Searching: Research & Analysis

Mainstreaming Financial Inclusion through Demonstration Projects

The Office for Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction Unit at JICA has found there is a gap between understanding the importance of financial inclusion in principle and knowing how to integrate it in one’s sector. To solve this, they are embedding financial inclusion within the agency through hybrid demonstration projects.

Engaging with Country Offices to Embed Digital Finance

USAID’s digital financial services (DFS) practice provides support to its country offices to integrate DFS into their program portfolios and strategies. How can this small technical team at headquarters influence a large, decentralized organization to prioritize DFS?

A Market Systems Approach to Financial Inclusion

A market systems approach to financial inclusion means considering all aspects of a market system, and working to break down barriers that exclude the poor by nudging market actors to take up missing or weak functions in the market.

Navigating the Next Wave of Blended Finance for Financial Inclusion

This Brief presents opportunities for the new wave of blended finance and points to areas that deserve further attention to optimize the use of different funding sources to advance responsible financial inclusion.

Measuring Market Development

Monitoring and evaluation is an increasingly prominent aspect of development programs. This Handbook guides funders and their implementing partners on how to effectively measure results of financial inclusion programs that apply a systemic approach.

Drowning in Data, Searching for Information: The Role of Funders

Funders have an important role to play in exploring how data-enabled financial services can benefit poor people and in helping governments to balance the new risks that are emerging with the opportunities provided by a digital world.

The Role of Financial Services in Humanitarian Crises

While the nature and incidences of humanitarian crises vary significantly, they affect millions of people, particularly the most vulnerable. Based on a literature review, this paper shows how financial services can be an entry point to support FDPs.

Development Finance Institutions and Financial Inclusion

It is time for DFIs to adopt an alternative approach to financial inclusion that prioritizes needed market changes. A shift to a market systems approach addresses this need and requires that DFIs carefully analyze each market to determine the key gaps, underlying causes, critical actors, and theory of change for bringing about sustainable market development.

Market Facilitation to Advance Financial Inclusion

The paper reviews how USAID, through two programs and in partnership with a series of market actors, helped change the microfinance market dynamics in the Philippines—from a specialized activity with limited outreach and highly dependent on subsidized credit, to a more inclusive and robust market-driven segment of the financial sector.

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.