Whether it is digital payments, resilience for MSMEs or financial integrity, much of our work is underpinned by the desire to create more inclusive financial systems and services. Cenfri has successfully implemented several multi-year financial inclusion programmes:
Making Access to Financial Services Possible or MAP (in partnership with UNCDF and FinMark Trust)
insight2impact or i2i (in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation)
Risk, Remittances and Integrity or RRI (with FSD Africa)
Remittance Access Initiative (with IFAD’s Financing Facility for Remittances)
Our view is that while financial inclusion targets (such as the percentage of adults with a bank account) are valid, they don’t tell you much when tracked in isolation. It is important to understand whether people use their financial services, and if so, whether this enables them to meet their needs. We have developed six financial inclusion measurement frameworks that outline this expanded understanding of financial inclusion.
Our work at Cenfri rarely follows the typical rhythms of the calendar year, yet, as 2024 draws to a close, we thought it would be good to reflect on what we’ve achieved. It’s been a busy few months: we’ve worked on around 50 projects and undertaken work-related travel to 19
How can we prevent high healthcare costs and low insurance penetration from driving people into poverty? Imagine facing a medical emergency without insurance and having to choose between your health and financial stability. This is the harsh reality for many Kenyans, with 38.6% living below the poverty line and catastrophic
On 1 December 2024, South Africa will take over the G20 presidency. This is a fantastic opportunity for Africa. In his recent Troika high-level address at the United Nations (UN), International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, announced that South Africa’s presidency will prioritise the Global South, particularly the African
Digital financial services are transforming global financial service provision and access. Rapid developments in fintech are disrupting and transforming financial landscapes worldwide, leading to new partnerships, including those with traditional financial service providers, to better serve existing customers and reach previously underserved consumer segments. However, the benefits of DFS are
In 2021, migrants’ remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) reached US$540 billion, only 1.6 per cent below the US$548 billion seen in 2019, and are expected to recover in 2021. In the offset of the crisis, over 200 million migrants defied predictions of the pandemic and continued to
How can data and data-driven technologies impact financial inclusion efforts in Africa? As the region with the most unbanked and underserved citizens, combined with a growing mobile penetration rate and emerging digital identity (DigiID) systems — sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) could prove fertile ground for beneficial data-driven technologies that facilitate digital
Considering the changing role of financial regulators and responses to innovation Innovation creates opportunities, enhances efficiencies, increases competition, drives scale, and improves the reach and value of financial products and services to consumers. For many financial regulators, innovation is a double-edged sword which also brings risk, and due to its
The UNSGSA Financial Health Working Group (FHWG) was convened by HM Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). The working group has released two publications aimed at helping policymakers understand and measure financial health, notably in the context of financial
The power of frameworks to catalyse change In this age of information, we increasingly rely on data to inform our decisions. But it is not just the data itself which is important for decision making. The utility of data for policy and investment very much depends on the paradigms and
How financial inclusion must evolve to enable a COVID-19 recovery Sub-Saharan Africa has long been one of the financial inclusion sector’s top success stories. But according to David Ferrand, despite strong gains in inclusion across the region, the overall impact of that newfound financial access has been disappointing. Even before
Our work at Cenfri rarely follows the typical rhythms of the calendar year, yet, as 2024 draws to a close, we thought it would be good to reflect on what we’ve achieved. It’s been a busy few months: we’ve worked on around 50 projects and undertaken work-related travel to 19
How can we prevent high healthcare costs and low insurance penetration from driving people into poverty? Imagine facing a medical emergency without insurance and having to choose between your health and financial stability. This is the harsh reality for many Kenyans, with 38.6% living below the poverty line and catastrophic
On 1 December 2024, South Africa will take over the G20 presidency. This is a fantastic opportunity for Africa. In his recent Troika high-level address at the United Nations (UN), International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, announced that South Africa’s presidency will prioritise the Global South, particularly the African
Digital financial services are transforming global financial service provision and access. Rapid developments in fintech are disrupting and transforming financial landscapes worldwide, leading to new partnerships, including those with traditional financial service providers, to better serve existing customers and reach previously underserved consumer segments. However, the benefits of DFS are
In 2021, migrants’ remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) reached US$540 billion, only 1.6 per cent below the US$548 billion seen in 2019, and are expected to recover in 2021. In the offset of the crisis, over 200 million migrants defied predictions of the pandemic and continued to
How can data and data-driven technologies impact financial inclusion efforts in Africa? As the region with the most unbanked and underserved citizens, combined with a growing mobile penetration rate and emerging digital identity (DigiID) systems — sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) could prove fertile ground for beneficial data-driven technologies that facilitate digital
Considering the changing role of financial regulators and responses to innovation Innovation creates opportunities, enhances efficiencies, increases competition, drives scale, and improves the reach and value of financial products and services to consumers. For many financial regulators, innovation is a double-edged sword which also brings risk, and due to its
The UNSGSA Financial Health Working Group (FHWG) was convened by HM Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). The working group has released two publications aimed at helping policymakers understand and measure financial health, notably in the context of financial
The power of frameworks to catalyse change In this age of information, we increasingly rely on data to inform our decisions. But it is not just the data itself which is important for decision making. The utility of data for policy and investment very much depends on the paradigms and
How financial inclusion must evolve to enable a COVID-19 recovery Sub-Saharan Africa has long been one of the financial inclusion sector’s top success stories. But according to David Ferrand, despite strong gains in inclusion across the region, the overall impact of that newfound financial access has been disappointing. Even before
