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> Posted by Alexia Latortue, Deputy CEO, CGAP
The Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign at the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion is building a movement toward full financial inclusion by 2020. This blog series spotlights financial inclusion efforts around the globe, shares insights from the FI2020 consultative process, and highlights findings from “Mapping the Invisible Market.”
When I was young, the word “camp” was synonymous with freedom and fun. These days are long gone. Today, the word conjures images of debate at best and of self-righteous positioning at worst. There seems to be a tendency in many fields for participants to divide themselves into opposing factions. Even in the field of financial inclusion, where we may share a common vision of full inclusion, there are at least two camps with deeply held beliefs about how to get there.
Some people are in a camp that is all about the economics of supply. They posit that if we can find ways to offer insurance to poor and low-income people profitably, the rest will follow. If we can collect tiny amounts of cash in cost-effective ways, bingo, small balance savings accounts will be available to all. The promise of cost innovations, combined with increasing incomes among base-of-the-pyramid customers may be all that is needed. This is the “If We Build It, They Will Come” camp.
Another camp is all about deepening our understanding of clients. We need to empathize, focus group, observe, and ethnographically study more and more deeply. We need to get into the clients’ shoes, probe their needs, and predict their behaviors. If only we understood clients better, we would serve them better. This is the “If We Understood Better, They Would Be Better Served” camp.
I don’t particularly want to play in or debate on behalf of either camp.
We have seen savings accounts opened that remain dormant, and payment systems that are not leveraged. The “If We Build It, They Will Come” camp just doesn’t do it for me. We have also seen organizations that possess deep insights about their clients and potential market, but have no idea how to translate the knowledge or deliver anything at scale. The “If We Understood Better, They Would Be Better Served” camp also doesn’t do it for me.
> Posted by Tanaya Kilara, Financial Sector Analyst, CGAP
The following post was originally published on the YouthSave Blog.
The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion recently released fascinating demographic data through the Mapping the Invisible Market project, as part of their Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign. It sketches a picture of the world in 2020 building on existing economic and demographic data, and draws implications for financial inclusion.
I do a lot of work on youth. Some of the data really caught my eye and even challenged some of my assumptions about priorities for youth financial services.
Where countries are in their development cycle affects their demographic opportunities. The Least-Developed-Countries (accounting for 27 percent of population growth over the next decade) are entering the first window of opportunity for a demographic dividend as fertility rates fall and the labor force grows faster than dependent populations, freeing resources for development. A second window of opportunity occurs when this expanded workforce ages and people stay in the workforce longer, saving and investing for extended retirement, resulting in more assets which raises the national income and leads to economic growth. Most developing countries, accounting for 68 percent of population growth over the next decade, fall into this category.
(Developed countries, take note: the demographic window of opportunity is largely closed.)
What does this mean for financial inclusion? One conclusion to draw from this is that countries need different financial inclusion strategies to address the needs and priorities of the age segments that are dominant at a particular time. For example, most middle-income countries like South Africa and Mexico are entering the second window of opportunity for a demographic dividend. With their youth population entering into the workforce in the near future, both countries will need to focus on the financial needs of mature adults. For poorer countries, like Nigeria and Pakistan, where the youth bulge will remain prominent for the future, we can anticipate that financial services targeted specifically for the young will be in higher demand and have more impact.
> Posted by Adriana Magdas, Senior Associate, CFI
The Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign at the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion is building a movement toward full financial inclusion by 2020. This blog series spotlights financial inclusion efforts around the globe, shares insights from the FI2020 consultative process and highlights findings from “Mapping the Invisible Market.”
A sneak-peek version of the early findings from the Roadmap to Financial Inclusion is now available on our website. Developed through a consultative process of more than 40 experts spanning the public and private sectors, these key messages suggest what stakeholders across industries and regions should do to take action and advance financial inclusion considerably in the next decade.
They answer questions such as: what role can technology providers play in increasing the financial capability of clients in the regions where they operate? How can providers and consumer groups develop means for clients to raise their own voices?
The focus areas of these early findings are based on the seven-point priority action agenda identified by the CFI in 2011 through the Opportunities and Obstacles to Financial Inclusion survey of industry practitioners, donors, and investors. They are as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Larry Reed, Director, Microcredit Summit Campaign
On February 5, the Microcredit Summit Campaign released Vulnerability: The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report, 2013 by announcing that in 2011, 13 million fewer of the world’s poorest families received access to microcredit and other financial services than in 2010. This is the first time since 1998, when the Campaign began tracking this data, that the total number of clients and the number of poorest families reached have declined. We found in our data that the total number of clients fell from 205 million to 195 million and the sub-set of families living in extreme poverty, defined as less than $1.25 a day, fell from 137 million to 124 million. (Visit the report website to learn more.)
I presented the report at a launch event at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C., and Susy Cheston (Senior Advisor at the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion) moderated a lively discussion with my co-panelists Wendy Abt (Deputy Assistant Administrator, USAID), David Roodman (Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development), and Alexia Latortue (Deputy CEO, CGAP). Not surprisingly, the most salient exchange of the panel arose with David in the role of provocateur.
Challenging the Campaign, he contrasted simple but powerful messages that communicate well to the mass public—“microcredit can help people lift themselves out of poverty”—to more nuanced messages that better communicate reality but are harder to condense into a soundbite. Many of us are trying to figure out how to convey the nuanced message that “a range of financial services, when combined with other important development services, may provide tools that people can use to move away from poverty.” David asked whether, after seeing the results of unchecked growth in Andhra Pradesh, the Campaign wanted to rethink its goal-setting role.
> Posted by Daniel Rozas, Independent Microfinance Consultant
The following post was originally published on the CGAP Blog.
Last month the Smart Campaign launched its certification program. For those who care about client protection, this is an important and welcome milestone in what has been an impressive journey, which has included a broad spectrum of activities by funders to promote client protection.
In the first post in this series, Philippe Serres describes a project by the French development organization AFD and the Cambodian Microfinance Association (CMA) to support implementation of the Client Protection Principles, including support for MFIs seeking to undergo the Smart Certification process itself. Notably, this support comes alongside client protection requirements that funders like AFD, Proparco, and FMO have been incorporating into their financing agreements with MFIs. Thus, not only are MFIs being supported in their bid to strengthen client protection, they are increasingly required to do so by their funders.
In many respects, this is an exercise in self-regulation of client protection practices. The arrival of Smart Certification presents a unique opportunity to take these efforts to the next level and apply this self-regulation to the entire microfinance market in Cambodia and beyond.
> Posted by Elisabeth Rhyne, Managing Director, CFI
The following post was originally published on the Huffington Post Business Blog.
The global microfinance industry realized a significant and long-awaited goal this week with the introduction of Client Protection Certification as promoted by the Smart Campaign. With certification, lenders and banks for low-income people will be able to demonstrate — on the basis of an on-site, third-party evaluation — that they take adequate care to protect their clients.
As one of the founders of the Smart Campaign, my high hopes are that Client Protection Certification will become a kind of Fair Trade mark for the microfinance industry. If established as we envision, donors, investors, regulators, and even clients will check the certification registry before they invest in or bank with microfinance institutions, choosing the ones that meet the standards. This in turn will create positive incentives for institutions to improve, ultimately leading to safer, more respectful services for the low income clients microfinance reaches.
> Posted by Center Staff
Top Picks is back from a long hiatus with posts on incorporating behavioral economics into financial service design, the potential for academic research in financial inclusion efforts, and the importance of quality data.
- A new post on Next Billion from Jake Kendall of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation offers insight into how behavioral economics can be used to improve money management. The post shares work from Ignacio Mas and Colin Meyer on building optimum mobile user-interfaces, includes a study on the effectiveness of basic finance heuristics over formal accounting training, and explores the potential of algorithms that interpret clients’ unique behaviors to better guide them towards financial goals. Read the rest of this entry »
Michael Tarazi and Nadine Chehade of CGAP’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional team are hosting a live web chat on financial inclusion in the Arab world tomorrow. The chat will be held from 10:30 to 11:00 AM EST, wherein Michael and Nadine will take participants’ live questions.
After the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, 2012 was a year of advancing new governments that promote inclusion. Tomorrow’s chat is an opportunity to discuss the financial inclusion progress that was made in 2012 and what to expect in 2013. Michael and Nadine, along with Mayada El-Zoghbi, wrote a post on this topic that ran on the CGAP Blog last week. To check out the post, click here. For more information on tomorrow’s web chat – including how to register – click here.
> Posted by Amanda Lotz, Financial Inclusion 2020 Project Coordinator, CFI
The Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign at the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion is building a movement toward full financial inclusion by 2020. Accordingly, this blog series will spotlight financial inclusion efforts around the globe, share insights coming out of the creation of a roadmap to full financial inclusion, and highlight findings from research on the “invisible market.”
Just imagine for a minute. You are in your late 20′s and about to go on a second date. You are really looking forward to it; after all, your date is attractive and shares your interests. Everything seems to be going great, until your date brings up his/her excellent credit score and then asks about yours. What do you say?
A recent article in the New York Times, “Perfect 10? Never Mind That. Ask Her for Her Credit Score,” inspired this scenario. When my boyfriend and I applied for our lease, naturally we talked about credit scores, as it was a part of the application process. Luckily, we were okay. But, I can see how this could be contentious for a couple if one person has a poor credit score.
> Posted by Jeffrey Riecke, Communications Assistant, CFI
There are endless ways to measure the successes of a given year. Number of clients reached. Total new stakeholder endorsement. Amount of capital invested… Though when assessing almost anything, it’s important to think holistically and not be biased by the numbers. That said, I think I can speak for most of the Center in saying that we are excited to share that several CFI-affiliated publications were among the Microfinance Gateway’s Most Popular Publications of 2012. No small feat considering 546 new resources were added to the Gateway this past year. Here’s a brief listing of the CFI pubs that made this top cut:
Over-Indebtedness in Microfinance: An Empirical Analysis of Related Factors on the Borrower Level
This paper by Jessica Schicks analyses the over-indebtedness of microborrowers in Ghana, examining its relationship with poverty, adverse shocks, loan returns, and financial literacy. In defining over-indebtedness, the paper adopts a client perspective, taking into account clients’ repayment struggles and the sacrifices they make to fulfill payment obligations. Some of the paper’s findings are the following: Read the rest of this entry »
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