Tag Archive

> Posted by Susy Cheston

This post is part of the Center for Financial Inclusion’s Expert Exchange: Building A Movement Toward Financial Inclusion by 2020, cultivating conversation around the goal of reaching full financial inclusion by 2020. For further questions about this series, write to , Fellow, Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion.

Are we “rushing inclusion perhaps to its early death,” as a recent post from the Kenya Financial Education Centre asks?  In the post, John Gitau’s concern is that in our rush to access, we are getting ahead of clients’ capacity to use services wisely and well.  It’s a good concern to raise, and it is especially legitimate when posed by someone who sees the fall-out up close and personal.

And yet the Center for Financial Inclusion is spearheading a Financial Inclusion 2020 project that is breathtaking in its audacity:  building a movement to full financial inclusion for all, using the year 2020 as a focal point to clarify thinking and galvanize action.  The argument of the Center is that working backwards from 2020—near enough that we can track our progress, far enough away that change is possible—results in a different kind of thinking than incremental strategies to add a few million clients here and there.  To this end we are working with a wide range of partners to build a road map to full inclusion, pushing to accelerate what we believe to be critical access to financial services for those who are excluded.  We are casting our net wide—engaging any and all who want to be involved in this effort.*

So, we are building a road map to inclusion–or, as our friend from Kenya might ask, are we building a road to ruin? Read the rest of this entry »