Featured Research
The world faces urgent challenges as risks intensify and interconnect, amplifying vulnerabilities, especially for low-income populations and small and medium enterprises (MSEs). If left unaddressed, these vulnerabilities can create ripple effects with national, regional, and global consequences. This paper highlights the importance of inclusive finance as an indispensable component of resilience responses, and calls on everyone working on increasing resilience to leverage inclusive finance to enhance the reach, speed, and impact of their work.
Cash transfers are among the most effective tools for social protection but delivering them in fragile contexts remains a major challenge due to interruptions in financial sector development efforts, limited government capacity, and difficulties reaching remote communities. This paper presents ways that social protection funders can invest to achieve outcomes for both programs and recipients.
As climate-related shocks become more frequent, communities need access to finance that helps them cope with and recover from damage and loss, yet current efforts to strengthen financial systems’ resilience often overlook the importance of inclusion. This paper outlines how governments and funders can foster inclusive financial systems that enhance climate adaptation and resilience.
We cannot tackle climate change effectively without inclusive financial services. CGAP outlines five areas for collaborative action between stakeholders working on climate change and those working on inclusive finance in order to leverage inclusive finance to scale grassroots climate action.
Featured Podcast Episodes & Videos
In this episode, we travel to Bangladesh to speak with two farmers who are fighting to protect their homes and livelihoods from storms, flooding, and rising sea levels. We also hear from MicroSave Consulting and CGAP about the potential role financial tools can play in bringing hope, resilience, and lasting change to climate-vulnerable communities.
Lebanon’s 2019 crisis plunged many into poverty. In 2021, the World Bank launched a $246M social safety net, and the Government of Lebanon, with Siren Associates, developed DAEM—a digital platform for social assistance. In this episode, we hear from key players about how collaboration made DAEM a success and how, even in crisis, solutions can go beyond relief to build a more inclusive financial system.
Typhoon Rai made landfall in the Philippines in December 2021, killing over 400 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage. With such extreme weather events becoming more common due to climate change, financial services can make households more resilient and adaptive. What is the role of insurance and other financial services in climate change mitigation and adaptation?
Green technologies—like solar panels and clean cookstoves—have the potential to transform lives and protect the planet but remain out of reach for many in developing economies. Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) hold immense promise in enabling the adoption of green technologies. But how do VCMs work, and how can financial services support more inclusive carbon markets?
In June 2025, CGAP convened nearly 200 global decisionmakers in Amsterdam involved in global resilience responses for a Symposium titled, “Rethinking Resilience: Why Inclusive Finance Can’t Wait”. In this bonus episode of Inclusive Finance Frontiers, hear from participants interviewed on the sidelines of the Symposium on how inclusive finance tools—such as savings, credit, insurance, and digital payments—can strengthen resilience for those most at risk and drive sustainable development.