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.
In a previous blog on 10 innovations in qualitative research, I wrote about the importance of using a greater variety of research designs, methods and data collection techniques when conducting financial inclusion research. Similarly, this blog discusses some innovative quantitative methods that could be used when conducting financial inclusion research.
Demand-side surveys (DSS) in financial inclusion are growing in popularity. These are surveys that focus on the consumers of financial services and, though this increase is encouraging, we find that existing DSS rely heavily on standard cross-sectional survey designs, and often ignore emerging qualitative survey techniques. Sticking to traditional methods is
As a researcher, few experiences are more gratifying than seeing your research come to life. With this in mind, we started our seven-month #DataHack4FI competition, bringing together young data enthusiasts, innovation hubs, development partners, fintechs and financial service providers (FSPs) to mobilise the data market around financial inclusion. From the
Highlights, Kigali, Rwanda, 10 -12 May 2017. insight2impact (i2ifacility) was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. The programme was established and driven by Cenfri and Finmark Trust.
Financial inclusion has evolved from a grass-root microfinance movement in the 1980s to a mainstream item on the development agenda. Its increasing prominence is attested, amongst others, by the formation of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the recognition of financial inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals and
Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are recognised globally as a major engine of growth and employment creation. Access to finance is their most commonly cited barrier to growth. The IFC estimates that there are between 200 and 245 million formal and informal MSMEs in developing countries that do not
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) may be one of the most challenging environments for financial services. From both a provider and consumer perspective, infrastructure, a rapidly changing financial services landscape and regional disparities pose significant challenges to the market. In 2014, the Ministry of Finance formally requested UNCDF’s
DataHack4FI is an innovation competition bringing together data enthusiasts and financial service providers (FSPs) to promote the use of data-driven decision-making in financial inclusion. insight2impact (i2ifacility) was funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. The programme was established and driven by Cenfri and Finmark Trust.
Faith owns a small fruit-selling business in Uganda. Like most small business owners in Uganda, Faith started her enterprise with her own income and lacks access to finance to grow beyond the few fruit stalls she owns. She doesn’t keep full financial records and lives most of her life informally
MAP Madagascar 2017 found that the island state has a largely agrarian population vulnerable to the extremes of nature: 72% of adults depended on agriculture, more than 4.2m adults experienced a climate-related shock in the preceding year, and at least 40% reported being uncertain about whether they will have food
In a previous blog on 10 innovations in qualitative research, I wrote about the importance of using a greater variety of research designs, methods and data collection techniques when conducting financial inclusion research. Similarly, this blog discusses some innovative quantitative methods that could be used when conducting financial inclusion research.
Demand-side surveys (DSS) in financial inclusion are growing in popularity. These are surveys that focus on the consumers of financial services and, though this increase is encouraging, we find that existing DSS rely heavily on standard cross-sectional survey designs, and often ignore emerging qualitative survey techniques. Sticking to traditional methods is
As a researcher, few experiences are more gratifying than seeing your research come to life. With this in mind, we started our seven-month #DataHack4FI competition, bringing together young data enthusiasts, innovation hubs, development partners, fintechs and financial service providers (FSPs) to mobilise the data market around financial inclusion. From the
Highlights, Kigali, Rwanda, 10 -12 May 2017. insight2impact (i2ifacility) was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. The programme was established and driven by Cenfri and Finmark Trust.
Financial inclusion has evolved from a grass-root microfinance movement in the 1980s to a mainstream item on the development agenda. Its increasing prominence is attested, amongst others, by the formation of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the recognition of financial inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals and
Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are recognised globally as a major engine of growth and employment creation. Access to finance is their most commonly cited barrier to growth. The IFC estimates that there are between 200 and 245 million formal and informal MSMEs in developing countries that do not
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) may be one of the most challenging environments for financial services. From both a provider and consumer perspective, infrastructure, a rapidly changing financial services landscape and regional disparities pose significant challenges to the market. In 2014, the Ministry of Finance formally requested UNCDF’s
DataHack4FI is an innovation competition bringing together data enthusiasts and financial service providers (FSPs) to promote the use of data-driven decision-making in financial inclusion. insight2impact (i2ifacility) was funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. The programme was established and driven by Cenfri and Finmark Trust.
Faith owns a small fruit-selling business in Uganda. Like most small business owners in Uganda, Faith started her enterprise with her own income and lacks access to finance to grow beyond the few fruit stalls she owns. She doesn’t keep full financial records and lives most of her life informally
MAP Madagascar 2017 found that the island state has a largely agrarian population vulnerable to the extremes of nature: 72% of adults depended on agriculture, more than 4.2m adults experienced a climate-related shock in the preceding year, and at least 40% reported being uncertain about whether they will have food
