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Applying the Minimum Economic Recovery Standards in Lebanon

The Minimum Economic Recovery Standards (MERS) handbook provides a framework to analyze the basic requirements for financial service providers working in crisis environments such as Lebanon.

The Arab World in Crisis: How Should Donors & Investors Respond?

Donors and investors focusing on financial inclusion in the Arab World are determining how to adapt their approaches given the level of crisis in the region. It's a complicated issue, but many organizations have provided resources to aid decisionmaking.

Investing in MENA’s Entrepreneurs: What is Really Needed?

A recent study by Wamda Research Lab highlights challenges preventing startups in the Middle East and North Africa from growing. One of the obstacles is access to appropriate funding.

10 Things You May Not Know about Postal Networks

Postal networks have undertaken major transformations. They are increasingly leveraging their branch networks to play a role in financial services, and many are emerging as important gateways for financial inclusion of the world's poor.

What did we Learn from the Moroccan Microcredit Crisis?

The Moroccan microcredit crisis of 2009 reveals several lessons for countries in similar situations.

Can Islamic Banking Offer Some Lessons to Islamic Microfinance?

The journey of Islamic banking may offer some lessons - including product diversity - to Islamic microfinance.

Sharia-Compliant Finance for MSMEs in Algeria

Since many youth in Algeria are reluctant to use financial products that charge interest (a violation of Islamic financial principles), the Algerian government set out to to make available a Sharia-compliant product that is both affordable and scalable.

Islamic Microfinance in Yemen: Challenges and Opportunities

In an effort to foster hope and stability among Yemen’s poor, who have been disproportionately affected by the country’s turmoil, Al-Amal Microfinance Bank is working to introduce a range of Sharia-compliant microfinance products aimed at reaching the unbanked.

Islamic Microfinance And Clients: See What I Do, Not What I Say

Muslim microfinance clients often insist on Sharia-compliant products. However, when offered, many clients try the products and then go back to conventional products. Others shun the Islamic offerings altogether. Why this disconnect between what people say and what they do?

The Arab Spring: An Opportunity For Financial Inclusion?

This post kicks off a special series on regional reflections for 2012. The end of 2011 was undeniably a momentous time across the Arab World with uprisings first emerging in Tunisia and Egypt and then spreading to Libya, Yemen, and Syria. Expectations of 2012 were high as old regimes were discarded and new governments brought with them hopes of more equitable societies and opportunities for all, including in particular the region’s large numbers of young people. New governments have been scrambling to enact reforms that will appease the hopes of the now vocal and restless street, while trying to create democracies in a region with limited experience in democratic processes.

Exclusion Costs: Financial Inclusion in the Arab World

Arab policymakers, who long regarded microfinance as charity for the poor, are realizing that a financial system that serves only 20 percent of the population is a key ingredient in the recipe for political instability.

Hopes for More Financial Inclusion in the Arab World

For the Arab World, 2011 was historic. The year brought much hope and a sense of opportunity as Arabs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Gulf saw the possibility of a future without dictatorship, corruption and hypocrisy – the reasons underlying the poverty, unemployment, and political grievances which sparked the Arab Spring.

From Arab Spring to Real Opportunities for the Poor

Microfinance industries in the region have been supported by governments as a form of benevolent neglect.

The Arab Spring: Risks and Opportunities

If more enabling operating environments are the opportunity of the Arab Spring, let’s bet practitioners will deploy innovative ways to offer financial access to those who need it most.

MSME, MSME, and MSME…

Regionally, MSMEs account for more than 40% of private-sector employment, yet in many MENA countries they lack access to finance, opportunities to market their products, and effective business development services.

Microcredit in a Changing Region

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been facing a series of unprecedented events in 2011, resulting in a great deal of change after over three decades of stagnant political dictatorship, uneven economic growth, and increased poverty.

New Policy Framework for Inclusive Finance in Jordan

In January 2005, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC) in Jordan formed a Microfinance Committee to prepare, with technical support from CGAP and through a consultative and participatory process, the first national strategy for microfinance in the Arab world.

Microfinance Regulation in Post Revolution Tunisia

The need for a new microfinance law came up at a recent conference in Tunisia.

Microfinance Policy Forum for the Arab World

The Forum is a unique opportunity for officials from central banks and government ministries from across the Arab world to exchange experiences and knowledge with peers.