Time
New research shows that digitizing everyday payments as person-to-person transfers can be a sustainable way for providers to reach customers in rural areas.
How Ghana Became One of Africa’s Top Mobile Money Markets
Mobile money account ownership tripled in Ghana from 2014 to 2017, making the country one of the fastest growing mobile money markets in Africa. How? Smart regulations played a key role.
Building Rural Digital Ecosystems: A New Role for Agribusinesses?
Bringing digital finance to the rural poor will require financial services providers to work more creatively with agribusinesses that have extensive experience serving last-mile clients.
Pay-as-You-Drink: Digital Finance and Smart Water Service
A pilot in Ghana is showing that the pay-as-you-go solar model can be adapted to change how water is delivered to poor customers.
FinTech Partnerships: Choose Carefully, Then Evolve
FinTech startups in developing markets are leveraging partnerships to reach customers as diverse as women's savings groups, dairy cooperatives and smallholder farmers.
FinTech for the Poor: Not All Virtual, Not All Apps
FinTech isn't always about rolling out a dazzling new smartphone app. In places where USSD phones are the norm, it means something quite different.
Mapping Africa’s Latest Innovations in Digital Finance
CGAP received nearly 200 proposals from digital financial services providers across Africa interested in piloting new products. A look at those proposals — from 30 countries — shows that innovations are spreading beyond hot spots like Kenya.
Can User-Friendly Payment Methods Improve Repayment Rates?
When PEG Africa piloted more user-friendly mobile payment methods for its pay-as-you-go solar customers, users started paying more often and in significantly higher amounts than other customers.
What Keeps People from Paying with Their Phones?
To find out why more people aren't going digital in Ghana, CGAP partnered with pay-as-you-go solar company PEG Africa and mobile network operator Tigo Ghana.
Daily Energy Payments Powering Digital Finance in Ghana
New evidence from Ghana suggests that pay-as-you-go solar customers are becoming more active mobile money users.
Future of Mobile Money for Cocoa Farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana
New research from the World Cocoa Foundation explores the potential of mobile money to enhance cocoa farmers’ livelihoods in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and paints a detailed persona of customers at the frontier of widespread adoption.
The Role of Financial Services in Reducing Hunger
Many of the world's 1.5 billion smallholder farmers lack access to basic financial services, leaving them vulnerable to shocks and prone to low-risk, low-return investments. Improving access to financial services can help farmers increase household income and food security.
How Ghana Set Its Rules on Interest Payment on e-Money Accounts
Soon, customers in Ghana will earn interest on their mobile money wallets. How did Ghana do it differently than Tanzania, the first country where a mobile money service paid out interest?