Now reading: Christine Hougaard

Christine Hougaard


Christine has been part of the Cenfri team since 2008. She has deep experience in applying a systems-level approach to diverse topics including market diagnostics, regulatory design, consumer protection, financial sector development, financial inclusion measurement and the interplay between digital transformation and sustainable development. She has worked with a range of regulators and stakeholders in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia.

In her spare time, Christine keeps busy raising her three young children, and when the opportunity arises, she enjoys a captivating book, keeping fit and a nice cup of tea.

Recent highlights

  • Working to develop context-appropriate consumer protection guidelines in Southern Africa and devising novel consumer protection measurement approaches at the country and global level
  • Leading i2i’s work on financial needs measurement framework development, including drafting a toolkit with the Alliance for Financial inclusion
  • Co-leading Cenfri’s regulating for innovation portfolio
  • A long track record working on inclusive insurance with the Access to Insurance Initiative, FSD Africa and others: developing cross-country synthesis reports and toolkits, as well as in-country stakeholder-building and implementation action plans

Qualifications

  • Master of Economics, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
  • Master’s module in Regulatory and Competition Economics, University of Witwatersrand, South Afric

 

Recent Work by Christine Hougaard
Building the fundamentals of a welfare-enhancing digitalised economy
Digitalisation per se has marginal impact; the crux is the way it is leveraged and implemented. We need a better understanding of how digi...
Supporting the development of a digital finance index
Digital financial services are transforming global financial service provision and access. Rapid developments in fintech are disrupting and transfo...
The untold realities of women cross-border traders
A diagnostic study on women cross-border traders between South Africa and Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique​ ...
State of instant and inclusive payment systems in Africa
  Real-time retail payments that enable consumers to send and receive cross-border and domestic transactions digitally are on the rise ...
Digital payments on the rise in the education sector
Education is of fundamental importance to Rwanda’s economy; and the country has high policy priorities in providing access across the country. Pr...
Time for a bold move? The case for renewed zero-rating of low-value mobile money fees in Rwanda
Rwanda must be cashless by 2024 – that’s the bold target set in the National Payment System Strategy 2018-2024. This policy has strong e...