Explore the latest global and regional insights from Women’s World Banking’s work in policy, leadership, women’s entrepreneurship, gender lens investing, and more.
Few financial products and services are developed with the needs of the low-income woman customer in mind or account for the challenges that a low-income woman might face. Many financial products are not set up to sustain the continued interaction required to create the trust that the low-income woman needs
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 Angela Ang and Elwyn Panggabean, Women’s World Banking Last year, we collaborated with Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), one of Indonesia’s largest state-owned banks involved in distributing benefits of the PKH (Program Keluarga Harapan or Family Hope Program), a conditional cash transfer program for low-income families. Together, we developed an
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
By Whitney Mapes, Elwyn Panggabean, Angela Ang, and Agnes Salyanty Over the past year and a half, Women’s World Banking has collaborated with Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), one of the Indonesia’s largest state-owned banks involved in distributing benefits of the PKH (Program Keluarga Harapan or Family Hope Program), a conditional
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,
By Angela Ang, Andi Setianto, Whitney Mapes, and Elwyn Panggabean As COVID-19 has exposed economic fault lines around the world, governments have responded by extending economic lifelines to the most vulnerable populations. According to the World Bank, at least 200 countries and territories have offered some kind of COVID-19-related financial
Scroll down for Spanish translation (DESPLAZARSE HACIA ABAJO PARA LA TRADUCCIÓN AL ESPAÑOL) By Sophie Theis and Alexandre Berthaud To promote savings for group loan clients in Mexico, Women’s World Banking designed a solution integrated into the Compartamos group loan model. In this blog, we share lessons learned from user
“You get to hear what works for other organizations, other commercial banks like ourselves, and get to meet up with Fintechs. A lot of good ideas: It’s mind-blowing. The perspective that Women’s World Banking itself brings in, it’s a complete solution.” For low-income women who are running their own business
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.
Women’s World Banking undertook research to determine why women aren’t saving actively in a bank and tested prototypes to change that behavior.
In order to serve the massive market of women-led enterprises, financial service providers must adopt women-centered model that often requires massive change throughout their operations.
While Mexico has made great strides in driving financial inclusion for low-income women but many more barriers, albeit surmountable, need to be addressed before the country can realize the economic benefit of financial inclusion.
FSDA guest blogs on their support for our partnership with Diamond Bank and the transformational effect access to a savings account has on women’s lives.
Our partner NMB Bank Plc. is highlighted in this study on good practice sin developing inclusive and sustainable products and services for the youth segment.
Women in Tanzania who never thought to save in a bank are opening accounts with NMB Bank Plc because their daughters are taking the lead.
Essential considerations for successful youth banking propositions that increase youth’s economic opportunity and offer a valuable business case to banks.
Our Savings Manager Ryan Newton co-authored a post with UNCDF YouthStart’s Ata Cisse on what we learned from our youth savings project in Ethiopia.
Banks know that Tanzania’s growing youth population are eager savers and enthusiastic users of mobile money but younger teens are ignored. That’s a big mistake.
A microfinance client success story from our network member in Lebanon, Al Majmoua.
While savings groups satisfy some of low-income Malawians’ financial needs, they could really benefit from a private, individual savings account.
As more financial institutions offer savings accounts for women, we updated our Gender Performance Indicators to ensure that women are still served well.
Experts from the nonprofit sector and financial institutions to discuss the role of pensions in the field of financial inclusion.
Comments from our Chief Knowledge and Communications officer on the most important things to watch in 2016 for financial inclusion.
Low-income women are diligent savers but often face tremendous barriers to saving safely with a bank. Digital savings can be a game-changing opportunity to introduce women to savings accounts and enable their financial inclusion.
On our experience developing products tailored to women’s needs; what financial institutions should do; and how financial products should be designed to ensure that it meets women’s needs.
The pilot evaluation of our youth savings project in India reveals the structural barriers women and girls face when accessing financial services. Could youth savings help?
Why is it important to serve low-income women with savings products? In this one-pager, we provide a brief summary of our product development approach and an example of a successful product rollout.
Why is it important to serve low-income youth with savings products? In this one-pager, we provide a brief summary of our product development approach and an example of a successful product rollout.
Women’s World Banking worked with Diamond Bank to conduct extensive research on the Nigerian youth market to design savings accounts that fit their specific needs.
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.
Women’s World Banking support Diamond Bank (Nigeria) in developing savings accounts to meet the needs of low-income youth.
Savings Specialist Ryan Newton blogs about the five key lessons about designing sustainable youth savings programs, based on an evaluation of Banco ADOPEM’s (Dominican Republic) youth savings program, developed together with Women’s World Banking.
Four years after collaborating with Banco ADOPEM to develop its youth savings program, Women’s World Banking returned to the bank to evaluate the impact of the program on the bank.
Piloting new products requires constant monitoring to ensure success. In this post, we share how we adjusted our youth savings strategy to mitigate the challenges our project in India faced.
Nearly one billion women around the world do not have access to a bank account. Many of the barriers that these women face will sound familiar — lack of decision-making power within their families, lack of education, lack of formal employment.
BANKS are overlooking a major source of savings which could help them meet growing demand for credit – women, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said.
This publication is a guide for deposit-taking institutions in any stage of youth savings program development.
International Banker Magazine features our youth savings work with SEWA Bank in India.
With the support of Credit Suisse, Women’s World Banking is working with its network member SEWA Bank to design a unique savings program targeted to girls.
Youth savings specialist Ryan Newton blogs about the youth panel during the “Building Women-Focused Finance” Conference in Amman, Jordan, November 20-21, 2013.
For poor women, access to a safe place to save and build assets is as important as access to loans. Women’s World Banking knows from its research that poor women are inherent savers. In this publication, we share the findings of our most recent savings work, including a three-year project with four of our network members.
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.
Women’s World Banking worked with Visa. In Nigeria, just 26% of women and 12% of low-income adults have formal bank accounts, according to a 2012 report from the World Bank.
Youth Savings specialist Ryan Newton was cited as a resource for her work with our network member PEACE MFI S.CO on the UNDCF/ Mastercard Foundation report “Building the Business Case of Youth Services.”
Women’s World Banking develops innovative financial products to meet the dynamic needs throughout a woman’s life, but we start when she is a girl.
Youth Savings Specialist Ryan Newton guest blogged for Youth Economic Opportunities to share Women’s World Banking’s experience in designing financial education programs specifically for youth.
All this week Women’s World Banking has been focusing on our youth savings work in honor of International Youth Day 2013. To cap it off, we’d like to share our extensive and interactive guide for deposit-taking microfinance institutions looking to offer or improve a youth savings program for their market.
“In the past, when I had money in my hand, I just go out and spend, but now whenever I get money, I just run and come here to save it.” – Lenege girl saver
Today we’re sharing the blogpost we wrote for microlinks back in 2012 about the youth savings product we developed in the Dominican Republic with network member Banco ADOPEM.
In 2008, Women’s World Banking began working with XacBank in Mongolia to develop a youth savings and financial education program, with support from the Nike Foundation, as part of the Girl Effect initiative.
In honor of this day, Women’s World Banking will be highlighting its youth savings work, which has implications for youth around the world – including migrants, which are the theme of this year’s Youth Day.
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.
How can financial institutions encourage their clients to engage more fully with the formal financial system?
Our savings work with Banco ADOPEM, our network member in the Dominican Republica, was featured in a local media outlet, Informate Diario, for promoting a savings culture to low-income communities in outlying areas.
The total global population of girls ages 10 to 24 is expected to peak in the next decade. According to market research conducted by Women’s World Banking, girls as young as 10 years old regularly accumulate money, actively manage it and want a safe place to save it. Ana Laura lives in a low-income
Women’s World Banking contributed to case studies to this European Microfinance Platform publication on successful low-income youth financial services programs.
A summary of Microfinance Opportunities’ impact assessment study of our program, “Savings and Financial Education for Girls in Mongolia.”
As the microfinance industry continues to shift its focus into understanding client’s needs and more effectively targeting specific segments, it is essential for management to understand an institution’s performance based on data.
“Ana Laura opened her first savings account at Banco ADOPEM in the Dominican Republic in April 2011. She closely monitors the money she has in her account, keeping track of the number and size of deposits she makes. Ana Laura recognizes that the bank not only provides more security than keeping her money at home, but she is also less tempted to spend it.
This article highlights the launch of the savings and financial education product for girls in Mongolia by Women’s World Banking along with its network member XacBank.
