Barbara Scola

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Barbara Scola works with CGAP’s Sector Support team. She conducts research and develops tools to support development agencies in their financial inclusion efforts. Her research projects focus on the role of funders in supporting policy reform processes and the positioning of financial inclusion in funders' strategies and organizational structures.

In 10 years as a CGAP staff member and consultant, Barbara has helped CGAP members improve transparency and the effectiveness of financial inclusion funding. Before joining CGAP, she was a technical adviser for a German Development Cooperation project on strengthening the institutional and regulatory environment of the microfinance sector in Tunisia.

Barbara has a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of St. Gallen and the Institute of Political Science in Paris, where she specialized in development studies. She is based in Paris and is fluent in German and French.

By Barbara Scola

Research

New Funder Guidelines: Market Systems Approach to Financial Inclusion

These guidelines are intended to provide guidance for funders promoting financial inclusion or pro-poor financial services markets as part of their development mandate. The target audience includes multilateral and bilateral donors, development finance institutions, and foundations.
Research

Getting Smart about Financial Inclusion

This Focus Notes discusses lessons learned through the implementation of the SmartAid Index--a tool launched by CGAP in 2007 to measure and improve the effectiveness of funders in supporting financial inclusion.
Research

SmartAid Index 2014

This Technical Guide is aimed at funders interested in analyzing their effectiveness in financial inclusion. It describes the methodology of the SmartAid Index and explains how to use SmartAid.
Research

Portfolio Reviews: Resource Guide for Funders

This Technical Guide presents the portfolio review as an evaluation method that can help funders learn from what they fund.
Blog

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.