At Women’s World Banking, we are dedicated to building evidence on the relationship between women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment. Our definition of financial inclusion goes beyond access; it encompasses the choice to access a full suite of responsibly delivered financial services and the capability to use them effectively. Over
This report highlights the critical role of women’s financial resilience in fostering their long-term financial empowerment. With a focus on rural women under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) scheme, the report underscores how microinsurance adoption is key to building financial security in India. India’s Insurance Ambition: ‘Insurance for
For over a decade, Women’s World Banking Asset Management (WAM) has been leading the charge in gender lens investing (GLI). Our mission is to enhance gender diversity within our portfolio companies’ customer bases and workforces. By collaborating closely with our portfolio companies, we have implemented strategies to reach more women customers
In this policy brief, Women’s World Banking reviews the landscape of sex-disaggregated data and offers recommendations for the Indonesian Government to enhance its collection, management, and use. The focus is on leveraging supply-side sex-disaggregated data from the financial sector to meet regulatory objectives and promote women’s financial inclusion. Globally, financial
Women-led businesses account for 28% of businesses globally but face significant challenges in accessing credit, growing their enterprises, and overcoming legal, social, and financial barriers. This policy diagnostic outlines key approaches aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs, particularly in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The report presents case studies from
Beneath Nigeria’s vibrant marketplaces, women micro-entrepreneurs navigate a complex financial landscape. 70% of trading in Nigerian markets is carried out by women (IFC), but despite their significant economic contributions, these women remain underappreciated, often overlooked by financial institutions—at their own risk. In 2022, Women’s World Banking collaborated with three Nigerian
India’s progress in Digital Public Infrastructure and the India Stack has accelerated financial inclusion dramatically, achieving in six years what might have otherwise taken decades. Building on this momentum, women-led development has emerged as a crucial component of India’s strategy for sustainable growth, aligning with the goals of the Pradhan
Transforming Lives Through Women’s Financial Inclusion Introducing the 2023 Impact Report. Women’s World Banking is a global non-profit organization with a mission to address the financial exclusion of the 1 billion women who remain underserved by the formal financial sector. For decades, financial exclusion has been a barrier to women’s
As we commemorate World Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) Day, we honor the instrumental contributions of MSMEs, especially those led by women in driving economic growth and social progress. These businesses are crucial in income generation and job creation by fostering economic resilience within their communities. Women-led MSMEs, in
Women’s engagement with financial services leads to their greater economic empowerment, including greater control over financial decisions and increased independence. However, three-quarters of the world’s women are still excluded from financial services. In Indonesia, rural women are among the most financially unserved and underserved populations. Women alone make up 63.8%
Women’s World Banking is explaining the Five Insights on Enhancing Credit Fairness. One of the least expensive ways financial institutions can increase their credit portfolio profitability is by improving the accuracy of their approval mechanisms. “Reject inference” techniques help financial institutions to do just that, with implications for offering credit
In this Policy Brief we explore the challenges faced by women in accessing and utilizing financial products and services in developing economies. Globally, approximately 750 million women lack access to financial services, highlighting persistent barriers despite advancements in financial inclusion. Women often exhibit lower levels of financial literacy and
Financial products and services are crucial for empowering women financially, yet rapid innovation and digitalization pose risks, especially for those with low digital financial capability. Women often receive lower quality services or none at all due to societal norms. Vulnerable populations, particularly low-income women and rural communities, face amplified risks
This Policy Diagnostic on Women in Leadership underscores the importance of gender diversity in leadership positions within the financial sector and highlights persistent disparities in women’s representation. While research demonstrates the positive impact of women in top roles on financial performance, achieving gender parity remains a distant goal. Women’s World
In an increasingly digitalized world, policymakers and regulators hold a critical role in advancing digital financial inclusion, particularly for women. Recognizing the pivotal role of financial capability and digital literacy, policymakers are urged to prioritize the development of women’s digital financial capability (DFC) to foster the widespread adoption of digital
Women’s financial well-being requires agency, and a gender lens on financial well-being is critical to ensuring it is a relevant outcome for women. Financial well-being and related concepts like financial health, financial security, and resilience are gaining prominence as important outcomes of financial services access and use. Getting these interconnected
This toolkit is designed to empower financial service providers in refining and enhancing their digital credit solutions to better serve low-income women, particularly micro-entrepreneurs. Providers will be equipped with strategies to design and implement initiatives aimed at improving access to credit for women, addressing the unique challenges they face in
By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, and Mehrdad Mirpourian, Senior Data Analyst The discussion around artificial intelligence (AI) as a driving force for the economy and society has become increasingly popular, as evidenced by more than two dozen AI-focused sessions at the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos.
Credit has always been a fundamental part of both formal and informal financial services. In the last three decades, however, the exponential growth in data and computing power has led to new ways of assessing creditworthiness. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have opened up the possibility of scoring
Report can be downloaded at the end of this article. When women have access to savings accounts, loans, and digital financial services, they gain greater control over their finances, make informed decisions, and have a safety net during emergencies. Yet, there exists a substantial global opportunity – $700 billion dollars’ worth
A Longitudinal Study of Displaced Ukrainian Women’s Financial and Economic Lives Scroll down to download the report. Financial Inclusion and Financial Displacement for Women in Ukraine. Forced displacement is a harrowing experience that disrupts not only the lives of individuals but also their financial stability, livelihoods, and social networks. This
Scroll down to download the case study. In 2022, the fourth cohort graduated from our Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators (the LDR program). For this case study, we interviewed three participants who share their experience of developing a gender inclusive policy initiative during the program. The LDR program, created
Scroll down to download the report. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the largest reverse in poverty since the Second World War. The UN estimates that at least 388 million women and girls were living in extreme poverty in 2022. Climate shocks are increasing in frequency, with disproportionate impacts on women.
Scroll down to download the report. India leads the world in the expansion of financial access to low-income people, especially low-income women. As the access challenge is nearly solved, the opportunity financial services providers now face is engaging their customers. Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are uniquely positioned to effect a
Financial inclusion is not an end in itself, but an enabler of other positive financial, economic and social outcomes for groups historically excluded from financial and other services. This diagnostic focuses specifically on women’s financial inclusion in rural areas, including demand-side challenges and customer needs often experienced by women more
Digital financial services (DFS) are rapidly becoming a transformative force in driving financial inclusion and economic growth and empowerment. Low-income women often face specific challenges in accessing financial services, which hinders their economic empowerment. By enabling women’s participation in DFS, we address gender inequality, promote economic participation and bolster overall
In October 2017, Visa Foundation granted $20 million to Women’s World Banking over five years. Immediately prior to receiving the Visa Foundation grant, Women’s World Banking launched an ambitious 10-year strategy to work at a greater scale to achieve greater impact. The Visa Foundation grant was fundamental to the successful
Scroll down to download the research agenda. By 2050, climate change effects are expected to cause the internal displacement of 216 million people (IOM, 2023); sea level rise of multiple feet and associated flooding in New York City and other global coastal cities (Oppenheimer et al., 2019; NY DEC, n.d.);
The World Bank Global Findex Database 2021 reports a gender gap of 6% in account ownership across developing economies. While it is encouraging to see the gender gap fall from 9% over the last ten years, women still constitute a significant proportion of the unbanked population in low and lower
As Women’s World Banking President and CEO, Mary Ellen Iskenderian, puts it: “The global average hides the starker reality of the situation women face. In some countries it will take over 100 years to achieve gender equality in financial access without further intervention.” Even more, the World Economic Forum estimates
2022 proved to be a pivotal year for Women’s World Banking, as we increased our influence and reach across all our activities.
Research from Women’s World Banking and our partners highlights the significant benefits of more women banking agents, both for the Financial Services Providers (FSPs) that employ them and for the women agents themselves. But in order to reap these benefits, FSPs need guidance and support from policymakers when it comes
In Indonesia, five of every ten working-age women are engaged in the workforce compared to nine of every ten working-age men, the largest labor-force participation gap in Southeast Asia. This gap persists despite strong progress in education and health for women in Indonesia. Within leadership positions in the banking and
Until early 2023, 64.2 million MSMEs in Indonesia represented 96% of the labor force. Of these businesses, about two-thirds are women-owned. While not all of these are e-commerce businesses, 24% of MSMEs (~17.5 million MSMEs) have used e-commerce in marketing their products in 2021. This growing sub-segment of Indonesian businesses
Globally, there is a $1.7 trillion credit gap between for women MSMEs. At all points in the lending process–from customer acquisition to retention–there are opportunities to serve women customers better. Women’s World Banking has worked with dozens of financial institutions on their lending processes, successfully increasing representation of women applicants,
Scroll down to download the report. In the last decade, Nigeria’s finance industry has made significant strides in increasing the representation of women. No sector’s success is more quantifiable than that of the banking sector. At the publishing of this report, of Nigeria’s 24 commercial banks, eight have women as
India has made a huge amount of progress in the last-mile delivery of banking services to underserved communities. The opening of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts has provided millions of Indians with access to at least a basic account. Since its launch in 2014, the number of PMJDY
By Nithya Sharma (Women’s World Banking); Carolanne Boughton, and Sasha Polikarpova (Baringa) The impact of climate change is reverberating around the world, with increasing frequency and severity of weather events, rising temperatures, and loss of biodiversity. While multilateral governance bodies including the United Nations emphasize that the world’s wealthiest countries,
By Dr. Megan Dwyer Baumann and Dr. Sonja Kelly Download the report at the end of the blog. In late February 2022, Ukrainians left their homes as Russia invaded, preparing to flee to neighboring countries like Poland, Moldova, and Romania. To date, there have been nearly 12 million border crossings
Women face significant barriers when it comes to accessing credit, largely due to the fact that they are less likely than men to own fixed assets such as land or property. Fixed assets are commonly used as collateral in traditional lending models, which puts women at a disadvantage. Compounding this
For Women’s World Banking, 2021 marked a year of scale and expanded impact. Our new structure reflects our mission to advance financial inclusion as a global and advocacy-focused organization: Global Client Services expands our in-market presence and builds capabilities and decision-making authority in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, and Mexico.
Six Insights from the 2021 World Bank Global Findex Data By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research & Advocacy For those of us in the financial inclusion world, the release of the Global Findex is a pivotal moment. The data are typically compiled every three years – this time, due to Covid,
Indonesia has the largest number of Muslims of any country in the world, at 237 million. In recent years, the national Government of Indonesia and some of its province-level governments have shown interest in increasing the availability of Sharia-compliant financial products and services for Indonesians. Indonesia aims to reach 90
Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a significant role in Indonesia’s economy, accounting for 61% of its gross domestic product. An even smaller segment—ultra-micro businesses—is helping drive economic growth, as well. Since 2017, Pusat Investasi Pemerintah (PIP), an Indonesian government agency, has disbursed loans to 5.4 million ultra-micro entrepreneurs,
Given COVID-19’s economic impact, this study is timely. The labour market force is shifting as employers reduce their workforce and childcare needs at home increase. Women’s livelihoods have changed. It is more critical now than ever to harness the power of digital platforms for women’s economic empowerment. This report summarizes
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Andy Woolnough, Global Head of Advocacy at Women’s World Banking, and Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, discussed the importance of male allyship in breaking gender biases in the workplace and creating more inclusive environments for women to thrive. Watch the full video
SME Finance Forum and Women’s World Banking’s hosted panel explores how financial service providers can leverage business support services to empower women-led businesses with the skills, networks, and resources needed to reach their growth potential. For micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), monetary support is not the sole determinant of
As part of our Leadership & Diversity programs, Women’s World Banking tracks the career paths of high-potential women leaders, both to enhance our future program offerings for new generations of leaders and to share their experiences with others. With funding support from Credit Suisse, Women’s World Banking conducted case study
This report provides an analysis of the levels of financial awareness, financial behaviors, and economic empowerment of women factory workers in Cambodia. The findings are based on a survey of 2,781 female research participants, a majority of whom are migrants from rural or remote areas and all of whom are
Women’s World Banking’s work with women customers as well as relevant literature in the field, shows that women who save are better positioned to support their families, weather emergencies, take advantage of economic opportunities, and build their businesses. In this study, we collected and analyzed data to better understand why
Nearly two years into the pandemic, the economic shocks of COVID-19 are still felt across the globe and particularly by women, who have been disproportionately affected by the crisis. In 2020, Women’s World Banking amplified its efforts to create greater economic stability and security for low-income women, adapting and innovating
This is the first in a three-part series examining a fresh approach to digital remittances in Indonesia. By Angela Ang, Elwyn Panggabean, and Ker Thao In Asia, Indonesia has the second largest migrant population, with international migrant workers comprising a large portion of the economy. There are approximately 4.5 million
Applying Angrist and Imbens’ research methodologies enable Women’s World Banking to explore the impacts of its products and solutions on women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment across the globe in the context of real-world conditions By Sonja Kelly (Director of Research & Advocacy) and Justin Archer (Global Research Lead, Quantitative)
Today we celebrate Day of the Girl, because every young woman carries with her the potential to change the world and drive economies that prosper. Donate today and help us continue to honor International Day of the Girl through our youth savings work: Women’s World Banking is proud to work
Women’s World Banking’s first industry report in India highlights the design of its unique ‘Jan Dhan Plus’ solution, and learnings from a subsequent pilot study that helped nurture regular savings behavior among low-income women in the country. To understand women’s savings behaviors, Women’s World Banking worked with Bank of Baroda,
The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has recently launched the Inclusive Digital Economies and Gender Equality Playbook. This playbook is a practical how-to guide on leveraging the market system development approach to decrease the digital and financial divide for women and girls, use technology to improve women’s economic opportunities,
Women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment are critical building blocks in development. Between now and 2030, the target date for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the inclusion of women in the financial sector and their economic engagement and empowerment will unlock major milestones on the road to a more
In 2020 and 2021, Women’s World Banking conducted exploratory research — both qualitative and quantitative — to map the linkages between women’s financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment in Indonesia. Grounded in an analysis of norms governing women’s agency, ability to enact preferences, bargaining power, and financial independence, this resulting
Mexico’s 6.3 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) generate nearly half of Mexico’s GDP and employ 37 percent of the workforce. Of MSMEs, 94.2 percent are microenterprises, and over half of these are women-owned or women-led. Despite this segment’s dominance in the economy, the majority of MSMEs transactions are
Over the last six years, Women’s World Banking has supported leaders of financial service providers (FSPs) through our Leadership & Diversity for Innovation Program (LDIP). The LDIP seeks to develop the skills of senior executives and high-potential women leaders to enable them to successfully serve low-income women, while charting a
Women around the world are less likely to own fixed assets than men. They are also are less likely to access credit for their businesses, resulting in an often cited $17 billion credit gender gap among entrepreneurs. And when they do get credit, they are given smaller loans than their
Mexico’s burgeoning micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) customer segment needs stronger financial products and services. Over the last decade, the Unique Registry of Gaurantees (RUG) in Mexico has sought to meet this need, with limited success. The RUG is Mexico’s current record to establish, protect, and mobilize movable collateral
A Q & A with Sonja Kelly of Women’s World Banking and Alex Rizzi of CFI, building on Women’s World Banking’s report and CFI’s report on algorithmic bias It seems conversations around biased AI have been around for some time. Is it too late to address this? Alex: It’s just
By Marina Dimova, Managing Director of Design and Innovation, Women’s World Banking and Julia Arnold, Senior Research Director, Women’s Financial Inclusion, Center for Financial Inclusion Informed and empowered men and women make fewer risky financial decisions than those with less knowledge. And for a low-income woman, having the right knowledge
By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, and Mehrdad Mirpourian, Senior Data Analyst Not everything that matters can be measured. The data surrounding financially marginalized groups is sparse. This lack of data limits financial service providers and policymakers’ ability to design for women’s needs. However, many significant issues, like
In May 2020, Women’s World Banking conducted its first remote research during the Covid-19 pandemic with 44 beneficiaries, PKH facilitators, and bank agents across 11 districts of Indonesia. The research reveals that further efforts are needed to ensure beneficiaries have critical information about the program to support their financial planning and
With support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and in partnership with the International Labour Organization, Women’s World Banking assessed the awareness, use, and acceptance of digital wage payments among enterprises and workers in the Philippines. The Philippines’ thriving digital economy and proliferation of new digital solutions,
The impact of COVID-19 has hit women and girls hard. The World Bank reports that 2021 will bring the first increase in extreme poverty since 1998, with a minimum of 71 million people expected to fall into destitution, and UN Women estimates that at least 47 million more women and girls will fall below the
Financial inclusion is becoming more and more digital. To accelerate this journey to digitization, and not let women customers be left even further behind, we need to ensure policymakers and financial service providers focus on effectively supporting women customers build their digital financial capabilities, so they can use digital financial services with ease and confidence. This report
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are changing financial services offerings to customers across the globe. Historically, women have been the victims of unconscious bias in lending decisions. Algorithm-enabled credit decisions have the potential to create a level playing field for female customers worldwide—but only if we find and mitigate biases
2021 will be a crucial year for women to build their financial resilience and begin recovering from the setbacks created by COVID-19. According to a recent McKinsey report, women globally are twice as likely to experience job loss due to the pandemic, despite making up only 39% of total employment.
Women’s World Banking’s global network of financial service providers (FSPs) champions women’s financial inclusion in their local markets, shares best practices, and leverages expertise in inclusive economies. Never has this community of practice been more important to women’s economic empowerment than now, particularly with the COVID-19 pandemic creating adverse economic
By Victoria Johnson, Research Associate and Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy Investing in women is smart business. Data shows that having women leaders improves financial performance, increases sales, leads to better decision-making, and creates a more inclusive corporate culture. On the other hand, women customers are often underserved,
Why do we focus on women as both leaders and customers? Organizations that invest in women leaders invest in women clients. With this connection between women leaders and customers in mind, Women’s World Banking conducted an in-depth case study of AMK Cambodia, or Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea Co., one of the
By Jennifer Iwueze, Women’s World Banking Research Specialist Among Nigerian consumers, spending on e-commerce currently accounts for an estimated $12 billion per year. By 2025, that spending is projected to swell to $75 billion in annual revenues. Numerous factors are driving significant growth in this sector, including an increase in
By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, and Mehrdad Mirpourian, Senior Data Analyst Women’s World Banking is starting on a journey to find out if data can predict the future of women’s economic empowerment—and we’d like you to follow along. The task is daunting, even for a team of
By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, Women’s World Banking One of the most elusive questions in financial inclusion is how to facilitate growth of small businesses—and particularly of women-owned businesses. With this question in mind, in 2016 Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Women’s World Banking set out on
Women’s World Banking partnered with Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) from 2016 to 2019 to optimize financial and business support services for women-led micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya. An accompanying research effort evaluated the effectiveness of program implementation and the resulting outcomes for KCB’s MSME customers, especially women.
By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, Women’s World Banking Bias happens. It is widely discussed across the world as different industries use machine learning and artificial intelligence to increase efficiency in their processes. I’m sure you’ve seen the headlines. Amazon’s hiring algorithm systematically screened out women candidates. Microsoft’s
By Ana Maria Prieto Mrs. Ana Maria Prieto is currently Deputy Director at the Unit of Financial Regulation of Colombia where she has actively worked on the design and implementation of the strategy of financial inclusion and of financial education in Colombia. She was a panelist on the Making Finance
This is cross-posted from DC Fintech Week where our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian spoke on the panel “Building Equity into Start-Ups: Lessons from Women in Fintech.” We also want to congratulate our winners from our Making Finance Work for Women Fintech Innovation Challenge 2020 winners, Tyme and myAgro! Co-Authors: Mary Ellen Iskenderian,
This post is provided by the Better than Cash Alliance, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), in support of the Making Finance Work for Women Summit’s Ask the Experts session “Driving the Potential of Digitized Wages” in which Marjo Chaintreau, Private Sector Digital Innovation Lead, Better Than Cash Alliance UNCDF, served as
By Sophie Theis, Victoria Johnson, Rahmi Yunaningsih, and Elwyn Panggabean Indonesia’s Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) was uniquely positioned to rapidly modify its conditional cash transfer program in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. As government-to-person (G2P) payment programs around the world adjust to accommodate the reality of the pandemic, Women’s
By Sophie Theis, Qualitative Research Specialist at Women’s World Banking Qualitative user research (also known as UX or user experience research) is a suite of strategies and methods that are essential in our work to design financial services for low-income women in emerging markets. User research infuses the design process
Women’s economic empowerment will be essential for a global economic recovery. Given pre-existing gender gaps, there are concerns about exclusion for many of the social assistance programs already being rolled out around the world. Social protection systems that ignore gender inequality will likely fail to mitigate the risks of COVID-19
Financial institutions and governments have been working for years to leverage digitized G2P for women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment. COVID-19 has increased the stakes, as governments look to use G2P programs to strengthen women’s resilience. New research from Women’s World Banking offers insights on Indonesia’s PKH program, the country’s largest conditional cash transfer. Click here to download the
By Sophie Theis, Giudy Rusconi, Elwyn Panggabean, Sonja Kelly Women’s World Banking’s research shows government-to-person payments, if well-designed, hold potential for women’s economic empowerment and inclusion in Indonesia. With Covid-19, the stakes are even higher. For more than a decade, the financial inclusion community has recognized the potential of digitizing
By Nithya Sharma, Manager, Strategy, at Women’s World Banking Over the past decade, Vietnam’s economy has been surging – with strong GDP growth, a reduction in poverty, and an increase in formal employment to 30% of the active labor force.[1] Vietnam also has a thriving digital economy, with a regulatory
By Mehrdad (Mehi) Mirpourian, Senior Data Analyst, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, at Women’s World Banking “There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.” – Albert Camus, The Plague Introduction Businesses function in environments that are agile and hard
With support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and in partnership with the International Labour Organization, Women’s World Banking assessed the awareness, use and acceptance of digital wage payments among enterprises and workers in Vietnam. The resulting study includes an analysis of the financial behaviors and attitudes
By Giudy Rusconi, Specialist, Quantitative Research and Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, Women’s World Banking Financial institutions provide a literal lifeline for many of their hundreds of millions of clients around the world, and never more so than now. As Covid-19 spreads to more low- and middle-income countries,
By Marina Dimova, Managing Director of Design and Innovation and Diana Boncheva Gooley, Manager of Digital Financial Services, Women’s World Banking The Covid-19 global pandemic has heightened the strategic importance of integrating digital channels into how financial services providers engage with customers. How can financial services providers respond to the
By Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President & CEO of Women’s World Banking Covid-19 has laid bare the fault lines of inequality around the world, revealing stark discrepancies in the manner and extent to which people experience the effects of a global pandemic. In the United States this is brought into sharp relief
By Andy Woolnough, Global Head of Advocacy and Ade Ashaye, Executive Vice President, Women’s World Banking This blog was written with the kind support of the Visa Foundation. The impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the global economy will only become fully known in the coming months, as government responses
This report summarizes efforts by Women’s World Banking to answer three key questions: Which value chains in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam represent priority opportunities to develop increased credit offerings for women-owned MSMEs (micro-, small- & medium-sized enterprises) through value chain digitization? What forms of value chain digitization would
This blog summarizes findings from a new Women’s World Banking research report available here. In India and Indonesia, women have long battled a litany of challenges to start and expand their own businesses. Constraints related to low access to capital, restricted mobility, limitations on property rights, time poverty, and gender
Women’s World Banking brought together more than 300 participants from more than 60 countries to hold its most recent edition of the Making Finance Work for Women Summit. Throughout the two days, attendees tackled the social and cultural barriers preventing finance from working for women as well as the wide
With support from Standard Chartered and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Women’s World Banking conducted research in India and Indonesia to investigate the potential of social commerce to advance women entrepreneurs’ financial inclusion.
Key Findings from a Women’s World Banking Literature Review Exploring the Connection Many of us who work to advance women’s access to and use of financial services do so to improve women’s economic empowerment. A clear indicator of women’s lack of empowerment is her exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV).
Gender lens investing (GLI) is interpreted and implemented in many different ways, from investing in women-owned and -led enterprises to investing in enterprises specifically targeting women, and more. Shuyin Tang is a Partner at Patamar Capital, a venture capital firm focused on Series A and Series B investments in South
By H.E. Serey Chea from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC); H.E. Ibu Nurhaida from Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK); Pia Roman, Head Inclusive Finance from The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BsP) The 2017 World Bank’s Global Findex report reveals that true financial inclusion for women has not yet been realized
This post was written in collaboration with CBN In January this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unveiled the revised National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS 2.0). NFIS 2.0 has set a target of a national exclusion rate of 20% by 2020 (down from 46.3% in 2010). In order to
Through the careful analysis of these unfiltered, cognitive interviews, Women’s World Banking is better positioned to understand the reasoning behind the financial decisions that low-income women make.
In April, Women’s World Banking convened policymakers from around the world—including Indonesia—at Oxford University’s Saïd School of Business for a leadership program for regulators focused on the development and promotion of policy initiatives for women and supporting banks in creating a pipeline of women leaders internally. This is not the first time that Women’s World Banking has partnered with regulators in Indonesia to encourage financial inclusion.
The lessons we’ve learned from this work have formed the foundation for our new strategy to advance financial inclusion for women at scale globally.
The gender agnostic approach has gone on for too long, and that needs to change.
India has experienced exponential growth and enacted innovative financial initiatives in recent years, but promising indicators of greater financial inclusion mask a concerning trend. About half of the women in India with personal bank accounts use them in a limited capacity or not at all. Women’s World Banking’s India Strategy
Women’s World Banking undertook research to determine why women aren’t saving actively in a bank and tested prototypes to change that behavior.
Women’s World Banking’s strategy for closing the financial inclusion gender gap in Egypt targets the players and the solutions that will ensure women benefit from, and contribute to, Egypt’s potential for robust growth.
The Central Bank of Nigeria announced that the country would not be meeting its 2020 financial inclusion targets. Nevertheless, developments in biometric ID, regulatory sandbox, industry partnerships and agent network growth are on the horizon to put the country back on track.
Women’s World Banking in 2017: Architects of Financial Inclusion for Women
Initial thoughts on what the data from the just-released Global Findex means for women’s financial inclusion around the world.
On International Women’s Day, read why Australia is committed to advancing gender equality by driving financial inclusion for women.
Emerging data from our projects in Nigeria and Pakistan counters bank leaders’ perception that women aren’t good bank clients.
Make serving the women’s market the New Year’s Resolution that drives your institution’s double bottom-line.
Enabling regulation and competition in Mozambique’s digital finance market bodes well for financial inclusion. Women must be a part of that revolution.
View or download the Research Presentations shared at the Making Finance Work for Women Summit.
One year on, what has the effect of demonetization on India been? Thoughts from our Chief Investment Officer.
How does Data Collection help financial service providers serve low-income women profitably and sustainably?
How does Customer Centricity help financial service providers serve low-income women profitably and sustainably?
Kate Hooper, Executive Vice President, Market Research and Solution Development at Women’s World Banking discussed what India can do to close thegender gap with senior leaders of Credit Suisse India.
Women’s World Banking is pleased to present its 2016 Annual Report in dynamic, digital format.
How has Women’s World Banking impacted the lives of low-income women around the world? Find out in our annual report.
Women’s World Banking was recommended as a partner for the U.S. government in its efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment.
Our new research approach looks at forces at work in women’s lives, allowing us to develop more impactful financial solutions. Take the case of India.
Women’s World Banking used data analysis to counter sales agents’ unconscious biases that were keeping women from accessing financial services.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian on how giving low-income women access to finance can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Our microinsurance director on meeting and hearing the stories of the incredible women our partners serve.
Our Chief Product Development Officer wrote a piece on serving rural women sustainably with financial services for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
Last year, I was invited to be a part of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission which brings together leaders from business, finance, civil society, labor, and international organizations to develop a private sector response to the challenges presented by the Global Goals. Specifically, the Commission has the “twin aims
In its flagship report Better Business, Better World, the Commission recognizes that while the last few decades have lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, they have also led to unequal growth, increasing job insecurity, ever more debt and ever greater environmental risks.
Our President and CEO reflects on what has changed and what has stayed the same since she took the helm of Women’s World Banking in 2006.
On Women’s World Banking’s Gender Performance Initiative, its development and how financial institutions can use this data to improve their service to women.
Our research, monitoring and evaluation specialist is quoted in this piece on what is keeping Southeast Asian women from rising to the top.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian was interviewed as part of Thomson Reuters’ special multi-media feature, “Leaders of Sustainable Development.”
The rise of Southeast Asian economies have not escaped the world’s attention. We’re making sure women are included in the growth of the region.
In this guest post, Sutapa Banerjee argues that India’s new law reinforces gender bias in the workforce more than it counteracts it.
The pilot assessment of our project in Mexico revealed the keys to successful delivery individual lending for women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises.
Women’s World Banking outlines specific recommendations for public and private sector players to address the challenges to women’s financial inclusion.
Women’s World Banking outlines specific recommendations for public and private sector players to address the challenges to women’s financial inclusion.
Our team trained staff at two partner institutions on our research methodology, building their capacity to gather and use insights to better serve women.
Experience our annual report in this dynamic, digital format and learn how we are learning, leading and investing in women’s financial inclusion.
Our President and CEO is proud to introduce our digital annual report for 2015.
A case study on the experience of Nigeria in implementing promising approaches to gender-focused financial inclusion policies.
A case study on the experience of Tanzania in implementing promising approaches to gender-focused financial inclusion policies.
During a recent visit to New York, Viji Das chatted briefly about her work and shared stories of the low-income women she meets in the field.
Our project w/ Diamond Bank in Nigeria is highlighted in this Tech Tank piece.
Our work on the paper “Digital Financial Solutions to Advance Women’s Economic Participation” was highlighted.
Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian was interviewed by ONEArmenia, a for-purpose platform based in Yerevan and New York City
Our guest post for the Microfinance Gateway in honor of International Women’s Day: a lookback and look ahead for women’s financial inclusion.
Women’s World Banking, with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, examined enabling policy and regulatory frameworks for women’s financial inclusion .
There are 10 million women-owned SMEs globally, 30% of the total. 70% are un- or underbanked, presenting a $300 billion market opportunity.
Providing savings for low-income segments is a valuable opportunity for commercial banks. Three CEOs share how they made the strategic decision to serve this market.
Women are a critical part of any business’ growth strategy. Experts from the consumer product industry share how they market to them it better than anyone.
Experts on the value proposition for multinational companies investing in women in the global supply chain and share examples of successful initiatives.
A profile of one of Colombia’s pre-eminent and pioneering microfinance institutions dedicated to women’s financial inclusion.
Women’s World Banking President and CEO co-authored a blog on one of the biggest barriers facing financial access for low-income women: ID’s.
Australia’s Minister for Women welcomed participants at a reception in honor of our CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian.
The Gender Performance Indicators workshop we hosted at the recent Asia Pacific Financial Inclusion Summit was highlighted by our strategic partner, Good Return.
Women’s World Banking, together with The World Bank, the UN-housed Better Than Cash Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation authored the report “Digital Financial Solutions to Advance Women’s Economic Participation” for the Turkish G20 Presidency.
Women’s World Banking conducted research on low-income women at risk for domestic violence in Colombia to see whether savings can bring physical, emotional and psychological well-being, as well as financial security.
New research on women-owned SMEs in Southeast Asia, their barriers to accessing finance and recommendations for stakeholders to overcome barriers and enable access.
Women’s World Banking conducted research to examine the profile of women-owned SMEs in five countries in Southeast Asia, surveyed the landscape of their access to finance and, based on these findings, give recommendations in order for stakeholders to create an enabling financing environment for women.
Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian guestblogged for CFR.org’s Women Around the World blog in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
We blogged for Huffington Post Impact on the progress made on women’s financial inclusion since 1995, the year of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for action.
Highlights from Eyad Nino’s (Microfund for Women, Jordan) “Ask Me Anything” on Women’s World Banking’s exclusive online Leadership Community.
A profile of our Leadership and Diversity for Innovation program which helps financial institutions serving low-income women develop useful, sustainable products to increase women’s financial inclusion.
Norah Prida Bay, CEO of Kitty 10, highlighted our BETA Savings product with Diamond Bank in Nigeria in an article highlighting the gender gap in access to credit.
Thoughts on recent attempts by US financial advisors to tailor messaging so they better appeal to women–something Women’s World Banking has known for years.
Shahida Pervin, Deputy Director of Shakti Foundation for Disadvantaged Women in Bangladesh interviews the founder of the organization, Humaira Islam.
There are millions of low-income people without access to formal financial services who have the opportunity of doing so through their work at factories. How can workplace-based training can accelerate financial inclusion for this population?
Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian was cited in this Ernst & Young report on the barriers to women’s financial inclusion.
Tilman Ehrbeck mentions the roundtable we held this past April on digital savings products for low-income women entitled, “Going Digital: The key to women’s financial inclusion?”
Today, Women’s World Banking is reaching more clients with a greater variety of products than in the past, and are partnering with a greater number and range of institutions to do so.
Women’s World Banking was invited by e-MFP to contribute to this publication and we have shared our lessons learned from implementing a youth savings program in the Dominican Republic with Banco ADOPEM.
Knowledge and Communications Manager Maura Hart shares stories of five women and the success they achieved through access to basic financial services.
Georgetown student Mike Fox reflects on Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian’s visit to the school to discuss the importance of leveraging diverse, cross-sector experience to achieve meaningful outcomes.
Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian is cited on the role of technology regarding the persistent gender gap in financial inclusion globally.
Our new microinsurance director blogs about his shift from managing risk in corporate insurance to developing meaningful insurance for low-income women.
Our goal is to remind our allies and supporters that financial inclusion must include the one billion women that don’t have access to basic financial products and services. The current interventions are working, but mostly for men.
Research Specialist Jaclyn Berfond blogs about Women’s World Banking’s new research agenda, going beyond product studies to exploring new markets, segments and services.
Martina Quirino narrates the story behind the founding of Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Inc (Philippines) and the women leaders behind our network member institution.
Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian was interviewed for an article in The Guardian about closing the persistent gender gap in access to finance.
Volunteer Melisa Nunez reviews the recent webinar Women’s World Banking hosted on best practices in marketing microinsurance based on extensive research and application of these insights.
For individuals, the new year is typically the time to make resolutions and vow to practice new, better habits. For businesses, the new year might be a good time to look for new opportunity.
Associate Susan Gao lists the top themes that emerged in a recent conference on empowering women in agribusiness.
Mobile phone technology can help to bring financial services to the 80 percent of African women who do not have a bank account and bolster the growth of the world’s poorest continent.
Women’s World Banking CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian weighs in on The Economist’s Nov 14 feature on financial inclusion to ask, “what about women?”
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) commissioned Women’s World Banking to conduct research on global practices of financial institutions in serving women-led SMEs and developed recommendations for banks to adopt the best practices.
Women’s World Banking helped network member institutions in Latin America develop loans that meet rural women’s needs and deepen inclusion for the rural market.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian discusses the prevalence of financial access inequality between genders for the Trust Women Conference.
Low-income want to save, can save and need a safe place to save. While creating savings programs for the poor is not easy, we firmly believe that serving women makes business sense. Neither women nor banks can afford to miss this opportunity.
Guest blogger Jisha Francis tells the story of the incredible visionary for women’s rights, Elaben Bhatt, founder of Women’s World Banking network member in India, SEWA Bank.
A woman with a bank account can dream, plan and hope for a better future for herself and for her family. Learn why you should help us bank on her.
In the last three years we have completed 27 research studies on the lives of low-income women; reached 1.2 million clients in 24 financial institutions with new products; and trained more than 200 leaders of financial institutions.
Mobile money is gaining momentum in Tanzania. Would other financial services be able to catch up? Women’s World Banking visited Tanzania in October 2013 to conduct industry and customer research to understand what opportunities exist for mobile banking in Tanzania.
Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian blogged for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Corporate Citizenship Center blog as part of their International Women’s Day 2014 celebration. Here’s an excerpt of the post entitled “The Key to Successfully Banking the Poor: Start with Women”: “That would make us feel
Dexex Impact interviewed Women’s World Banking’s President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian as part of the #SheBuilds campaign. In this interview, she talks about why financial inclusion is so important to women.
Dexex Impact interviewed Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian as part of their #SheBuilds campaign.
With 39 members across 28 countries, Women’s World Banking’s network is often faced with the tremendous challenge of operating in a crisis.
Women’s World Banking Fellow Ramatolie recounts a visit with a male client of network member Microfund for Women in Jordan.
Women’s World Banking financial education lead Cathleen Tobin recaps the low-income salaried employees panel at last November’s “Building Women-Focused Finance” in Amman, Jordan.
Our Senior Associate for Strategy responds to Maria Shriver’s essay on the Atlantic, “The Female Face of Poverty.”
Women’s World Banking guest blogs on NextBillion about the necessity of gender performance measurement in microfinance.
CFR Senior Fellow Isobel Coleman leads a conversation with Mary Ellen Iskenderian of Women’s World Banking and Steve Hollingworth of Freedom from Hunger about how savings are blazing the next frontier in poverty eradication.
We were in Amman, Jordan last week supporting Women’s World Banking’s 2013 Global Forum: Building Women-Focused Finance: The Global-Local Experience. Our first day began with a visit to the Amman headquarters of Microfund for Women (MFW), a Women’s World Banking network member and our gracious local host for the week.
Social inequality and an unequal playing field can translate into a generation’s worth of lost dreams, and sometimes a lack of finances is the only thing standing between the youth and their dreams.
Our travel program recently returned from a ten day trip to India visiting our network members Ananya, FWWB, Ujjivan and SEWA Bank. One of the travelers shares his photo journal.
Women’s World Banking believes that in order to serve women well, we must understand the social, cultural and political context in which they live and the distinct financial needs that they face. And while women’s experiences and needs vary, from the Middle East to South Asia, one common finding is this: women’s work – both domestic and income-generating – is undervalued, if not completely disregarded, especially in rural communities across the world.
Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian saw down for an interview with Yahoo! Finance’s The Daily Ticker blogger Aaron Tusk during the 2013 TEDxWallStreet event.
In an article that ran in the Times on October 28 (“Microcredit for Americans“), Jonathan Morduch made a bold statement, one we were glad to hear: Families in rural Africa are more like U.S. families than everyone wants to believe,” said Jonathan J. Morduch, the executive director of the Financial
The NYSE Big Stage website featured a summary of Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian’s talk at TEDxWallStreet on Wednesday, October 30, 2012. Microfinance is the ideal that small investments to reach those underserved by financial institutions can solve big problems. But Mary Ellen Iskendrian, CEO of
Women’s World Banking is honored to award its 2013 Excellence in Leadership Award to Microfund for Women for championing women’s roles in the success of the organization.
Senior Associate Jaclyn Berfond and Ujjivan CEO and Women’s World Banking board member Samit Ghosh guest blogged for CGAP on the sometimes surprising benefits of measuring an institution’s gender performance.
President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian was interviewed by South Africa’s Financial Mail about Women’s World Banking’s pilot project with Diamond Bank in Nigeria to encourage underbanked women and small entrepreneurs to enter the banking system.
Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian guest-blogged for CGAP’s ‘Gender and Finance’ blog series.
Thanks to television and Bollywood, Indian women have become more aware of new trends and demand an ever-expanding range of services for their hair, skin and nails from local beauty parlors. The result is that beauty parlors can be seen in almost every neighborhood and street, from low-income neighborhoods to busy streets and markets to posh suburbs.
Research specialist Anjali Banthia’s response blog to an op-ed about the link between domestic violence and microfinance was cited in a recent Guardian article on the state of the microfinance industry.
September 23, 2013 Women’s World Banking had the privilege of participating in a collaborative workshop in Port Moresby, co-hosted by the Central Bank of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the UNCDF Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP), intended to generate ideas from a range of stakeholders to include in the strategy. This gave us a unique opportunity to utilize our research on the challenges and opportunities women face in accessing financial services in PNG to influence national policy, ensure that it includes a focus on women and to continue building our relationships with players in the Pacific region following our regional forum earlier this year.
It was heartening to see a Central Bank choosing to call together a diverse and mostly-local group of bankers, microfinance practitioners, women’s groups and representatives from savings and loan societies – alongside Women’s World Banking and the International Finance Corporation – to gather their perspectives on what the national strategy should look like. Each group presented their point of view and produced at the end of the workshop, a summary of recommendations that featured a wide range of opinions and targeting different constituencies.
We highlighted these key points from our research:
• There is an immense opportunity to serve women in PNG. Women are dramatically underserved by the financial services sector yet are just as likely as men to be earning. Women are important contributors to household. Our research showed that women need and want services to help them manage their money, including savings, loans and micro-insurance. Financial services providers should see serving women as not just a social cause but a real business opportunity.
• But women are tough customers. Winning the loyalty of PNG’s unbanked women will not be easy. Our research shows that to satisfy women, banking services need to be:
• Affordable and transparent: Women in PNG and elsewhere are unwilling to pay fees to save, such as the account maintenance fees and heavy withdrawal fees common in PNG. These fees effectively impact women more than men because they are usually poorer and have the responsibility of stretching their income to cover household expenses. Low fee, “no frills” accounts are offered by all of the PNG banks, yet there seem to be gaps in the outreach and awareness of these accounts. Most women in our study only knew about fee-based accounts.
• Secure: Women repeatedly emphasized PNG’s weak law and order environment and extremely high rates of domestic violence, which both pose serious risks for women’s physical well-being and their money if it is not locked away securely. Women also highlighted the risks of carrying money to and from their homes and businesses and said that carrying money to a bank branch may also not be safe. Mobile phone banking through neighborhood agents is therefore an attractive solution.
• Convenient: Working mothers everywhere know that they are the busiest people in the world! It’s no different in PNG. Mobile phone banking is not only great for security but offers a way to make banking much more convenient. But there is a gender gap in terms of access: PFIP found that 21% of women in urban areas do not have a phone, compared to just 9% of men. There’s also room to improve understanding and trust of mobile phone banking amongst women. GSMA found that 47% of women liked the idea but did not open a mobile money account because they didn’t understand the technology and 55% were not sure if mobile money is safe.
• Easy for illiterate customers: English is the language of the financial sector in PNG and many places, yet many women in Port Moresby (nearly 75% according to PFIP) are unable to communicate in English (a figure likely to be higher in rural and remote areas). Women’s World Banking believes in using visual and vernacular languages when creating marketing materials and forms to reduce this barrier.
The good news is that these are the features that both women and men want. If banks find ways to satisfy women through incorporating more of the features above, they will also gain men customers who have similarly been excluded from the banking sector.
Women’s World Banking shared these insights with the Central Bank, urging them to set targets to balance financial inclusion in PNG and to encourage more inclusive product design. The following inputs to the strategy were made, relating to a focus on women of the Central Bank:
• Set a target of 50% women served by the financial services sector, up from 30%, by 2015. Individual institutions should identify institutional targets for women’s financial inclusion and disaggregate gender data to track their progress.
• Lower the documentation requirements for opening an account (a barrier for women who do not have ID cards). This could include allowing women to use their affiliation with member-based groups, such as the Women’s Coffee Growers’ Association for example, as proof of identification for basic accounts.
• Work with the Ministry of Education to include financial education in the curriculum of public schools or vocational institutions, as an effort to start building financial literacy at a younger age to prepare more girls (and boys) to use financial services.
Women’s World Banking was proud to be able to contribute to and hopefully influence PNG’s national financial inclusion strategy. We’ll continue to look out for gains in women’s access in region, as we work on expanding financial inclusion for women around the world.
Saif Mohammad Moinul Islam, private sector engagement coordinator at Care Bangladesh, wrote a letter to to The Guardian Global Development Professionals Network last week with the provocative headline: "Domestic violence in Bangladesh: blame it on microfinance."
Whether in a developed country such as the United States or in the low-income neighborhoods of Colombia, women are constantly making income decisions based on a social and cultural default that they are responsible for children and the household.
boutMicrofinance, an aggregator and disseminator of current and authoritative information and resources on all aspects of the microfinance industry, featured an interview with Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian in their Fall Newsletter.
What are the financial lives of low-income garment employees like? This was one of the questions driving the research Women’s World Banking conducted in India during the early part of 2013.
Our recently released case study on our financial education work in India, “Can Financial Education Be the Engine for Savings Growth?” was featured on on a list of the latest financial inclusion studies and toolkits by the Microfinance Gateway.
Forging the right partnerships between Financial Service Providers (FSPs), Youth Serving Organizations (YSOs), and other key stakeholders, such as schools and local government, can be a key factor to successfully and sustainably serving youth clients.
At the G‐20 Seoul Summit in November of 2010, Women’s World Banking was asked by several G‐20 governmentsto comment on the report, “Strengthening Accessto Finance for Women SMEs in Developing Countries.”
WATCH THE VIDEO: On July 17, 2013, Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian sat down with Esther Ugbodaga to discuss financial exclusion in the African content, the importance of financially empowering women and Women’s World Banking’s work in Nigeria.
Marketplace Morning Report ran a story this morning (“Women stay in jobs longer than they should”) on women’s tenure in companies and the potential negative effect it can have on their career and salary growth. Is the answer to inspire women to be as mobile as their male counterparts? Not always.
In 2011 Women’s World Banking set-out to prove that providing low-income women with financial services is not charity but smart business.
Quality data—accurate and useful—is critical for the microfinance sector.
In 2011 Women’s World Banking set-out to prove that providing low-income women with financial services is not charity but smart business. In developing economies 63 percent of women don’t have a bank account, which severely limits their ability to build a business or save for emergencies or a child’s education. During the second year of our three-year strategic plan, we provided more than 1,000,000 clients with access to the financial tools and resources they need.
President and CEO of Women’s World Banking Mary Ellen Iskenderian spoke with Susan Yackee of Voice of American’s Middle East Monitor Podcast on Women’s World Banking’s recent research engagement in Cairo, Egypt on the lives of low-income women entrepreneurs after the Revolution.
CEO and President of Women’s World Banking visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to talk about microfinance before attending Women’s World Banking’s upcoming conference in Auckland.
Women’s World Banking conducted a gender study in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Samoa to explore the issues women face in order to provide them with effective financial services.
How can financial institutions encourage their clients to engage more fully with the formal financial system?
When a financial institution reaches out to us and tells us they are starting to see the value of serving low-income women but don’t know how to begin, we are of course pleased that institutions are starting to recognize what Women’s World Banking has known for more than 30 years.
What empowerment means to a woman is complex. At Women’s World Banking, we focus on economic empowerment because we know that the ability to earn an income is linked to the ability to make decisions about how household money is allocated.
Women’s World Banking is a network of 39 financial companies across 28 countries that focus solely on women. Recognising the poor access women have to credit and savings instruments, WWB works to level the playing field. Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of WWB, talks to TOI-CREST about why women need to treated
In 2012, Women’s World Banking turned to understanding women’s financial barriers and opportunities in the Pacific Islands for the first time with support from the New Zealand Aid Programme.
Can you imagine if the only product that your bank offered you was a loan? Or trying to live without a bank account and having to conduct every payment with cash? Or seeing your entire business and all the assets you had painstakingly accumulated jeopardized by the costs of caring for a sick child?
More than 1.3 billion people globally live in poverty; the majority of them are women. The United Nations International Labour Office reports that women face substantially lower employment rates, have very little control over property and resources, are more prone to working in the informal sector with lower earnings.
This year, the first year of our current three-year strategic plan, was a year of innovation for WWB. Central to this strategy is a cycle of market research, piloting new products and then learning from the pilots to scale these products to new markets.Throughout this report, we will provide examples of work in each of these phases.
Women’s World Banking worked with Banco ADOPEM to create a soap opera to help teach women how to save. This guide takes trainers through a step-by-step process of the classroom education component.
Although 2010 was a year of unprecedented growth in microfinance, it was also a year of considerable introspection as the industry grappled with questions of profitability, transparency and impact. While some of these questions were overdue, they prompted many to re-examine their beliefs about how microfinance can and should adapt and reform. It also forced the realization that the close knowledge of our clients’ lives and financial needs—traditionally a hallmark of microfinance—may have become secondary
to the push for greater numbers of clients.
WWB’s commitment to supporting principled leaders at the helm of gender diverse microfinance providers dates to its establishment as a global network in 1979. Today the WWB network includes some of the most celebrated leaders in the industry, representing a global commitment to responsive, sustainable microfinance. As we work with institutions to create innovative products that meet the needs of women we are increasingly convinced that leadership commitment is crucial to the success of growing the institution
This paper is a case study of how one institution, ADOPEM (Dominican Republic), fared post-transformation, examining both the benefits and challenges of transforming.
The year 2009 began with intense speculation about how the microfinance industry would weather the financial crisis, with even seasoned industry leaders questioning microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) ability to cope with dramatic shifts in portfolio quality, growth rates and liquidity. Now, with the worst of the financial crisis behind us, we can clearly see that while the microfinance industry generally experienced lower profitability and portfolio quality, it also demonstrated remarkable resilience.
The year 2008 was one of historic change and dynamic accomplishment. Yet, when retrospectives of 2008 are written, they will undoubtedly center on the warning signs and fourth-quarter collapse of the global financial system. Similarly, the microfinance sector reflected this dual sense of opportunity and crisis in 2008. More than $11 billion of capital flowed into the sector, allowing providers to reach more than 155 million clients with a broader array of products and through a more diverse set of channels.
The report illustrates the accomplishments of WWB and our network members, united in our mission of improving the economic access and power of poor women microentrepreneurs, and thereby improving livelihoods and creating sustainable change.
2007 was an exciting and successful year for WWB. Some key accomplishments of our network members worth noting are:
Providing credit to poor women can encourage the financial stability and economic progress of low-income households. But in Morocco as in many countries, gender-based constraints, burdens and responsibilities mean that more than credit is necessary if women are to make progress women in lifting their families out of poverty.
The report illustrates the accomplishments of WWB and our network members for 2006, united in our mission of improving the economic access and power of poor women microentrepreneurs, and thereby improving livelihoods and creating sustainable change.
The results combined with the individual successes of our network members illustrate that together we are making a difference in the lives of millions of poor people worldwide.
This paper provides an overview of the process by which microfinance institutions (MFIs) convert from NGOs into regulated financial institutions—known as transformation—and examines the impact of transformation on a control group of MFIs tracked by WWB over the past five years, giving particular attention to the effect of transformation on MFIs’ outreach to low-income women.
This paper highlights recent advances in minimizing foreign exchange risk in microfinance, via both local currency lending by international investors, and risk hedging by microfinance institutions.
