Recent Blogs
Paying for School: 6 Insights for Better Financial Services
The inability to pay fees and other education expenses keeps many children out of school. What is the extent of these challenges, who is affected and what kinds of financial services could help?
Digital Social Payments in India: Can the Challenges Be Overcome?
Envisioned as a digital revolution for government transfers, India's Direct Benefit Transfer program transfers government benefits into recipients' bank accounts. Three years in, the government continues to face challenges in digitizing transfers. Is there a way forward?
Pakistan’s Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion
Pakistan has the second worst gender gap in the world, an imbalance reflected in the country’s financial inclusion numbers. What are the specific causes of women's financial exclusion, and what are potential solutions?
PMJDY: Commendable Growth, Yet Low-Hanging Barriers Persist
Two years ago, India launched a national financial inclusion program known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) which aims for at least one bank account for every household. Has there been any real impact of PMJDY on financial inclusion?
Mobile Money in Bangladesh Plateaus after Fast Start
Mobile money in Bangladesh had a fast start. However, recent data show that while use is still increasing, the rate of growth in transaction value and volume is tapering off. Researchers analyzed a number of possible explanations for this trend.
An Indian Start for Digital Credit
In India, loans often require extensive application processes or participation in a joint liability group. A pioneering digital loan provided by Suvidhaa Infoserve and Axis Bank is changing the financial services landscape.
Reducing Malnutrition through the Graduation Approach
BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) program employs the Graduation Approach, through which participant households receive income-generating assets and training on business development, nutrition and social development. Researchers examined the effects of TUP on nutritional outcomes in Bangladesh, and results have been promising.
Want to Improve Customer Experience? Here’s Your Playbook
A delightful customer experience–rooted in a deep understanding of customer needs–is key for any FSP looking to increase use of services among low-income customers. Where to start, and how to do it effectively? A new Customer Experience Playbook offers insights.
Fierce Competition for India’s Newly Minted Small Finance Banks
The landscape of India’s financial sector is changing rapidly. New small finance bank (SFB) licenses present new possibilities and challenges for financial service providers in the Indian market.
Five Fresh Facts from the Smallholder Diaries
How are smallholder families managing their money? What challenges do they face? What financial solutions can help? CGAP’s Financial Diaries with Smallholder Households ("Smallholder Diaries”) spent a year with 270 farming families in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Pakistan to find out.
India's Regulator to do More on Inclusion and Innovation
Following a year of well-documented progress toward financial inclusion, the Reserve Bank of India took more steps in December 2015 that appear innovation-friendly.
Salam: Both a Greeting & Innovative Agricultural Financing Option
For over 6 million smallholder farmers in Pakistan, financing options are extremely limited. The Wasil Foundation, winner of the 2013 Islamic Microfinance Challenge, offers an alternative to traditional financing that enables farmers to build assets and sustainable livelihoods.
Four Ways to Boost the Impact of India’s Direct Benefit Transfers
The Indian government is digitizing payments to beneficiaries of government subsidies, seeking to build a digital payment connection with every Indian household. How can these payments be combined with other efforts to help pull people out of poverty?
Introducing the Graduation Approach in India’s Jharkhand State
An interview with Bishnu C Parida, on how the government of India is integrating the Graduation Approach into its work with the extreme poor.
The Graduation Approach: What’s Next on the Research Agenda?
Results from an in-depth impact study on the Graduation Approach were strong. As Graduation programs are scaled up in India, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and elsewhere, what should researchers study next?
5 Ways to Improve Customer Experience for the Poor
CGAP offers five insights on improving customer experience for the poor, in ways that are game-changing, yet profitable.
Can a Good Customer Experience for the Poor Benefit Business?
Is it important that financial service providers (FSPs) provide a good customer experience when serving poor, underbanked customers? Evidence says "yes," but this is often overlooked by FSPs.
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.
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?