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> Posted by Center Staff
After months of planning, the Financial Inclusion 2020 Global Forum, October 28-30 in London, is coming into view. We’ve shared a few rounds of Forum updates here on the blog over the past weeks (see here and here), and we’re happy to report that more exciting new speakers have been confirmed, and more side sessions have cropped up. Here are the new speakers:
- Luis Gallegos, Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the U.N. Office at Geneva
- Bill Sheedy, Global Executive, Corporate Strategy, M&A, Government Relations and Europe, Visa, Inc.
- Edward Effah, Managing Director, Fidelity Bank
- Alexia Latortue, Assistant Deputy Secretary for International Development Policy, U.S. Treasury
- Carlos Lopez Moctezuma, Global Director for Financial Inclusion, BBVA
- Jean-Claude Masangu, Former Governor, Banque Centrale du Congo
- Bindu Ananth, President, IMFR Trust
- Nachiket Mor, Chair, Reserve Bank of India Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households
- Tony Goland, Director, McKinsey & Company
- Isaac Awuondo, Group Managing Director, CBA
- Gino Picasso, CEO, GloboKasNet
Complimenting the core agenda, there are a number of side sessions convening before and after the Forum. As we’ve mentioned, there will be two special side meetings on financial inclusion for persons with disabilities held before the Forum, the evening of October 27 and the morning of October 28. The event of the 28th, which is open to Forum participants and the public, is a panel of international experts that includes Luis Gallegos.
> Posted by Center Staff
When was the last time you visited the FI2020 Global Forum webpage? Whether you’re a frequent visitor or it’s been some time, we’re pleased to share a batch of freshly confirmed speakers and side meetings at the landmark financial inclusion event, October 28-30 in London. Here are the new speakers:
- Michel Losembe, CEO, Banque Internationale pour L’Afrique du Congo (BIAC); President of the Association of Congolese Banks
- Sian Williams, Head of Financial Inclusion, Toynbee Hall
- Faisel Rahman, Managing Director, FairFinance
- Kamal Quadir, CEO, bKash
- Mark Hookey, Founder, Demyst.Data
- Arjuna Costa, Investment Partner, Omidyar Network
- Michel Khalaf, President, EMEA MetLife, Inc.
- Elly Ohene-Adu, Head of Banking Department, Bank of Ghana
- Oscar Graham, General Director of the Financial Markets and Provisional Funds Division, Ministry of Finance and Economics, Peru
- Mariela Zaldivar, Manager of Products and Client Services, SBS Peru
- Richard Eldridge, Co-Founder and Asia CEO, Lenddo
- Jojo Malolos, Managing Director, Cignifi
In our last Global Forum update post we announced two special side meetings on financial inclusion for persons with disabilities (PWDs) that will be held before the Forum, the evening of October 27 and the morning of October 28. As we indicated, the two sessions will convene disability inclusion leaders to discuss the importance of closing the financial services accessibility gap for this largely unbanked group, and challenges and solutions for doing so.
> Posted by Jeffrey Riecke, Communications Assistant, CFI
Today, people all around the world are celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities. And, whether the focus is financial or any other type of inclusion for persons with disabilities (PWDs), we here at CFI would be remiss if we didn’t join in the festivities.
The International Day has been observed since 1992, and encompasses activities around the globe. The United Nations, which functions as the principal promoter, features an online list of events being held by governments, UN agencies, organizations, and communities in Australia, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The impressively global – and inclusive – Day brings awareness to disability issues, acknowledges the integral role of persons with disabilities in society, and further promotes full inclusion for PWDs. The theme of this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities is “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all.”
The following post by Jerry Brady was originally published on the Accion Ambassadors Blog. Among Accion’s founders, Jerry Brady is currently working alongside Accion’s portfolio company, Vindhya, as part of Accion’s 2012 Ambassador Class. Vindhya – a company that provides data processing services – is eighty-percent staffed by “differently-abled” individuals. CFI is working specifically towards achieving full financial inclusion for differently-abled individuals through its Financial Inclusion for Persons with Disabilities project.
On the first floor of the Vindhya office in Bangalore, India, excitement is building on a Friday evening in October. Soon we’ll learn who won the best employee awards for the third quarter.
I’ve staged many of such events myself, but this one buzzes with a higher energy because of who is gathering and the momentum Vindhya has gathered in the last quarter.
Staff has been at work all day, as usual, on 15 projects that demand a high degree of concentration, working side by side in tight quarters. Some have been digitizing documents into master files; some recording data, often translating from one of seven languages into English; others have been making or receiving phone calls. After a full day, you might expect them to be tired. Doesn’t look like it.
To the outsider, the work done by the Vindhya staff may look like the classic, back-office work we’ve come to associate with India, and what one expects to be truly mind-numbing. But closer examination shows skill, judgment and experience are just as important as discipline. For example, one team has been calling people who have just signed up for the first pension they have ever known. ‘Are you in the right investment, are you keeping your money at work (and not withdrawing it for a wedding, for example), can we answer any questions for you?’ they ask, 900 times a day.
> Posted by Nika Tumao, Analyst at Global Treasury, Credit Suisse
This post is the third of a three-part series from Credit Suisse Virtual Volunteers, sharing reflections and insights from their investigations into the state of financial inclusion for persons with disabilities (PWDs) across several country contexts. The three posts will examine past efforts and offer potential solutions for creating more inclusive societies in Ecuador, India, and the Philippines. The post begins:
If we built a microfinance institution (MFI) focused solely on persons with disabilities (PWDs), what would it need to do to be successful? I examined disability inclusion in the Philippines to find out.
Laws in the Philippines support access by persons with disabilities (PWDs) to many of the elements necessary to succeed in life, including employment, education, infrastructure, and rights in court. Although these laws are well-intentioned, the Philippines lack the government budget to create and staff regulatory agencies that make sure they are effectively implemented . Here is where self-help groups, NGOs and MFIs have room to address the unmet needs of PWDs.
> Posted by Shubha Kastiya, Fund Accountant in Prime Fund Services, Credit Suisse
This post is the second of a three-part series from Credit Suisse Virtual Volunteers, sharing reflections and insights from their investigations into the state of financial inclusion for persons with disabilities (PWDs) across several country contexts. The three posts will examine past efforts and offer potential solutions for creating more inclusive societies in Ecuador, India, and the Philippines. The post begins:
In my Virtual Volunteer assignment, I wanted to get a solid understanding of the factors and issues affecting persons with disabilities (PWDs) and what is being done to remedy them.
One such issue is accessibility, which means that disabled persons can approach, enter, pass to and from, and make use of a built environment without undue difficulties or outside assistance. Accessibility and associated technology for PWDs are quite advanced in India. There are numerous organizations working exclusively on making society more accessible, and I was surprised to find that they have been fairly successful in implementing their strategies. Although this is not the case for all MFIs and socially-driven organizations in India. I want to introduce you to six impressive initiatives that have made great strides in making accessibility a reality.
> Posted by Annie Martyr, Associate in Fixed Income, Credit Suisse
This post is the first of a three-part series from Credit Suisse Virtual Volunteers, sharing reflections and insights from their investigations into the state of financial inclusion for persons with disabilities (PWDs) across several country contexts. The three posts will examine past efforts and offer potential solutions for creating more inclusive societies in Ecuador, India, and the Philippines. The post begins:
When I learned about the Virtual Volunteering program at Credit Suisse, I jumped at the opportunity to learn more about microfinance, and specifically financial inclusion for individuals with disabilities. My first experience researching disability inclusion was as an intern working for a company that created software designed to teach soft skills in the workplace. I conducted research and wrote grants for a program for individuals with autism and other disabilities. I was shocked to learn about the lack of resources available to PWDs, particularly adults. The opportunity to work with the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion seemed a perfect way to dig further into this topic. I hoped to provide much needed information on the needs of this population in the country context of Ecuador, and help further the CFI’s goal of providing access to financial services not only to the poor and needy, but to persons with disabilities, a subset of the population that has historically been marginalized and largely excluded from society.
In some ways Ecuador is ahead of other developing nations in its legal framework’s support of disability rights and in the visibility of these issues, due in part to the fact that the vice president of Ecuador is paralyzed. The victim of a shooting in 1998, Lenin Moreno was elected in 2007 as a paraplegic and has since become a public advocate for disability prevention and the protection of disabled individuals in Ecuador. In addition to having a very public advocate for disability rights, Ecuador has an established legal framework to protect the rights of PWDs and promote their inclusion in society. I quickly found, however, that while Ecuador is further along than many other countries in terms of visibility of disability rights, the needs of individuals with disabilities are still very great, as are the obstacles they have to overcome to gain access to financial services.
> Posted by Josh Goldstein
The Smart Campaign’s Client Protection Principles are all about insuring that microfinance institutions (MFIs) put their clients’ interests first. Therefore, product offerings must be designed to be understandable, pricing transparent, the dangers of over indebtedness made explicit. The loan officer must be incentivized to ensure that her customer truly understands the terms of the contract being entered into. In short, the client must be equipped to make a fully informed decision. But this is easier said than done, as the Campaign well knows.
But microfinance is not the only domain where these challenges occur. I recently co-authored a paper with a team of physicians and other healthcare professionals: “Best practice guidelines on surgical response in disasters and humanitarian emergencies: report of the 2011 Humanitarian Action Summit working group on surgical issues within the humanitarian space.”
It was matter of serendipity (and to me some amusement and trepidation) that I ended up in a working group of surgeons, anesthesiologists and rehab specialists at this summit held at Harvard, and I was nearly certain that I could add no value– as our discussions were to largely focus on medical questions involving amputation.
Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Brian A. Clancy, Chair, CFI Advisory Council
It’s impossible to know in advance if a trip will really move us – that is disrupt our expectations and breach our emotional defenses. Some trips with great promise are barely recalled a month later, while others with modest goals can change the way we see the world. In many cases the difference comes down to a single moment – a deep experience of authenticity that’s somehow both highly specific and universal. But before I get any further into that, I have some self-centered complaining to do.
Heading into a recent trip I just wasn’t in the mood to board another plane. However I was on the very threshold of acceptance when I heard the bad news. I would be in the air for the kickoff of pro football’s “game of the year” – the playoff between my local team (the Patriots) and the Tebowmania-fueled Broncos. For all my efforts to keep a stiff upper lip, my mood turned decidedly dark. Sure, our gracious host, award winning Ecuadorian MFI Banco D-Miro, was doing important work, but didn’t the world being flat mean we could do this whole thing by video conference and reduce our carbon footprint to boot? And come to think of it, isn’t the weather in Guayaquil this time of year hot, humid and wet? My inner curmudgeon (who is a big football fan) had clearly gained the upper hand. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Sergio Guzmán
As previously announced, the Smart Campaign included the concept of non-discrimination in the Client Protection Principles under the heading Fair and Ethical Treatment of Clients. The principle now affirms the idea that microfinance clients and staff should not suffer discrimination on the basis of gender, political affiliation, religious belief, or disability, among others.
This work has been done in collaboration with the Center for Financial Inclusion’s program on persons with disabilities (PWD). One of the action items that resulted from a June 2010 roundtable on Financial Inclusion for Persons with Disabilities hosted by the World Bank was to document how financial institutions currently include PWDs in their activities.
In that context, we’re pleased to release a new Smart Note focusing on the efforts of AccessBank Azerbaijan to practice non-discrimination among employees through deliberate efforts to hire persons with disabilities. Additionally, the Smart Note provides a testimonial from one of AccessBank’s employees, Asad Aslanov, that talks about his experience as a person with disabilities working as a cashier at the MFI. Through inclusive hiring policies, targeted recruitment of PWDs, and specialized training, AccessBank demonstrates a commitment to non-discrimination. Read the rest of this entry »
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