Women's World Banking Blog

Driving Women's Financial Inclusion at All Levels

Explore the latest global and regional insights from Women’s World Banking’s work in policy, leadership, women’s entrepreneurship, gender lens investing, and more.

Latest Posts

Research & Perspectives

Insight Note: A Gender Lens on Financial Well-Being

Women’s financial well-being requires agency, and a gender lens on financial well-being is critical to ensuring it is a relevant outcome for women. Financial well-being and related concepts like financial health, financial security, and resilience are gaining prominence as important outcomes of financial services access and use. Getting these interconnected

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Southeast Asian woman using financial services on her smartphone, highlighting the importance of inclusive fintechs
General

Five Insights to Drive Digital Inclusion of Women

By Dr. Sonja Kelly, Global Vice President, Research & Advocacy, Women’s World Banking The early release of the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap 2024 headlines, the World Bank Global Digital Summit, and the preparations for Brazil’s G20 focus on digital identity and data governance converged this past week, with important insights

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General

Making Finance Work for Women for 45 Years | Blanca Estela Olvera

To celebrate Women’s World Banking’s 45th anniversary, we are showcasing the voices of individuals from around the world who have shaped and touched Women’s World Banking journey since its inception in 1979 at Commission on the Status of Women till today! These are stories from across Women’s World Banking’s reach

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General

Making Finance Work for Women for 45 Years | Michaela Walsh

An unchartered path always held an allure for her.   While it was unusual for a girl from Kansas City to go to college on the East Coast in the 50’s, she took the risk anyway.   After her freshman year at Manhattanville College in 1952, she jumpstarted her career and secured

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Products & Solutions

Digital Credit Activation Toolkit

This toolkit is designed to empower financial service providers in refining and enhancing their digital credit solutions to better serve low-income women, particularly micro-entrepreneurs. Providers will be equipped with strategies to design and implement initiatives aimed at improving access to credit for women, addressing the unique challenges they face in

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Research & Perspectives

Algorithmic Bias, Financial Inclusion, and Gender

By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, and Mehrdad Mirpourian, Senior Data Analyst The discussion around artificial intelligence (AI) as a driving force for the economy and society has become increasingly popular, as evidenced by more than two dozen AI-focused sessions at the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos.

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Report: Check Your Bias! A Field Guide for Lenders

Credit has always been a fundamental part of both formal and informal financial services. In the last three decades, however, the exponential growth in data and computing power has led to new ways of assessing creditworthiness. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have opened up the possibility of scoring

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Products & Solutions

Five Design Principles to Help Reach and Serve Cambodian Young Adult Women

By Ker Thao, Maria Serenade, and Elwyn Panggabean Globally, the emerging youth population presents a potential for economic growth. However, youth in developing countries also still face barriers to access financial services, such as three of 10 million Cambodian young adults who remain financially underserved. Youth savings, in particular, has

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Displacement, Financial Inclusion and Financial Resilience

A Longitudinal Study of Displaced Ukrainian Women’s Financial and Economic Lives Scroll down to download the report. Forced displacement profoundly impacts individuals’ finances, livelihoods, and social networks, especially exacerbating gender disparities for women. Women’s World Banking’s 18-month study on externally displaced Ukrainian women explores their financial and economic challenges, emphasizing

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General

What is Economic Violence Against Women and Why Does it Matter?

By Tayler Nelson (Graduate Research Intern, Doctoral Candidate in Sociology at the University of Minnesota), Megan Dwyer Baumann (Regional Research Lead, Latin America, Women’s World Banking), Soraya Husain-Talero (Research Director, Fundación WWB Colombia) Despite gains in women’s rights and agency throughout the past century, violence against women remains a prevalent

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Leadership & Diversity

Case Study: 2022 Leadership & Diversity Program for Regulators

Scroll down to download the case study. In 2022, the fourth cohort graduated from our Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators (the LDR program). For this case study, we interviewed three participants who share their experience of developing a gender inclusive policy initiative during the program. The LDR program, created

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Reaching Financial Equality for Women (2023 Edition)

Scroll down to download the report. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the largest reverse in poverty since the Second World War. The UN estimates that at least 388 million women and girls were living in extreme poverty in 2022. Climate shocks are increasing in frequency, with disproportionate impacts on women.

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Research & Perspectives

From Access to Use: Insights on Serving Women Banking Customers in India

Scroll down to download the report. India leads the world in the expansion of financial access to low-income people, especially low-income women. As the access challenge is nearly solved, the opportunity financial services providers now face is engaging their customers. Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are uniquely positioned to effect a

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Research & Perspectives

Policy Diagnostic: Rural Women and Financial Inclusion

Financial inclusion is not an end in itself, but an enabler of other positive financial, economic and social outcomes for groups historically excluded from financial and other services. This diagnostic focuses specifically on women’s financial inclusion in rural areas, including demand-side challenges and customer needs often experienced by women more

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Products & Solutions

Digital Financial Services: Account Activation Toolkit

Digital financial services (DFS) are rapidly becoming a transformative force in driving financial inclusion and economic growth and empowerment. Low-income women often face specific challenges in accessing financial services, which hinders their economic empowerment. By enabling women’s participation in DFS, we address gender inequality, promote economic participation and bolster overall

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Products & Solutions

Closing the Access to Skills Gap: Resource Roundup  

As part of our work focused on closing the skills gap, we are collating in one place resources from Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion (WDFI) Advocacy Hub coalition members to help governments, financial service providers and civil society organizations ensure every woman has access to initiatives that can increase her confidence

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Africa
General

Building Local Presence for Scale & Impact in Africa

By Ade Ashaye, Regional Head for Africa, Women’s World Banking If you ever find yourself in Lagos, particularly Marina, you’ll encounter a bustling financial hub. Picture a towering 30-story marble tower, which serves as the headquarters for one of the largest banks in Africa. Right next door is an open

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Designing Philanthropic Partnership for Scale & Impact

In October 2017, Visa Foundation granted $20 million to Women’s World Banking over five years. Immediately prior to receiving the Visa Foundation grant, Women’s World Banking launched an ambitious 10-year strategy to work at a greater scale to achieve greater impact. The Visa Foundation grant was fundamental to the successful

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Research & Perspectives

Climate Change & Women’s Financial Inclusion

Scroll down to download the research agenda. By 2050, climate change effects are expected to cause the internal displacement of 216 million people (IOM, 2023); sea level rise of multiple feet and associated flooding in New York City and other global coastal cities (Oppenheimer et al., 2019; NY DEC, n.d.);

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Southeast Asian woman using financial services on her smartphone, highlighting the importance of inclusive fintechs
General

Bridging the Gender Gap: How Fintechs Drive Financial Inclusion

Fintech companies are reshaping the way we interact with money and financial services, and their impact goes beyond just convenience and efficiency. A fintech, or financial technology company, is an innovative organization that leverages digital technology to provide a wide range of financial services, including digital banking, mobile payments and

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Research & Perspectives

Policy Brief: Making Digital Public Infrastructure Work for Women

The World Bank Global Findex Database 2021 reports a gender gap of 6% in account ownership across developing economies. While it is encouraging to see the gender gap fall from 9% over the last ten years, women still constitute a significant proportion of the unbanked population in low and lower

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Women in Leadership: A diverse group of colleagues in an office
Leadership & Diversity

Advancing Women in Leadership Roles: Inclusion Insights

Women’s representation in leadership positions remains a pressing issue globally. According to OMFIF’s 2023 Gender Balance Index, at the current rate of progress, it would take over a century to achieve gender parity in leadership roles for central banks and major financial institutions. Despite significant advancements in recent years, women

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A diverse team representing work in gender lens investing
Gender Lens Investing

Gender Lens Investing: Driving Financial Returns and Social Impact

What is Gender Lens Investing? Gender lens investing has emerged as a powerful impact investment strategy that combines pursuing financial returns with pursuing gender equality and social well-being. It recognizes the importance of investing in women as business owners, as purchasers/customers, as well as in their workforce and leadership roles,

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General

Charting the Path to Universal Financial Inclusion

Read Part 1, From Exclusion to Empowerment: The Meaning of Financial Inclusion The Cost of Financial Exclusion of Women Despite women’s increasing influence in the global economy and their significant contribution to consumer spending, the fact remains that nearly a billion women worldwide are unbanked and lack access to essential

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A woman entrepreneur using digital financial services, showing the use case for financial inclusion
General

From Exclusion to Empowerment: The Meaning of Financial Inclusion

“Although three-quarters of a billion women are still excluded from the formal financial system, we remain steadfast in the mission to usher in universal financial inclusion to unlock the potential of women worldwide.” – Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women’s World Banking What is Financial Inclusion? Our world

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Products & Solutions

In Conversation with Wema Bank’s Adekunle Alarapon: In a Digitally Dominant Era, Physical Touchpoints Remain Essential for Financial Inclusion

Adekunle Alarapon (ACIB, CDEF) is Head of Retail Segments for Wema Bank Plc, where he holds responsibilities for Agent Banking & Financial Inclusion, Gaming & Entertainment Business, Workplace Banking and Female Gender (Sara) Propositions. Mr. Alarapon has more than 20 years of banking experience in operations, control, commercial, retail and

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Revolutionizing Product Design in Financial Services

As Women’s World Banking President and CEO, Mary Ellen Iskenderian, puts it: “The global average hides the starker reality of the situation women face. In some countries it will take over 100 years to achieve gender equality in financial access without further intervention.” Even more, the World Economic Forum estimates

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Research & Perspectives

2022 Impact Report

2022 proved to be a pivotal year for Women’s World Banking, as we increased our influence and reach across all our activities.

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Research & Perspectives

Policy Brief: Why Advocate for More Women Banking Agents?

Research from Women’s World Banking and our partners highlights the significant benefits of more women banking agents, both for the Financial Services Providers (FSPs) that employ them and for the women agents themselves. But in order to reap these benefits, FSPs need guidance and support from policymakers when it comes

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Building Digital Finance Solutions for Women E-Commerce Entrepreneurs: A Demand-Side Exploration in Indonesia

Until early 2023, 64.2 million MSMEs in Indonesia represented 96% of the labor force. Of these businesses, about two-thirds are women-owned. While not all of these are e-commerce businesses, 24% of MSMEs (~17.5 million MSMEs) have used e-commerce in marketing their products in 2021. This growing sub-segment of Indonesian businesses

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Products & Solutions

Policy Advocacy Across Indonesia: A Promising Beginning for Women Ultra-Micro Entrepreneurs

By Vitasari Anggraeni, Elwyn Panggabean, Freya Nadira Women’s World Banking identifies regulations, mandates, or country level priorities such as presidential mandates or G20 recommendations that can be the driving force for women’s financial inclusion and engagement. During the 2022 G20 Presidency, held by Indonesia, women’s entrepreneurship served as one of

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Event

Unlocking Credit for Women-Led Micro Businesses

By Pallavi Madhok, Director, Advisory Services – South Asia, Women’s World Banking Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the country’s economic growth engines. Many MSMEs have struggled to sustain themselves in the aftermath of the pandemic and require financial support to overcome the economic downturn. Women-led small businesses –

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Meet the 2023 Fintech Innovation Challenge Finalists

Women’s World Banking is thrilled to announce the top four finalists of this year’s Fintech Innovation Challenge. The four finalists will compete for the Grand Prize in a live pitch event on May 25, 2023 in Mumbai, India, as part of the Making Finance Work for Women Summit. This year,

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The Savings Mobilization Replication Toolkit

Few financial products and services are developed with the needs of the low-income woman customer in mind or account for the challenges that a low-income woman might face. Many financial products are not set up to sustain the continued interaction required to create the trust that the low-income woman needs

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Leadership & Diversity

Empowering Ideas into Action Through the 2022 Leadership & Diversity Program for Regulators

The Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators (LDR) is a multi-week learning program taught by Women’s World Banking and Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. It equips senior officials and high-potential women leaders from government ministries, central banks and regulators in emerging markets with the skills to create an enabling environment

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Research & Perspectives

Check Your Bias: Gender Bias Scorecard for Lenders

There are many ways to measure and track fairness in lending. This scorecard offers some of the more common fairness indicators used by Women’s World Banking in its diagnostic process with lenders. Paying attention to these indicators, particularly over time, will offer institutions an evidence base so they can identify

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Advancing Women As Leaders in Nigeria’s Finance Industry

In the last decade, Nigeria’s finance industry has made significant strides in increasing the representation of women. No sector’s success is more quantifiable than that of the banking sector. At the publishing of this report, of Nigeria’s 24 commercial banks, eight have women as Chief Executive Officers (CEO), a historic

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Making Jan Dhan Work for Rural Women

India has made a huge amount of progress in the last-mile delivery of banking services to underserved communities. The opening of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts has provided millions of Indians with access to at least a basic account. Since its launch in 2014, the number of PMJDY

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WWB News

Remembering Women’s World Banking Founding Member Ela Bhatt

We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Ms. Ela Ramesh Bhatt, an iconic leader and a Founding Member of Women’s World Banking. Elaben (“ben” meaning “ sister”), as she was known, was a true trailblazer in advancing women’s empowerment and financial inclusion – first in India,

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Event

Women’s World Banking Announces 2023 Fintech Innovation Challenge Semifinalists

10 later stage fintechs pioneering innovative financial solutions for the low-income women’s market announced as semifinalists; first-ever Female Founder’s Circle participants named November 2, 2022 – At the Singapore FinTech Festival today, Women’s World Banking announced the 10 semifinalists for the 2023 Fintech Innovation Challenge, a global competition to highlight

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Leadership & Diversity

Women’s World Banking Connects with the Leadership & Diversity Program for Regulators Graduates at the 2022 AFI Global Policy Forum

By the Leadership & Diversity Team: Francesca Brown, Sarah Buitoni, Elizabeth Ingerfield, & Nana Ampah On the 5th and 6th September our Leadership & Diversity Team attended the 2022 AFI Global Policy Forum in Jordan. Here the team met with our 2022 Leadership & Diversity Program for Regulators (LDR) participants

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Research & Perspectives

Climate change has a disproportionate impact on low-income women. Here’s how financial institutions can change that.

By Nithya Sharma (Women’s World Banking); Carolanne Boughton, and Sasha Polikarpova (Baringa) The impact of climate change is reverberating around the world, with increasing frequency and severity of weather events, rising temperatures, and loss of biodiversity. While multilateral governance bodies including the United Nations emphasize that the world’s wealthiest countries,

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Research & Perspectives

Ukrainian Women Refugees are Not Financially Resilient. Here’s Why.

By Dr. Megan Dwyer Baumann and Dr. Sonja Kelly Download the report at the end of the blog. In late February 2022, Ukrainians left their homes as Russia invaded, preparing to flee to neighboring countries like Poland, Moldova, and Romania. To date, there have been nearly 12 million border crossings

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WWB News

Women’s World Banking Announces the Appointment of Aliko Dangote Foundation CEO Zouera Youssoufou and Morgan Stanley Managing Director Seema Hingorani to Board of Directors

New Board members bring leadership in driving economic empowerment outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa and amongst young girls through digital financial and investment literacy. NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2022 — Women’s World Banking today announced the appointment of two new members to its Board of Directors. This brings the number of Board members

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Products & Solutions

#ItsHerEconomyToo Interview Series: How One Indian Fintech Company is Advancing Women’s Digital Equity

In this series we dive into the work happening around the world with Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion Advocacy Hub partners, and explore how they are driving women’s digital financial inclusion. As evidenced by this year’s Global Findex Report, digital financial inclusion isn’t just an urgent moral imperative, but an economic one

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Research & Perspectives

Women’s Financial Inclusion Through Movable Collateral: Three Case Studies

Women benefit disproportionately more from effective movable collateral systems because women are less likely than men to own fixed assets. Women are simultaneously less likely to access and use formal financial tools and services, including credit. These asymmetries result in a $1.7 trillion (USD) credit gender gap among entrepreneurs. When

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Event

Women’s World Banking Announces 2023 Fintech Innovation Challenge to Elevate Fintechs with New Solutions to Close the Gender Gap in Financial Services

Competition invites later stage fintechs pioneering innovative financial solutions for the low-income women’s market to apply; finalists and winner to access premier fintech networks and resources NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2022 – Women’s World Banking announced today the 2023 Fintech Innovation Challenge, a global competition to highlight and advance solutions to

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Research & Perspectives

Women’s World Banking’s 2021 Impact Report

For Women’s World Banking, 2021 marked a year of scale and expanded impact. Our new structure reflects our mission to advance financial inclusion as a global and advocacy-focused organization: Global Client Services expands our in-market presence and builds capabilities and decision-making authority in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, and Mexico.

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Research & Perspectives

Global Findex 2021: Women’s World Banking Response

Six Insights from the 2021 World Bank Global Findex Data  By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research & Advocacy For those of us in the financial inclusion world, the release of the Global Findex is a pivotal moment. The data are typically compiled every three years – this time, due to Covid,

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Pioneers of Financial Inclusion

Driving Gender Equality in the Financial System with Women’s World Banking CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian

Mary Ellen begins with the book’s central idea: microfinance is not a solution to women’s financial inclusion. Born in the 1970s, microfinance entailed providing small, unsecured loans to people from low socioeconomic backgrounds so that they could successfully start and grow their own businesses. Microfinance quickly became popular as a

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Leadership & Diversity

A Q&A with Mary Ellen Iskenderian On “There’s Nothing Micro About a Billion Women”: The Micro and Macro Impact of Empowering Women Through Financial Inclusion

Nearly one billion women remain outside the formal financial system, unable to participate in or benefit from financial growth and prosperity. Despite advances for women in recent decades, the gender gap in financial inclusion stubbornly remains at 9% across the emerging markets, requiring greater efforts from financial service providers and

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Products & Solutions

How to get low-income women to save in bank accounts

By Angela Ang and Elwyn Panggabean, Women’s World Banking Last year, we collaborated with Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), one of Indonesia’s largest state-owned banks involved in distributing benefits of the PKH (Program Keluarga Harapan or Family Hope Program), a conditional cash transfer program for low-income families. Together, we developed an

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WWB News

There’s Nothing Micro about a Billion Women: Making Finance Work for Women by Mary Ellen Iskenderian explores the transformative impact of financial inclusion

Why it takes more than microloans to empower women and promote sustainable, inclusive economic growth. “In her book, Mary Ellen Iskenderian reminds us to ask where our bank finance flows and how much is used for building unequal wealth or destructive institutions that harm humans and the natural environment. How

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WWB News

72 Microfinance Institutions Join Inaugural Financial Inclusion Index

Impact performance measurement of microfinance institutions in 41 countries will launch in Q2 2022 with support from sector leaders. April 13, 2022 – In a global effort to promote standard, comparable impact outcomes data for the microfinance industry, 60 Decibels will release the first microfinance index driven entirely by end

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Sharia Finance & Women’s Financial Inclusion in Indonesia

Indonesia has the largest number of Muslims of any country in the world, at 237 million. In recent years, the national Government of Indonesia and some of its province-level governments have shown interest in increasing the availability of Sharia-compliant financial products and services for Indonesians. Indonesia aims to reach 90

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Research & Perspectives

Understanding and Unlocking the Potential of Women Ultra-Micro Entrepreneurs in Indonesia

Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a significant role in Indonesia’s economy, accounting for 61% of its gross domestic product. An even smaller segment—ultra-micro businesses—is helping drive economic growth, as well. Since 2017, Pusat Investasi Pemerintah (PIP), an Indonesian government agency, has disbursed loans to 5.4 million ultra-micro entrepreneurs,

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Products & Solutions

Women’s World Banking Celebrates Milestone Anniversaries and Achievements of Network Members

For 43 years, Women’s World Banking’s Global Network has played a vital role in advancing our mission of empowering low-income women through financial inclusion. This Women’s History Month, we are celebrating milestone anniversaries of eight of our Network Members, showcasing their achievements in advancing women’s financial inclusion and gender equality.

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Research & Perspectives

Breaking the Bias for Women in the Workplace through Male Allyship

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Andy Woolnough, Global Head of Advocacy at Women’s World Banking, and Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, discussed the importance of male allyship in breaking gender biases in the workplace and creating more inclusive environments for women to thrive. Watch the full video

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Event

Beyond Credit: How to Support Women-Owned MSMEs for Sustainable Growth

SME Finance Forum and Women’s World Banking’s hosted panel explores how financial service providers can leverage business support services to empower women-led businesses with the skills, networks, and resources needed to reach their growth potential. For micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), monetary support is not the sole determinant of

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Leadership & Diversity

Case Study: What it Takes: Insights from Women Leaders in Financial Inclusion

As part of our Leadership & Diversity programs, Women’s World Banking tracks the career paths of high-potential women leaders, both to enhance our future program offerings for new generations of leaders and to share their experiences with others. With funding support from Credit Suisse, Women’s World Banking conducted case study

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Leadership & Diversity

In Conversation with Caroline Abel, Catia Tomasetti, Jorgovanka Tabaković, and Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus: Paving the Way for Female Leadership in Central Banks

In financial institutions around the world, women continue to be underrepresented in senior leadership, with only 14 holding the governorship at a Central Bank. Previously in this series, Women’s World Banking spoke with the Governors of the Central Banks of Malaysia, San Marino, Serbia, and Seychelles about navigating success and

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Leadership & Diversity

In Conversation with Caroline Abel, Catia Tomasetti, Jorgovanka Tabaković, and Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus: Reflections on a Successful Career in Central Banking

Across the globe, central banks and other regulatory agencies face a persistent and significant gender gap in leadership. Today, the number of women serving as Governor—the most senior position—at a Central Bank totals only 14, illustrating a clear need for greater diversity in leadership. In Part I of this Q&A,

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Leadership & Diversity

Women in Leadership: 5 Lessons for Navigating Change

Whether in the day-to-day context or amid the upheaval wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the struggles of leadership are universal. For women, who continue to battle gender stereotypes in the workplace and shoulder a disproportionate share of care responsibilities (among other obstacles), the choice to exercise leadership comes with additional

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Market Opportunities for Women’s Savings: Evidence from India

Women’s World Banking’s work with women customers as well as relevant literature in the field, shows that women who save are better positioned to support their families, weather emergencies, take advantage of economic opportunities, and build their businesses. In this study, we collected and analyzed data to better understand why

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Research & Perspectives

2020 Annual Report: Fostering Greater Resilience for Low-Income Women: The State of Financial Inclusion During COVID-19

Nearly two years into the pandemic, the economic shocks of COVID-19 are still felt across the globe and particularly by women, who have been disproportionately affected by the crisis. In 2020, Women’s World Banking amplified its efforts to create greater economic stability and security for low-income women, adapting and innovating

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Pioneers of Financial Inclusion

Women’s World Banking: In Conversation with Pia Tayag

Women’s World Banking: In Conversation with… Ms. Pia Tayag is the Director of the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). She leads a team that provides technical and operational support to Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, who has served as the

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Research & Perspectives

How we are leveraging Nobel-prize winning techniques in our research

Applying Angrist and Imbens’ research methodologies enable Women’s World Banking to explore the impacts of its products and solutions on women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment across the globe in the context of real-world conditions By Sonja Kelly (Director of Research & Advocacy) and Justin Archer (Global Research Lead, Quantitative)

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Event

Women’s World Banking Announces Fintech Innovation Challenge Winners

Third annual global fintech competition celebrates trail-blazing solutions for women’s financial inclusion NEW YORK, NY, October 12, 2021 — Women’s World Banking announced today Boost Capital and People’s Pension Trust as the winners of its Third Annual Fintech Innovation Challenge, part of the organization’s Making Finance Work for Women Thought

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Products & Solutions

International Day of the Girl: Women’s World Banking Highlights

Today we celebrate Day of the Girl, because every young woman carries with her the potential to change the world and drive economies that prosper. Donate today and help us continue to honor International Day of the Girl through our youth savings work: Women’s World Banking is proud to work

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Products & Solutions

Accelerating Adoption of Digital Financial Services: Replicating a digital account usage solution for factory workers in Cambodia

By Whitney Mapes, Elwyn Panggabean For low-income women worldwide, digital financial services can act as a stepping stone to greater financial inclusion, yet barriers to activating usage have prevented women from realizing their full benefits. Among the many obstacles women face to using digital financial services are a lack of

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Products & Solutions

Report: The Power of Jan Dhan: Making Finance Work for Women in India

Women’s World Banking’s first industry report in India highlights the design of its unique ‘Jan Dhan Plus’ solution, and learnings from a subsequent pilot study that helped nurture regular savings behavior among low-income women in the country. To understand women’s savings behaviors, Women’s World Banking worked with Bank of Baroda,

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Research & Perspectives

UNCDF’s Inclusive Digital Economies and Gender Equality Playbook

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has recently launched the Inclusive Digital Economies and Gender Equality Playbook. This playbook is a practical how-to guide on leveraging the market system development approach to decrease the digital and financial divide for women and girls, use technology to improve women’s economic opportunities,

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Women’s Economic Empowerment and Financial Inclusion in Indonesia

In 2020 and 2021, Women’s World Banking conducted exploratory research — both qualitative and quantitative — to map the linkages between women’s financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment in Indonesia. Grounded in an analysis of norms governing women’s agency, ability to enact preferences, bargaining power, and financial independence, this resulting

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Designing Digital Payments for Mexican Women Entrepreneurs

Mexico’s 6.3 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) generate nearly half of Mexico’s GDP and employ 37 percent of the workforce. Of MSMEs, 94.2 percent are microenterprises, and over half of these are women-owned or women-led. Despite this segment’s dominance in the economy, the majority of MSMEs transactions are

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Leadership & Diversity

Report: Leadership as a Driver of Innovative Financial Services for Women

Over the last six years, Women’s World Banking has supported leaders of financial service providers (FSPs) through our Leadership & Diversity for Innovation Program (LDIP). The LDIP seeks to develop the skills of senior executives and high-potential women leaders to enable them to successfully serve low-income women, while charting a

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Products & Solutions

Why Isn’t Movable Collateral Working for Women in Mexico?

Women around the world are less likely to own fixed assets than men. They are also are less likely to access credit for their businesses, resulting in an often cited $17 billion credit gender gap among entrepreneurs. And when they do get credit, they are given smaller loans than their

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Research & Perspectives

Movable Collateral in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities

Mexico’s burgeoning micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) customer segment needs stronger financial products and services. Over the last decade, the Unique Registry of Gaurantees (RUG) in Mexico has sought to meet this need, with limited success. The RUG is Mexico’s current record to establish, protect, and mobilize movable collateral

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Research & Perspectives

Help Wanted: A Global Push Toward Algorithmic Fairness

A Q & A with Sonja Kelly of Women’s World Banking and Alex Rizzi of CFI, building on Women’s World Banking’s report and CFI’s report on algorithmic bias It seems conversations around biased AI have been around for some time. Is it too late to address this? Alex: It’s just

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Research & Perspectives

Leveraging Digital Financial Capability to Drive Women’s Financial Inclusion

By Marina Dimova, Managing Director of Design and Innovation, Women’s World Banking and Julia Arnold, Senior Research Director, Women’s Financial Inclusion, Center for Financial Inclusion Informed and empowered men and women make fewer risky financial decisions than those with less knowledge. And for a low-income woman, having the right knowledge

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Research & Perspectives

Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment to Effect Change

By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, and Mehrdad Mirpourian, Senior Data Analyst Not everything that matters can be measured. The data surrounding financially marginalized groups is sparse. This lack of data limits financial service providers and policymakers’ ability to design for women’s needs. However, many significant issues, like

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Products & Solutions

Deepening Women’s Financial Inclusion through G2P Programs: Building Savings Behavior among PKH Beneficiaries in Indonesia

By Angela Ang, Andi Setianto, Whitney Mapes, and Elwyn Panggabean As COVID-19 has exposed economic fault lines around the world, governments have responded by extending economic lifelines to the most vulnerable populations. According to the World Bank, at least 200 countries and territories have offered some kind of COVID-19-related financial

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Building Capacity for Client-Centered Cash Assistance

In May 2020, Women’s World Banking conducted its first remote research during the Covid-19 pandemic with 44 beneficiaries, PKH facilitators, and bank agents across 11 districts of Indonesia. The research reveals that further efforts are needed to ensure beneficiaries have critical information about the program to support their financial planning and

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Research & Perspectives

Report: From Cash to Digital Wage Payments in the Philippines

With support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and in partnership with the International Labour Organization, Women’s World Banking assessed the awareness, use, and acceptance of digital wage payments among enterprises and workers in the Philippines. The Philippines’ thriving digital economy and proliferation of new digital solutions,

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Research & Perspectives

Reaching Financial Equality for Women: A 10-point action plan

The impact of COVID-19 has hit women and girls hard. The World Bank reports that 2021 will bring the first increase in extreme poverty since 1998, with a minimum of 71 million people expected to fall into destitution, and UN Women estimates that at least 47 million more women and girls will fall below the

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Empowering Women on a Journey Towards Digital Financial Capability

Financial inclusion is becoming more and more digital. To accelerate this journey to digitization, and not let women customers be left even further behind, we need to ensure policymakers and financial service providers focus on effectively supporting women customers build their digital financial capabilities, so they can use digital financial services with ease and confidence.  This report

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Algorithmic Bias, Financial Inclusion, and Gender: A primer on opening up new credit to women in emerging economies

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are changing financial services offerings to customers across the globe. Historically, women have been the victims of unconscious bias in lending decisions. Algorithm-enabled credit decisions have the potential to create a level playing field for female customers worldwide—but only if we find and mitigate biases

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Products & Solutions

Women’s World Banking and the Australian Government’s Renewed Partnership for 2020-2024: Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment in Southeast Asia

By Julie-Ann Guivarra, Ambassador for Gender Equality, DFAT and Mary Ellen Iskenderian, CEO & President, Women’s World Banking In 2016, Women’s World Banking and the Australian Government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), teamed up to build a more secure and prosperous future for low-income women in

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Research & Perspectives

Building Resilience and Savings for Women Customers Post COVID-19

2021 will be a crucial year for women to build their financial resilience and begin recovering from the setbacks created by COVID-19. According to a recent McKinsey report, women globally are twice as likely to experience job loss due to the pandemic, despite making up only 39% of total employment.

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Research & Perspectives

Data Deep Dive: Her Resilience in the Face of COVID-19

Women’s World Banking’s global network of financial service providers (FSPs) champions women’s financial inclusion in their local markets, shares best practices, and leverages expertise in inclusive economies. Never has this community of practice been more important to women’s economic empowerment than now, particularly with the COVID-19 pandemic creating adverse economic

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Leadership & Diversity

Investing in Women Leaders and Empowering Women Customers Go Hand-in-Hand at AMK, a Cambodian Financial Institution

By Victoria Johnson, Research Associate and Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy Investing in women is smart business. Data shows that having women leaders improves financial performance, increases sales, leads to better decision-making, and creates a more inclusive corporate culture. On the other hand, women customers are often underserved,

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Research & Perspectives

Can Data Predict the Future of Women’s Economic Empowerment?

By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, and Mehrdad Mirpourian, Senior Data Analyst Women’s World Banking is starting on a journey to find out if data can predict the future of women’s economic empowerment—and we’d like you to follow along. The task is daunting, even for a team of

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Gender Lens Investing

The Business Case for Investing in African Women

By Tokunboh Ishmael, Managing Director and co-Founder, Alitheia Capital What is good for gender equality is good for the economy and society as well. – McKinsey & Company An estimated 120 million Nigerian women are susceptible to the health consequences of firewood use. Of this, about 95,000 die each year

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Research & Perspectives

New evidence on how to empower women-owned businesses in Kenya

By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, Women’s World Banking One of the most elusive questions in financial inclusion is how to facilitate growth of small businesses—and particularly of women-owned businesses. With this question in mind, in 2016 Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Women’s World Banking set out on

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Empowering MSMEs: Creating a Better Banking Experience for Women-Led Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Kenya

Women’s World Banking partnered with Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) from 2016 to 2019 to optimize financial and business support services for women-led micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya. An accompanying research effort evaluated the effectiveness of program implementation and the resulting outcomes for KCB’s MSME customers, especially women.

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Research & Perspectives

Sexist AI? What to do about gender-based algorithmic bias in the financial sector

By Sonja Kelly, Director of Research and Advocacy, Women’s World Banking Bias happens. It is widely discussed across the world as different industries use machine learning and artificial intelligence to increase efficiency in their processes. I’m sure you’ve seen the headlines. Amazon’s hiring algorithm systematically screened out women candidates. Microsoft’s

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Research & Perspectives

Focus on Colombia: G2P Payments in Response to COVID-19

By Ana Maria Prieto Mrs. Ana Maria Prieto is currently Deputy Director at the Unit of Financial Regulation of Colombia where she has actively worked on the design and implementation of the strategy of financial inclusion and of financial education in Colombia. She was a panelist on the Making Finance

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Research & Perspectives

Women’s Economic Empowerment is the Doorway to Economic Recovery and Growth Post-COVID-19; Fintechs are the Key

This is cross-posted from DC Fintech Week where our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian spoke on the panel “Building Equity into Start-Ups: Lessons from Women in Fintech.” We also want to congratulate our winners from our Making Finance Work for Women Fintech Innovation Challenge 2020 winners, Tyme and myAgro! Co-Authors: Mary Ellen Iskenderian,

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Event

Women’s World Banking announces renewed funding from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for Southeast Asia Partnership from 2020-2024

This renewed, four-year partnership will enable Women’s World Banking to accelerate its support for low-income women throughout Southeast Asia, with a focus on COVID-19 recovery and resilience New York, October 22, 2020 – Women’s World Banking announces that Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has renewed its support

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Research & Perspectives

Indonesia’s largest cash transfer program pivoted quickly in response to Covid-19. Can beneficiaries keep up?

By Sophie Theis, Victoria Johnson, Rahmi Yunaningsih, and Elwyn Panggabean Indonesia’s Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) was uniquely positioned to rapidly modify its conditional cash transfer program in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. As government-to-person (G2P) payment programs around the world adjust to accommodate the reality of the pandemic, Women’s

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WWB News

Women’s World Banking and UNCDF Launch Strategic Partnership to Advance Women’s Economic Empowerment in Emerging Markets and Least Developed Countries

Partnership aims to accelerate access to, and usage of, digital financial tools, services and enabling technologies to help low-income women build economic resilience. Women’s World Banking and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) today announced a strategic partnership to enhance financial inclusion and access to digital financial services for

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WWB News

Women’s World Banking announces finalists for second annual Making Finance Work for Women Fintech Innovation Challenge

Press Release NEW YORK, September 24, 2020 – Women’s World Banking is pleased to announce the four finalists of its second annual Making Finance Work for Women Fintech Innovation Challenge. The finalists, chosen from a record-breaking pool of competitive and diverse applicants, represent an exciting new wave of innovative solutions

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Research & Perspectives

Digital Cash Transfers in Times of COVID-19: Opportunities and Considerations for Women’s Inclusion and Empowerment

Women’s economic empowerment will be essential for a global economic recovery. Given pre-existing gender gaps, there are concerns about exclusion for many of the social assistance programs already being rolled out around the world. Social protection systems that ignore gender inequality will likely fail to mitigate the risks of COVID-19

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Delivering on the potential of digitized G2P: Driving women’s financial inclusion and empowerment through Indonesia’s Program Keluarga Harapan

Financial institutions and governments have been working for years to leverage digitized G2P for women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment. COVID-19 has increased the stakes, as governments look to use G2P programs to strengthen women’s resilience. New research from Women’s World Banking offers insights on Indonesia’s PKH program, the country’s largest conditional cash transfer. Click here to download the

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Research & Perspectives

Getting G2P Right in Indonesia—Right Now

By Sophie Theis, Giudy Rusconi, Elwyn Panggabean, Sonja Kelly Women’s World Banking’s research shows government-to-person payments, if well-designed, hold potential for women’s economic empowerment and inclusion in Indonesia. With Covid-19, the stakes are even higher. For more than a decade, the financial inclusion community has recognized the potential of digitizing

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Research & Perspectives

Covid-19, Low Income Finance and Nine Takeaways from a Quick Survey

By Mehrdad (Mehi) Mirpourian, Senior Data Analyst, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, at Women’s World Banking  “There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.” – Albert Camus, The Plague Introduction Businesses function in environments that are agile and hard

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Research & Perspectives

Going Digital for Loan Disbursements and Repayments: A Smart Move in the Time of Covid-19

By Marina Dimova, Managing Director of Design and Innovation and Diana Boncheva Gooley, Manager of Digital Financial Services, Women’s World Banking The Covid-19 global pandemic has heightened the strategic importance of integrating digital channels into how financial services providers engage with customers. How can financial services providers respond to the

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WWB News

Announcing the Making Finance Work for Women 2020 Virtual Summit

During this time of uncertainty, it is important for us to convene as a community and focus on the economic impact that COVID-19 will have on underserved and unbanked women. To ensure that this vital conversation takes place and out of an abundance of caution, Women’s World Banking is shifting

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Leadership & Diversity

In Memory of Viji Das, CEO of Friends of Women’s World Banking

All of us at Women’s World Banking are devastated to learn the sad news of Viji Das’ passing. Throughout her life she was a strong, clear and brave voice for women’s empowerment at a time when it was hard, and sometimes even dangerous, for such views to be expressed. Indian

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Research & Perspectives

Report: Unlocking Credit For Women-Owned Enterprises in Southeast Asia through Value Chain Digitization

This report summarizes efforts by Women’s World Banking to answer three key questions: Which value chains in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam represent priority opportunities to develop increased credit offerings for women-owned MSMEs (micro-, small- & medium-sized enterprises) through value chain digitization? What forms of value chain digitization would

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Products & Solutions

Women’s World Banking, AID:Tech and Binance Charity Foundation to Expand Microinsurance to Two Million Women

Women’s World Banking, AID:Tech, and Binance Charity Foundation sign memorandum of understanding (MOU) to design new technology platform to accelerate scale of Caregiver microinsurance product New York, USA – November 8, 2019 —Women’s World Banking, AID:Tech, and Binance Charity Foundation today announced a partnership to design a new technology platform

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Products & Solutions

Building Digital Capacity for Women in Bangladesh

Project overview: Women’s World Banking partnered with Dutch Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) in Bangladesh with generous support from the MetLife foundation to understand why women are not engaging with digital financial services. Specifically, we looked at DBBL’s Rocket mobile wallet account usage. This work with DBBL will not only help

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Research & Perspectives

Economic Empowerment, Financial Inclusion, and Intimate Partner Violence

Key Findings from a Women’s World Banking Literature Review Exploring the Connection Many of us who work to advance women’s access to and use of financial services do so to improve women’s economic empowerment. A clear indicator of women’s lack of empowerment is her exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV).

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Event

MEDIA RELEASE | Women’s World Banking Announces Finalists for Inaugural Making Finance Work for Women FinTech Innovation Challenge

Contact: Karen Miller klm@womensworldbanking.org +1.212.556.3149 Winners will participate in the Singapore FinTech Festival’s Global Hackcelerator Demo Day New York — Women’s World Banking announced the four finalists of its inaugural Making Finance Work for Women FinTech Innovation Challenge today. The finalists, chosen from more than 80 applications, represent FinTech solutions

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Gender Lens Investing

Gender Lens Investing: Moving Beyond Numbers

Gender lens investing (GLI) is interpreted and implemented in many different ways, from investing in women-owned and -led enterprises to investing in enterprises specifically targeting women, and more. Shuyin Tang is a Partner at Patamar Capital, a venture capital firm focused on Series A and Series B investments in South

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WWB News

Read Our 2018 Annual Report

Just a couple of months ago, Women’s World Banking brought some of our closest friends and supporters together in New York to celebrate our 40th anniversary. The celebration provided an opportune moment to reflect on our legacy and our goals for the future. How fitting that our founders first conceived

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WWB News

devex | Facebook’s digital currency Libra: Why nonprofits are joining

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook, together with 27 partners ranging from Visa to Mercy Corps, has unveiled a new global currency built on blockchain. The company has been working on Libra for more than a year, but it is distancing itself from directly managing the cryptocurrency. Facebook created Calibra, the digital wallet that will store

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Research & Perspectives

Peer-to-Peer Learning Between Countries Can Foster Financial Inclusion

In April, Women’s World Banking convened policymakers from around the world—including Indonesia—at Oxford University’s Saïd School of Business for a leadership program for regulators focused on the development and promotion of policy initiatives for women and supporting banks in creating a pipeline of women leaders internally. This is not the first time that Women’s World Banking has partnered with regulators in Indonesia to encourage financial inclusion.

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WWB News

News | Digital Solutions for Financial Inclusion

Lotte Schou-Zibell is the Chief of Finance Sector Group, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department at the Asian Development Bank. She also serves as a member of Women’s World Banking’s Southeast Asia Advisory Council. This post was originally published on the Asian Development Blog. In Asia and the Pacific 9

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WWB News

MEDIA RELEASE | Women’s World Banking Celebrates 40 Years of Impact on the Lives of Women around the Globe

Women’s World Banking has appointed four new leaders to its Board of Directors: Patsy Doerr, Martin Ihrig, Anjali Kumar, and Janet Truncale. Their expertise in growth strategies, finance, law, and leadership and diversity will contribute to the effective delivery of Women’s World Banking’s strategy of driving greater scale in providing access to finance to low-income women in the coming years.

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Leadership & Diversity

MEDIA RELEASE | Women’s World Banking and Alliance for Financial Inclusion gather Central Bankers and Senior Policymakers from around the world to kick off its inaugural Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators

MEDIA RELEASE April 2, 2019   Contact: Karen Miller, +1 212 556 3149 or klm@womensworldbanking.org Women’s World Banking and Alliance for Financial Inclusion gather Central Bankers and Senior Policymakers from around the world to kick off its inaugural Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators   Oxford, England – Women’s World

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Client Stories

Latifah’s Story

Dendev’s tailoring business hit a familiar trap: she needs money to grow her business and she needs to grow her business to make money. Enter Xacbank.

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Client Stories

Allen’s Story

Dendev’s tailoring business hit a familiar trap: she needs money to grow her business and she needs to grow her business to make money. Enter Xacbank.

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Pioneers of Financial Inclusion

Jennifer Riria: A Model Leader for Women’s Empowerment

Jennifer Riria: A Model Leader for Women’s Empowerment Few women in the microfinance world are as recognizable as Jennifer Riria. She is the CEO of Kenya Women Holding, twice- voted Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (East Africa and Kenya respectively in 2013 and 2014) and a Ford Foundation

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Pioneers of Financial Inclusion

Essma Ben Hamida: Building a Movement for the Women of Tunisia

Essma Ben Hamida: Building a Movement for the Women of Tunisia By Sandy Salama Essma Ben Hamida is the co-founder and CEO of enda inter-arabe in Tunisia. When she was a young girl, her dream was to be a singer like Egypt’s Umm Kulthum. But due to limitations imposed by

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Pioneers of Financial Inclusion

Muna Sukthian: I am Very Happy When I See Other Women Succeed

Muna Sukthian: I am Very Happy When I See Other Women Succeed “As a woman who has been lucky enough to pursue my education and my interests, it is my responsibility to give this opportunity back to my community. I am very happy when I see other women succeed,” says

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Pioneers of Financial Inclusion

Nejira Nalic: Overcoming challenges to empower women

Nejira Nalic: Overcoming challenges to empower women As the director of MI-BOSPO, a Bosnian microcredit organization, Nejira Nalic has helped empower over 20,000 low- income women in this post-conflict country by providing them with access to microloans for their small businesses. While her native Bosnia legally grants women equal rights,

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Pioneers of Financial Inclusion

Ela Ramesh Bhatt: A Gandian Revolutionary

Guest blogger Jisha Francis tells the story of the incredible visionary for women’s rights, Elaben Bhatt, founder of Women’s World Banking network member in India, SEWA Bank.

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Products & Solutions

Making Mobile Money Work for Women

With a growing gender gap in financial inclusion in Bangladesh, it is imperative to understand the behavioral barriers women face when engaging with digital financial services.

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WWB News

MEDIA RELEASE | Women’s World Banking Welcomes Four New Members to its Board of Directors

Women’s World Banking has appointed four new leaders to its Board of Directors: Patsy Doerr, Martin Ihrig, Anjali Kumar, and Janet Truncale. Their expertise in growth strategies, finance, law, and leadership and diversity will contribute to the effective delivery of Women’s World Banking’s strategy of driving greater scale in providing access to finance to low-income women in the coming years.

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Research & Perspectives

Indian Women Aren’t Using Their Bank Accounts. This Is How and Why Women’s World Banking Plans to Change That.

India has experienced exponential growth and enacted innovative financial initiatives in recent years, but promising indicators of greater financial inclusion mask a concerning trend. About half of the women in India with personal bank accounts use them in a limited capacity or not at all. Women’s World Banking’s India Strategy

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WWB News

Introducing She Counts Members

She Counts, a global platform that harnesses the power of financial services to put savings and financial tools in the hands of women, enabling them to plan for a more prosperous future.

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Products & Solutions

Powering Economies by Investing in Women

Women’s World Banking’s recent Making Finance Work for Women Summit brought together leaders from the public and private sectors, investors, and researchers to discuss, debate and create the solutions to drive women’s financial inclusion globally.

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Leadership & Diversity

Introducing the Leadership and Diversity Program for Regulators: a new program of inclusive policy design and leadership development for financial regulators

Policymakers have the opportunity to play game changer in driving women’s financial inclusion efforts. However, a strong, gender-diverse team within the regulatory body needs to be in place to amplify these efforts. Women’s World Banking and AFI’s Leadership & Diversity for Regulators program provides the tools to design inclusive policies

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Products & Solutions

How to Create Financial Products that Win with Women

Often, many financial services providers only superficially tailor their products in order to reach the women’s market. If f they are to reach this untapped segment, they must articulate a clear business case, avoid being “gender-neutral” and use gender segmentation during product design and to meet women’s needs.

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Gender Lens Investing

An Open Letter to Scammers

A public service announcement concerning investments, fundraising and representation of our gender lens impact investment fund, Capital Partners.

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WWB News

We All Win When She Saves

Women’s World Banking hosted a Twitter chat to hear from three organizations about how they’re helping women build a better future through digital savings while creating a more sustainable business.

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WWB News

Danida announces grant to Women’s World Banking to increase women’s financial inclusion in Pakistan

Danida, the term used for Denmark’s development cooperation under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has announced a seven partner consortia to receive a total of DKK 60 million (approximately USD 10.04 million) for partnership projects. The partnerships will contribute to local economic growth, job and income opportunities with a focus on women and girls.

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ما وراء الشمول المالي، تعلم عن الحياة

Original post date of Beyond Financial Inclusion, Learning About Life ٢٨ فبراير ٢٠١٧ تدعى فاطمة، وبمجرد أن خطت أخيراً إلى الحجرة التي نعقد فيها جلسات المناقشات البؤرية الجماعية عن التأمين على الصحة في المغرب، كان من الواضح أنها الأكبر بين الخمس نساء الجالسات حول الطاولة، ترتدي فاطمة الزي التقليدي الفضفاض المزين بالتطريز،

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | Women’s World Banking hosts Making Finance Work for Women Summit in Dar es Salaam

Tanzanian Vice President H.E. Samia Suluhu Hassan joins biennial gathering of global leaders to advance financial inclusion for women For Immediate Release: October 24, 2017 Contact: Maura Hart, +1 212 556 3156 or meh@womensworldbanking.org DAR ES SALAAM—Global NGO Women’s World Banking brings its biennial international gathering, the Making Finance Work for Women

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كيف تحول منتج التأمين الأصغر إلى قصة نجاح

Original Post Date for How to Turn Your Microinsurance Product Into a Success Story: ٣ فبراير ٢٠١٦ بقلم مازن ايهم نمري، نائب المدير العام بقسم التأمين الصحي والتأمين على الحياة بالشركة الأردنية للتأمين عندما تواصل “صندوق المرأة” في الأردن مع فريق عمل “شركة التأمين الأردنية”، بهدف التعاون معاً لأجل منتج

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WWB News

Global SME Finance Forum 2017

This year’s SME Finance Forum will include interactive sessions, study tours to high-performing institutions, fintech demos, a B2B marketplace & networking sessions.

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Event

PRESS RELEASE | Diamond Bank, Women’s World Banking host global discussion on digital financial services for women

Diamond Bank today joins Women’s World Banking to host a global discussion on the role of digital financial services in empowering low-income women who do not have access to formal financial products. During a three-day workshop, discussants from the Central Bank of Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, Diamond Bank Plc, Jazz of Pakistan, BIMA of Cambodia and Women’s World Banking will examine the best practices in developing, enhancing and delivering world-class digital financial services to women.

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | Women’s World Banking announces three new leadership roles

Women’s World Banking adds three new senior positions, strengthening the global nonprofit’s leadership in addressing the most critical issues for women’s financial inclusion. With decades of experience in cutting edge technology, human-centered design and strategic partnerships, these three new leaders will help scale innovative, commercially viable financial solutions to meet women’s needs across regions and cultures.

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | JazzCash and Women’s World Banking announce partnership to serve low-income women in Pakistan

JazzCash, Pakistan’s premiere financial services provider and global nonprofit Women’s World Banking announce a partnership to promote women’s financial inclusion across Pakistan. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the partners will work to increase low-income women’s adoption and use of digital financial services, particularly the JazzCash mobile account.

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Leadership & Diversity

Have you found your ikigai?

Our Management Development Program at NBS Bank (Malawi) helped managers understand their core values and leverage their differences to better work together to serve women.

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | On International Women’s Day, Indonesia Announces Partnership with Women’s World Banking to Improve Women’s Financial Inclusion

On International Women’s Day, the Secretariat of the National Council for Financial Inclusion of Indonesia (Secretariat) and global nonprofit Women’s World Banking announce a partnership to promote women’s financial inclusion in Indonesia. The project, made possible with funding from the Department of Foreign and Trade of Australia (DFAT), will support Indonesia’s goal to reach 75 percent financial inclusion by 2019.

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | Banco ADOPEM wins Women’s World Banking Excellence in Leadership Award

On International Women’s Day, Women’s World Banking announces that Banco de Ahorro y Crédito ADOPEM, S.A. (Banco ADOPEM) of the Dominican Republic receives the Excellence in Leadership Award. The award recognizes Banco ADOPEM’s commitment to promoting gender diversity among the organization’s staff, leadership and governance alongside its mission to serve low-income women.

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Research & Perspectives

Women are at the heart of sustainable business

Last year, I was invited to be a part of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission which brings together leaders from business, finance, civil society, labor, and international organizations to develop a private sector response to the challenges presented by the Global Goals.  Specifically, the Commission has the “twin aims

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Products & Solutions

Tanzanian Teens Want To Save Too

Banks know that Tanzania’s growing youth population are eager savers and enthusiastic users of mobile money but younger teens are ignored. That’s a big mistake.

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Research & Perspectives

2015 Annual Report

Experience our annual report in this dynamic, digital format and learn how we are learning, leading and investing in women’s financial inclusion.

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See you on April 28th!

Thank you for registering for the “Financial Performance of Insurance Products” webinar on Thursday, April 28th at 7:30 AM EDT. Your confirmation should be in your inbox within the next ten minutes.

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Products & Solutions

CNBC Africa | Why Africa Needs Mobile Banking

Martha Oluwatobi is the proud owner of a market stall in Lagos, Nigeria. She sells minerals used for health benefits by expectant mothers who routinely buy small amounts of clay-like ingredients a few times a week.

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Research & Perspectives

CFR | The Right to Identity

Women’s World Banking President and CEO co-authored a blog on one of the biggest barriers facing financial access for low-income women: ID’s.

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | Global leaders gather in Berlin to advance financial inclusion for women

Leaders from finance, mobile technology, payments and consumer brands will join government representatives, microfinance pioneers and more in Berlin this week to examine the latest and most promising trends in financial services for low-income women. The Making Finance Work for Women Summit, hosted by global nonprofit Women’s World Banking, will take place November 11-12 at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

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Products & Solutions

The complexity of increasing demand for microinsurance and what we can do about it

The poor are vulnerable to risk, a cause of persistent poverty. Microinsurance is one solution to mitigate risk, yet demand remains disappointingly low. This article looks at lessons learned and selective recommendations for increasing demand, based on academic studies and the experiences of over 60 innovation partners of the ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility.

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WWB News

MI-BOSPO Celebrates the International Day of Rural Women

The International Day of Rural Women was established by the General Assembley in 2007, and this year was celebrated on the October 15. Over the past few years, MI-BOSPO has marked this day by organizing trade fairs with our clients and members of the Women’s in Business Network.

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WWB News

Recap: #BuildOnBeijing Twitter Chat

A summary of the chat hosted by Women’s World Banking, featuring The Clinton Foundation’s No Ceilings and UN Women’s Empower Women in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

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Inscripción en la 16a Reunión Global

La fecha límite para inscribirse en la Reunión Global es el 8 de agosto de 2015. Si tenga cualquier duda, por favor comuníquese con  Meghan Flaherty. [[formassembly formid=278576 server=”https://womensworldbanking.tfaforms.net” ]] La fecha límite para inscribirse en la Reunión Global es el 8 de agosto de 2015. Si tenga cualquier duda,

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WWB News

Who Should Attend the Global Meeting

The Global Meeting is an opportunity for the head of an organization and a high-potential leader. The high-potential leader should be already occupying a leadership role within the organization and reporting directly to the CEO.

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Gracias por inscribirse en la 16a Reunión Global

Estimado/a Miembro de la red, Muchas gracias por inscribirse en la 16a Reunión Global. Este mensaje confirma su inscripción. El equipo de Women’s World Banking le contactará pronto con información sobre los siguientes pasos que Usted debería tomar, incluso cómo obtener una visa alemana. Si tenga cualquier duda, por favor comuníquese

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Register for the 16th Global Meeting

If you have any questions please contact Meghan Flaherty [[formassembly formid=278574 server=”https://womensworldbanking.tfaforms.net” ]] If you have any questions please contact Meghan Flaherty

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Thank You For Registering for 16th Global Meeting

Dear Network Member, Thank you for registering for the 16th Global Meeting. This is message is a confirmation of your registration. The Women’s World Banking team will be in touch in in regards to next steps including visa letters. If you have any questions, please contact Meghan Flaherty mjf@womensworldbanking.org We look

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Research & Perspectives

2014 Annual Report

Today, Women’s World Banking is reaching more clients with a greater variety of products than in the past, and are partnering with a greater number and range of institutions to do so.

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Products & Solutions

Microinsurance Product Overview

Why is it important to serve low-income women with microinsurance products? In this one-pager, we provide a brief summary of our product development approach and an example of a successful product rollout.

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Products & Solutions

Rural Credit Product Overview

Why is it important to serve low-income rural women with individual lending products? In this one-pager, we provide a brief summary of our product development approach and an example of a successful product rollout.Modify your meta description by editing it right here

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Products & Solutions

Savings Product Overview

Why is it important to serve low-income women with savings products? In this one-pager, we provide a brief summary of our product development approach and an example of a successful product rollout.

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Products & Solutions

Youth Savings Product Overview

Why is it important to serve low-income youth with savings products? In this one-pager, we provide a brief summary of our product development approach and an example of a successful product rollout.

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Products & Solutions

CGAP | Five Things Any Youth Savings Program Needs

Savings Specialist Ryan Newton blogs about the five key lessons about designing sustainable youth savings programs, based on an evaluation of Banco ADOPEM’s (Dominican Republic) youth savings program, developed together with Women’s World Banking.

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Research & Perspectives

A Fireside Chat with Mary Ellen Iskenderian

Georgetown student Mike Fox reflects on Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian’s visit to the school to discuss the importance of leveraging diverse, cross-sector experience to achieve meaningful outcomes.

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Research & Perspectives

Why we should all #BankOnHer

Our goal is to remind our allies and supporters that financial inclusion must include the one billion women that don’t have access to basic financial products and services. The current interventions are working, but mostly for men.

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Understanding what they want: Using Research to Reach Women

In-depth market research is the foundation for a financial product that meets the needs of women. Properly conducting and applying market research enables financial institutions to understand customer needs and develop appropriate, responsive solutions. This practitioner-driven learning community will convene mid-level managers who are interested in learning how they can

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WWB News

Are you making it happen for women?

Throughout March you’ll see videos of our amazing network members, partners and advocates talking about how they’re making it happen for women around the world, in honor of International Women’s Day and more.

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Liberation (France): Une banquière qui prend les émergentes en compte

December 23, 2014 Link:http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2014/12/23/une-banquiere-qui-prend-les-emergentes-en-compte_1169449 Elle a le look corporate et efficace. Mary Ellen Iskenderian est présidente et directrice générale de Women’s World Banking, une banque différente. Ses profits sont exclusivement réinvestis dans des actions visant à émanciper et assurer la sécurité des femmes dans les pays émergents. «Nous nous attachons

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | New savings account brings mobile financial access to rural women and communities in Malawi

Rural women in Malawi provide significant earning power within their families but so many of them have no access to a safe place to save their money. Through a new innovative mobile savings account, Malawi’s NBS Bank Ltd. is working with global nonprofit Women’s World Banking to bring banking to the doorsteps of local low-income communities and families.

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Research & Perspectives

Global Best Practices in Banking Women-Led SMEs

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) commissioned Women’s World Banking to conduct research on global practices of financial institutions in serving women-led SMEs and developed recommendations for banks to adopt the best practices.

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | Major Financial Inclusion Players Gather in Mexico to Chart a Path Forward for Individual Lending

Today Women’s World Banking, in partnership with UNIFIM A.C. and supported by McGraw Hill Financial, is hosting an exclusive roundtable in Mexico City to discuss how well-designed individual microenterprise loans can grow Mexico’s financial services sector, extending much-needed credit and growth opportunities to low-income microentrepreneurs.

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General

The idea and the opportunity that helped Mirjana thrive

By MI-BOSPO Before the Bosnian war, Mirjana Parhomov  was a safety engineer living quietly in the town of Bijeljina, Bosnia. During the war’s aftermath however, she was one of many who were left without a job, an income and a home. “It”s hard when you are left without a home

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RFEI: Technology for Program Monitoring Consultancy

Women’s World Banking is seeking an experienced firm or individual to develop a technology-based solution for monitoring and evaluating the success of the new Leadership and Diversity for Innovation Program (the Program), including recommendations on an optimal technology platform and build-out of the platform. The consultancy would be on a contract basis.

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Products & Solutions

Deepening financial inclusion for microentrepreneurs in Mexico

Mexico is one of the most populous countries in Latin America so it is not surprising that they have one of the largest number of microfinance clients: a whopping six million borrowers which is roughly 5% of the population (2013). Yet there is something distinct about how microfinance has developed

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Products & Solutions

Individual Lending to Microenterprises in Mexico: A Survey of Constraints and Opportunities

With support from McGraw Hill Financial, Women’s World Banking sought to gain a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities for financial institutions to offer individual microenterprise lending to low-income entrepreneurs in Mexico. This report highlights findings that we hope will spur financial institutions to reach this underserved market.

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Leadership & Diversity

Promoting Women’s Leadership

“Promoting Women’s Leadership” is a collection of best practices that both companies and women leaders can implement to promote greater gender equity in their institution.

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Cathleen Tobin to speak at financial inclusion seminar hosted by The Guardian

Product Research, Marketing and Financial Education Manager Cathleen Tobin will be participating at The Guardian Global Development Professionals Network’s morning seminar, in association with Visa. The panel will be held on Friday, October 10 from 8-11AM in Washington DC. A panel of speakers will cover the following topics: New models for reaching

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Products & Solutions

The “who” matters in delivering financial education

The financial education industry as a whole has stopped short in examining who or what kind of individual is most successful in delivering financial education. We share our experience of three different educator profiles in various projects around the world.

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Leadership & Diversity

The two must-haves of a leadership training to drive lasting change

After launching our leadership and diversity program offerings in 2009, Women’s World Banking set out to study how leadership trainings can best translate into bigger and more sustained changes at the institutional level. We asked ourselves: what aspects of our program design most effectively drove this kind of change?

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Research & Perspectives

Three reasons low-income women don’t save in a bank

Low-income want to save, can save and need a safe place to save. While creating savings programs for the poor is not easy, we firmly believe that serving women makes business sense. Neither women nor banks can afford to miss this opportunity.

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Client Stories

Rani’s Story

Parveen took her family from the brink of poverty to business success with her microentrepreneur’s spirit and the support of Kashf Foundation.

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Research & Perspectives

Case for Support

A woman with a bank account can dream, plan and hope for a better future for herself and for her family. Learn why you should help us bank on her.

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Products & Solutions

Women’s World Banking in 2013: From Access to Inclusion

Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian introduces our 2013 Annual Report: In the last three years we have completed 27 research studies on the lives of low-income women; reached 1.2 million clients in 24 financial institutions with new products; and trained more than 200 leaders of financial institutions.

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Research & Perspectives

2013 Annual Report

In the last three years we have completed 27 research studies on the lives of low-income women; reached 1.2 million clients in 24 financial institutions with new products; and trained more than 200 leaders of financial institutions.

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WWB News

Stories from the field: Deutsche Bank volunteers support a Women’s World Banking network member

The volunteers were in Bolivia as part of DB’s Corporate Community Partnership (CCP) Program, a volunteer program aimed at providing employees an opportunity to use their skills to support a DB partner organization in a meaningful way. Given Women’s World Banking’s long relationship with DB, we were honored to facilitate Pedro, Costina and Katharina’s engagement with FUNBODEM. This is the eighth time over the last six years that DB employees have volunteers to work work with a Women’s World Banking Network member.

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Research & Perspectives

Have banks lost to mobile money in Tanzania?

Mobile money is gaining momentum in Tanzania. Would other financial services be able to catch up? Women’s World Banking visited Tanzania in October 2013 to conduct industry and customer research to understand what opportunities exist for mobile banking in Tanzania.

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WWB News

Assistance for MI-BOSPO clients affected by flood

Floods that hit Bosnia and Herzegovina last week inflicted enormous material damage to citizens. The real damage will not be known for a long time. MI-BOSPO launched emergency actions to assist its clients and employees. We have been collecting information on how many clients have lost their homes and property, in order for us to try to find ways to assist them.

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Products & Solutions

An unintended secret: microinsurance in Morocco

With support from Agence Française de Développement, Women’s World Banking went to Morocco in March of this year to meet with rural and urban clients of the institution to help AlAmana solve the mystery of why clients weren’t using their microinsurance.

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Products & Solutions

Just the tip of the iceberg: the hidden costs of healthcare in Uganda

“How much did you spend on healthcare last time you were hospitalized?” That was the question Women’s World Banking’s research team posed to more than 70 participants of focus groups organized in Uganda early this year as part of our project to introduce a health microinsurance product with our local network member. The question seems straightforward enough, a simple matter of sums. As we found however, most of the participants were not aware of the full cost of their hospitalization and even severely underestimated it.

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Products & Solutions

The long road to medical treatment in Uganda

Finance Trust Bank and Women’s World Banking are working together to develop and offer a health microinsurance product to help alleviate the financial burden of major illness for their low-income clients. We began our product development work as all Women’s World Banking projects do: with in-depth market research. Specifically in Uganda, we needed to understand the usage, needs, financing and costs for healthcare among low-income people, as well as their awareness of insurance.

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Mary Ellen Iskenderian to speak at Chatham House in London

Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian is speaking at an event at Chatham House in London on June 12, 2014 entitled “Unlocking the Potential: Promoting Women’s Financial Inclusion in Africa.” She will be joined by Craig Churchill, Chief of Social Finance Programme, International Labour Organization (ILO). Register Event

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Happy Mother’s Day

Support Women’s World Banking in honor of Mother’s Day and help low-income mothers worldwide build a better future for themselves, their families and communities.

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Leadership & Diversity

Investments that pay off- Building Strong Teams That Support Financial Inclusion

Besides the extent of their outreach and their ability to offer diverse products, an MFI’s success is now being measured by operational, financial, social, and gender indicators. In February 2014, Women’s World Banking’s Leadership and Gender Diversity program team provided Crecer, Crédito con Educación Rural in Bolivia just this opportunity to strengthen its team of managers through the Management Development Training program.

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General

A Rookie’s Guide to Women’s World Banking

When I tell people that I work at Women’s World Banking, I often get a curious look followed by strings of questions:  “Is it a bank for women?” “Is it a CIA front?”, or my favorite, “Can I get a loan from you?” The truth is, besides reciting the standard

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Leadership & Diversity

Bloomberg | Bloomberg quotes Mary Ellen Iskenderian

Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian weighs in on Bloomberg”s latest look at the glass ceiling facing women around the world. Excerpt: Disparities exist at both ends of the economic scale around the world. In 2012, a Gallup poll for the World Bank showed that only 47 percent of

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Research & Perspectives

Mary Ellen Iskenderian blogs for the Corporate Citizenship Center

Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian blogged for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Corporate Citizenship Center blog as part of their International Women’s Day 2014 celebration. Here’s an excerpt of the post entitled “The Key to Successfully Banking the Poor: Start with Women”: “That would make us feel

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Ryan Newton to moderate panel during Mobile Money Americas 2014

Savings Specialist Ryan Newton will be moderating a panel at this year’s Mobile Money Americas 2014 conference in Mexico City. Mobile money and the battle for consumer adoption Hear the panelists’ views on the most effective method of driving consider adoption – is it building trust, consumer education, product development

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WWB News

Recap of our International Women’s Day “Ask Me Anything” on Twitter

Because International Women’s Day, March 8th, fell on a Saturday this year, we decided to dedicate our Twitter feed to the various ways we have been helping advance women’s economic empowerment through access to financial services and made our program experts available to anyone who wished to ask us anything about the topic of the day.

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Leadership & Diversity

What does it take to be an inspiring woman leader? An Online Roundtable for International Women’s Day

In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, Women’s World Banking hosted an online roundtable with three alumni from our signature Women in Leadership program to reflect on their learnings from the program, how they have implemented these to become better leaders in their institution and ways this has inspired positive change among their colleagues and clients.

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Products & Solutions

Diamond Bank Storms the Market: A BETA Way to Save

In 2012, an estimated 64 percent of Nigerians were unbanked and had never accessed any formal financial services or products, a number that is higher for women: nearly 73 percent of all Nigerian women are unbanked. This number does not include figures for the underbanked—men and women who have had

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Gender Lens Investing

Mary Ellen Iskenderian on BSR’s Open Sustainability Matters Webinar

Investing in Women: The Role of Finance in Women’s Empowerment Date: Wednesday March 12, 2014 Time: 8-9 a.m. PST Venue: Webinar Register Now → Despite significant progress through global commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment, developed and developing countries still face significant challenges in ensuring the equal treatment of

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Mary Ellen Iskenderian to preside over meeting with OECD Secretary-General at the Council on Foreign Relations

Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian will preside over a meeting with the OECD Secretary General at the office of the Council on Foreign Relations. Tackling Inequality: Getting the Policy Challenges Right José Ángel Gurría Secretary-General, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Please join Secretary-General Gurría as

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We look forward to keeping you updated!

We’re glad you decided to keep hearing from us. Women’s World Banking is undertaking an exciting new strategy that will see us going into markets where we can make the biggest difference in affecting the gender gap in financial inclusion, partnering with the local innovators and amplifying that impact across the world.

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General

Around the Country in 11 Days: A Visit to Our Microfinance Partners in India

Last November, I had the great privilege of joining Women’s World Banking’s closest supporters on a trip to India. Our agenda was ambitious: four financial institutions; five cities; eleven days. Throughout the trip, we met the inspiring women entrepreneurs who are at the heart of every product introduction, piece of research, and leadership training led by Women’s World Banking.

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Hemos recibido su formulario de registro para el Programa Mujeres en el Liderazgo, México

Por favor, envíe un mensaje por correo electrónico a LeadershipAdmissions@womensworldbanking.org si tiene alguna pregunta. See how Women’s World Banking has impacted the lives of millions of women worldwide. Visit our News & Media page, read our blog and follow us on social media for the latest news about Women’s World Banking and our work: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Pinterest

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Anna Gincherman speaking at MetLife and Microinsurance Network Reception

Chief Product Development Officer Anna Gincherman will be speaking at a cocktail reception hosted by MetLife and the Microinsurance Network: “Distribution in Microinsurance: Why the Right Partnerships Matter.” January 23, 2014 4:00-5:30 pm Vanderbilt Suites, MetLife Building Grand Central Terminal, 200 Park Ave. at E. 44th St. & Vanderbilt Ave.

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Products & Solutions

Youth Cannot Be Ignored

Youth savings specialist Ryan Newton blogs about the youth panel during the “Building Women-Focused Finance” Conference in Amman, Jordan, November 20-21, 2013.

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Products & Solutions

Savings: A Gateway to Financial Inclusion

For poor women, access to a safe place to save and build assets is as important as access to loans. Women’s World Banking knows from its research that poor women are inherent savers. In this publication, we share the findings of our most recent savings work, including a three-year project with four of our network members.

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Products & Solutions

Microinsurance: The win-win-win value proposition

MFW is a client-centric institution that prides itself on striving to meet their clients’ needs. In the process of analyzing the life cycle of their clients, they realized that there are many circumstances where clients face health-related issues that involve many expenses and often loss of income, all of which have a negative impact on the financial stability of the household, maternity and child birth being the most common. With Women’s World Banking’s support and product development expertise, MFW set out to create a product to cover clients facing those health emergencies.

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Happy Holidays!

Women’s World Banking has been looking back on the past year as 2013 draws to a close—and what an incredible year it has been! Exciting new research on low-income garment employees in India and how to integrate financial education Launched the Gender Performance Initiative to help the industry prioritize and

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Products & Solutions

Adding Gender to the Microfinance Bottom Line

Jaclyn Berfond, Senior Associate for Strategy at Women’s World Banking guest blogged on the Center for Financial Inclusion blog on the important of measuring a financial institution’s gender performance in order to know and track whether they are serving women well.

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Products & Solutions

CGAP | CGAP blogs about our work in Nigeria

Antonique Koning, a microfinance specialist at CGAP, blogged about our work on promoting financial inclusion for low-income women in Nigeria through the use of savings products and innovative outreach and delivery strategies.

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Great Shot: A woman photographer builds her business in Jordan

Sameera got a loan from MFW to start her business (the first one for 1,000 dinar, approximately US$ 1,400). The beginning was especially tough, as she was the first woman to open a storefront business in the Sahab neighborhood, and the male shop owners didn’t approve of her presence. It took all her perseverance and strength to endure this harassment, but finally, she managed to gain acceptance and her business started to thrive.

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Research & Perspectives

Savings: The Next Frontier in Financial Inclusion

CFR Senior Fellow Isobel Coleman leads a conversation with Mary Ellen Iskenderian of Women’s World Banking and Steve Hollingworth of Freedom from Hunger about how savings are blazing the next frontier in poverty eradication.

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WWB News

Essay by Rosaisha Ozoria, Founder’s Scholarship Winner

Financial literacy for Hispanic women Twice a week I head down to volunteer at the Los Sures Social Services office, situated next to the local senior citizen home, to help at the food pantry. We distribute food to people in my neighborhood. Many are familiar faces. Many are middle-aged Hispanic

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TEST FORM

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Products & Solutions

From Access to Inclusion: Educating Clients

Women’s World Banking considers clients’ financial goals and needs, the institution’s business objectives, and the existing market for financial services and information. We then work with the institution to develop a financial education strategy that uses existing delivery and communications channels and fits within client and business routines.

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Leadership & Diversity

In the Philippines, Leadership and Experience Help Clients Rebuild after Haiyan

By Maura Hart, Manager, Public Relations Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) was founded in time of crisis in the Philippines 29 years ago. Decades later, NWTF has seen its clients through countless typhoons (an average of 22 per year in the Philippines) and other natural disasters, experiences that proved invaluable when Typhoon Haiyan (known in the Philippines as Yolanda) hit in November.

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Research & Perspectives

Measuring Client Success: Insights from a Yogurt Shop

We were in Amman, Jordan last week supporting Women’s World Banking’s 2013 Global Forum: Building Women-Focused Finance: The Global-Local Experience. Our first day began with a visit to the Amman headquarters of Microfund for Women (MFW), a Women’s World Banking network member and our gracious local host for the week.

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WWB News

Profile of a Women’s World Banking Fellow: Liannette Perez

By Melisa Socorro-Nunez, Global Marketing and Communications Intern

Summer intern Melisa recently sat down with Liannette Perez and talked about her experience at Women’s World Banking, first as Compliance Associate, then as a Fellow. Fellows rotate through four departments of the organization over a two year period.

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WWB News

Nigeria News | EFInA Hosts Women’s Financial Inclusion Forum

Our Savings Manager Jennifer McDonald attended Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access’s (EFInA) inaugural Women’s Financial Inclusion Forum in Lagos on November 14. Jennifer presented global best practices for women’s financial inclusion, sharing Women’s World Banking’s experience in developing products that enhance women’s financial inclusion.

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WWB News

Essay by Caitly Reynoso, Founder’s Scholarship Winner

Being a junior and learning about different colleges and careers makes it hard for me to only be interested in one field, but in my eyes business is one of the few majors that will allow me to explore most of the careers that I am currently interested in. Ten

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WWB News

A Final Recap of Building Women-Focused Finance

We just concluded our Building Women-Focused Finance: The Global Experience conference in Amman and we are so excited about the quality of the presenters and the level of engagement from the audience of over 300 people from around the world. As Mary Ellen Iskenderian, our president and CEO, said in

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WWB News

Building Women-Focused Finance: a recap of day 1

We have just concluded the first day of our best practices conference in Amman, Jordan for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, “Building Women-Focused Finance: the Global-Local Experience.” The agenda was packed with fascinating panels, bringing together Women’s World Banking staff, network members and industry experts to weigh

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WWB News

Kicking off a women-focused finance conference in Amman

In less than 24 hours, Women’s World Banking will be kicking off its first conference for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in Amman, Jordan, “Building Women-Focused Finance: the Global-Local Experience.” The impetus for holding a women-focused finance conference in MENA could not be clearer: only 13% of women have a formal savings account with 4% of women accessing a loan – these numbers are the lowest in the world and if not addressed, will prevent any significant economic growth for the region.

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WWB News

Our microinsurance work in Jordan on the Upsides

Research has shown that healthcare costs often exert the most financial pressure on poor families. The poor lack the resources to respond quickly in a health emergency, both with the cost of care and the ability to forfeit work to seek care.

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Research & Perspectives

“He helps me:” a note on household dynamics in rural Malawi

Women’s World Banking believes that in order to serve women well, we must understand the social, cultural and political context in which they live and the distinct financial needs that they face. And while women’s experiences and needs vary, from the Middle East to South Asia, one common finding is this: women’s work – both domestic and income-generating – is undervalued, if not completely disregarded, especially in rural communities across the world.

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Research & Perspectives

The poor in the developed world need access to financial services too

In an article that ran in the Times on October 28 (“Microcredit for Americans“), Jonathan Morduch made a bold statement, one we were glad to hear: Families in rural Africa are more like U.S. families than everyone wants to believe,” said Jonathan J. Morduch, the executive director of the Financial

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Products & Solutions

Lessons from Syria: building resilient microfinance leadership in the Middle East and North Africa

Around the end of August, the weeks leading up to the Women in Leadership program (WIL) in Jordan, my team was glued to the news watching the events unfolding in Egypt, Syria and across the Middle East. Egypt had called a state of emergency and the Syrian crisis had come to a head with reports of chemical weapons and talk of a military strike. It was precisely this regional uncertainty that made it so important for us to go forward with the Women in Leadership program in Amman in September.

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Research & Perspectives

Mary Ellen Iskenderian on the NYSE Big Stage

The NYSE Big Stage website featured a summary of Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian’s talk at TEDxWallStreet on Wednesday, October 30, 2012. Microfinance is the ideal that small investments to reach those underserved by financial institutions can solve big problems. But Mary Ellen Iskendrian, CEO of

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Products & Solutions

Building the Business Case for Youth Services

Youth Savings specialist Ryan Newton was cited as a resource for her work with our network member PEACE MFI S.CO on the UNDCF/ Mastercard Foundation report “Building the Business Case of Youth Services.”

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Hemos recibido su solicitud para asistir al Programa Mujeres en el Liderazgo, México

El Comité de admisiones revisará todas las solicitudes y notificará sus decisiones a los solicitantes. Por favor, envíe un mensaje por correo electrónico a LeadershipAdmissions@womensworldbanking.org si tiene alguna pregunta. See how Women’s World Banking has impacted the lives of millions of women worldwide. Visit our News & Media page, read our blog and follow us on social

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WWB News

Global Beats for a Global Gala

There is nothing like celebrating our collective accomplishments with our closest friends and supporters. We had just that honor at our annual benefit last October 9th at the IAC Building in New York City, kicking the night off with a rockstar panel of luminaries (Andrew Ross Sorkin, Anne Marie Slaughter,

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WWB News

“Women and Poverty” Ela Bhatt’s speech for the Ghandi Lecture on Nonviolence at McMaster University

Women’s World Banking board member and Self-Employed Women’s Association (India) founder Ela Bhatt recently gave the 15th annual Mahatma Ghandi Lecture on Nonviolence at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. The event was held on October 3 and the title of Ela’s speech was: “Women and Poverty: The Hidden Face of Violence with Social Consent.”

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Research & Perspectives

Financial Mail | Bring the poor into the banking system

President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian was interviewed by South Africa’s Financial Mail about Women’s World Banking’s pilot project with Diamond Bank in Nigeria to encourage underbanked women and small entrepreneurs to enter the banking system.

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WWB News

Kenya Women Finance Trust awarded best company to work for by Deloitte

For the second straight year, Kenya Women Finance Trust DTM has been recognized by Deloitte and ranked as the third “Best Company to Work For 2013” in Kenya. In the words of Mwangi Githaiga, Managing Director, “This award demonstrates the confidence that our employees have in the institution, board and management.”

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WWB News

A Benefit for Women’s Economic Empowerment

Women’s World Banking celebrated its work empowering low-income women worldwide at the IAC Building in New York City, featuring the powerhouse panel of Anne-Marie Slaughter, Melanne Verveer and John Gerzema, moderated by Andrew Ross Sorkin.

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WWB News

PRESS RELEASE | Jordan’s Microfund for Women wins 2013 Excellence in Leadership Award

Women’s World Banking today announced the 2013 recipient of the Excellence in Leadership Award, funded by the Citi Foundation. Microfund for Women (MFW), based in Jordan, is honored for building an institution that ensures that women are well-represented in the organization’s workforce, leadership and governance while maintaining its commitment to serve every ambitious woman.

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WWB News

MI-BOSPO head to participate in Guardian Global Development Live Chat

By: Nejira Nalic, head of MI-BOSPO, Women’s World Banking network member in Bosnia and Herzogovina, will participate in a live chat on Thursday, October 3 with the The Guardian Global Development Professionals Network. The chat will be held from 1 to 3pm, UK time. Introductory post here: “Back in black: has microfinance

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Products & Solutions

Innovation Case Study Series

Innovation in product development and internal processes allows institutions to deliver on the double bottom line of financial and social returns. Innovation requires strong leadership and a clear vision.

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Research & Perspectives

Beauty as Business: Research on Women Entrepreneurs in India

Thanks to television and Bollywood, Indian women have become more aware of new trends and demand an ever-expanding range of services for their hair, skin and nails from local beauty parlors. The result is that beauty parlors can be seen in almost every neighborhood and street, from low-income neighborhoods to busy streets and markets to posh suburbs.

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Research & Perspectives

Blog response featured on The Guardian

Research specialist Anjali Banthia’s response blog to an op-ed about the link between domestic violence and microfinance was cited in a recent Guardian article on the state of the microfinance industry.

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Morocco October 26-31, 2014 – Payment Form

Thank you for your interest in joining Women’s World Banking in Morocco! You can join the trip by becoming a 2014 sponsor of Women’s World Banking at one of the following levels: Ambassador – $15,000 donation Benefactor – $10,000 donation Advocate – $5,000 donation There will be an additional estimated*

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Research & Perspectives

Women’s World Banking highlights opportunities for Papua New Guinea Central Bank to serve women

September 23, 2013 Women’s World Banking had the privilege of participating in a collaborative workshop in Port Moresby, co-hosted by the Central Bank of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the UNCDF Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP), intended to generate ideas from a range of stakeholders to include in the strategy. This gave us a unique opportunity to utilize our research on the challenges and opportunities women face in accessing financial services in PNG to influence national policy, ensure that it includes a focus on women and to continue building our relationships with players in the Pacific region following our regional forum earlier this year.

It was heartening to see a Central Bank choosing to call together a diverse and mostly-local group of bankers, microfinance practitioners, women’s groups and representatives from savings and loan societies – alongside Women’s World Banking and the International Finance Corporation – to gather their perspectives on what the national strategy should look like. Each group presented their point of view and produced at the end of the workshop, a summary of recommendations that featured a wide range of opinions and targeting different constituencies.

We highlighted these key points from our research:

• There is an immense opportunity to serve women in PNG. Women are dramatically underserved by the financial services sector yet are just as likely as men to be earning. Women are important contributors to household. Our research showed that women need and want services to help them manage their money, including savings, loans and micro-insurance. Financial services providers should see serving women as not just a social cause but a real business opportunity.
• But women are tough customers. Winning the loyalty of PNG’s unbanked women will not be easy. Our research shows that to satisfy women, banking services need to be:
• Affordable and transparent: Women in PNG and elsewhere are unwilling to pay fees to save, such as the account maintenance fees and heavy withdrawal fees common in PNG. These fees effectively impact women more than men because they are usually poorer and have the responsibility of stretching their income to cover household expenses. Low fee, “no frills” accounts are offered by all of the PNG banks, yet there seem to be gaps in the outreach and awareness of these accounts. Most women in our study only knew about fee-based accounts.
• Secure: Women repeatedly emphasized PNG’s weak law and order environment and extremely high rates of domestic violence, which both pose serious risks for women’s physical well-being and their money if it is not locked away securely. Women also highlighted the risks of carrying money to and from their homes and businesses and said that carrying money to a bank branch may also not be safe. Mobile phone banking through neighborhood agents is therefore an attractive solution.
• Convenient: Working mothers everywhere know that they are the busiest people in the world! It’s no different in PNG. Mobile phone banking is not only great for security but offers a way to make banking much more convenient. But there is a gender gap in terms of access: PFIP found that 21% of women in urban areas do not have a phone, compared to just 9% of men. There’s also room to improve understanding and trust of mobile phone banking amongst women. GSMA found that 47% of women liked the idea but did not open a mobile money account because they didn’t understand the technology and 55% were not sure if mobile money is safe.
• Easy for illiterate customers: English is the language of the financial sector in PNG and many places, yet many women in Port Moresby (nearly 75% according to PFIP) are unable to communicate in English (a figure likely to be higher in rural and remote areas). Women’s World Banking believes in using visual and vernacular languages when creating marketing materials and forms to reduce this barrier.
The good news is that these are the features that both women and men want. If banks find ways to satisfy women through incorporating more of the features above, they will also gain men customers who have similarly been excluded from the banking sector.
Women’s World Banking shared these insights with the Central Bank, urging them to set targets to balance financial inclusion in PNG and to encourage more inclusive product design. The following inputs to the strategy were made, relating to a focus on women of the Central Bank:
• Set a target of 50% women served by the financial services sector, up from 30%, by 2015. Individual institutions should identify institutional targets for women’s financial inclusion and disaggregate gender data to track their progress.
• Lower the documentation requirements for opening an account (a barrier for women who do not have ID cards). This could include allowing women to use their affiliation with member-based groups, such as the Women’s Coffee Growers’ Association for example, as proof of identification for basic accounts.
• Work with the Ministry of Education to include financial education in the curriculum of public schools or vocational institutions, as an effort to start building financial literacy at a younger age to prepare more girls (and boys) to use financial services.
Women’s World Banking was proud to be able to contribute to and hopefully influence PNG’s national financial inclusion strategy. We’ll continue to look out for gains in women’s access in region, as we work on expanding financial inclusion for women around the world.

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WWB News

Women’s World Banking in the Giving Library

Women’s World Banking would like to thank The Giving Library for sponsoring our organization to be part of their online archive of organizations. Our President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian visited their studios in Houston to produce a video found here.

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Women should not have to choose lower-paying jobs

Whether in a developed country such as the United States or in the low-income neighborhoods of Colombia, women are constantly making income decisions based on a social and cultural default that they are responsible for children and the household.

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Research & Perspectives

About Microfinance interviews Mary Ellen Iskenderian

boutMicrofinance, an aggregator and disseminator of current and authoritative information and resources on all aspects of the microfinance industry, featured an interview with Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian in their Fall Newsletter.

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WWB News

Ujjivan Raises Debt Capital from Oikocredit

India network member Ujjivan raised INR 50 Crores of debt capital through issuance of listed, secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to Oikocredit, an international cooperative and social investor.

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Leadership & Diversity

Celebrating one year of leadership community

In celebration of our Community’s One Year Anniversary, we asked members to share photos of themselves working with their teams and to tell us their leadership philosophies. We are now pleased to share them with you through this video!

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WWB News

Banco ADOPEM hosts anniversary celebration for employees

Dominican Republic network member Banco ADOPEM celebrated its anniversary by holding a sports day for its staff. Awards were also handed out to exceptional employees. Congratulations on remaining a strong institution committed to serving women and celebrating the hard work of its employees! Read the full article on El Dia</em rel=”nofollow”>.

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Products & Solutions

Fact sheet: Rural Credit in Latin America

Women’s World Banking, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Multilateral Investment Fund, developed rural credit products that extend financial inclusion for women entrepreneurs in Peru, Paraguay and Colombia. This fact sheet details the challenge, objectives and initial results of the project that will run until December

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WWB News

Women’s World Banking in The MIX Newsletter

Women’s World Banking’s social media engagement with the Center for Financial Inclusion’s recent video explaining financial inclusion was featured in the August edition of the MIX Dispatch, The MIX Market’s monthly newsletter.

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WWB News

Participation in Pacific Financial Inclusion Workshop highlighted

The Pacific Financial Inclusion Program (PFIP) featured Women’s World Banking’s participation at the recent financial inclusion and women”s empowerment workshop in Papua New Guinea. Senior Associate for Research Anjali Banthia was in attendance to present our research of the financial needs of low-income women in the Pacific.

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Anna Gincherman to speak at the 2013 AFMIN Annual Conference

Chief Product Development Officer Anna Gincherman is a panelist at the  12th Annual AFMIN Conference and General Assembly on October 15-18, 2013. This year’s theme is “Inclusive Finance for Inclusive Growth and Transformation in Africa” at the Africa Union Conference Center, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. The overall objective of the conference is to bring together

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Products & Solutions

A guide on how to serve youth through savings accounts

All this week Women’s World Banking has been focusing on our youth savings work in honor of International Youth Day 2013. To cap it off, we’d like to share our extensive and interactive guide for deposit-taking microfinance institutions looking to offer or improve a youth savings program for their market.

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Products & Solutions

What do girls want?

In 2008, Women’s World Banking began working with XacBank in Mongolia to develop a youth savings and financial education program, with support from the Nike Foundation, as part of the Girl Effect initiative.

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Leadership & Diversity

Higher stock prices: the case for gender diversity

A new study from Thomson Reuters finds that companies with gender-diverse boards perform better than companies with zero women on their board. This echoes what the Center for Microfinance Leadership has known all along: that diverse perspectives lead to stronger decisions and healthier institutions…

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Fundación delamujer Rural Credit Product Launch

Fundación delamjuer, our network member in Colombia and one of the institutions with whom Women’s World Banking developed rural credit products, is hosting a launch event of their rural credit product to the rest of their branches in the country.

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Leadership & Diversity

Optimizing Capital Structure Toolkit

The Optimizing Capital Structure Toolkit is essential for microfinance institutions (MFIs) undergoing transformation and beginning to mobilize deposits, MFIs have two new major sources of capital (equity and deposits), and it becomes a challenge to understand prudent or optimal mixes of savings, debt, quasi-equity, and equity.

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Leadership & Diversity

The case for women’s leadership: Joyce Banda

Under Joyce Banda, Malawi’s economy is recovering, with manufacturing expected to grow six percent and agriculture 5.7 percent (World Bank) and respect for democracy and human rights has returned to the country (International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute).

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WWB News

BSP | CARD Bank inaugurated into Philippine central bank’s Hall of Fame for Financial Inclusion

This elevated the bank to become a Hall of Fame awardee for the said category. Looking back, CARD Bank, Inc. was established on September 1, 1997 and envisioned to build a sustainable financial institution owned, managed and controlled by the landless rural women by providing continued access to financial services to an expanding client base by organizing and empowering landless rural women.

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Research & Perspectives

White Paper on Serving Women

At the G‐20 Seoul Summit in November of 2010, Women’s World Banking was asked by several G‐20 governmentsto comment on the report, “Strengthening Accessto Finance for Women SMEs in Developing Countries.”

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Leadership & Diversity

Co-creation of a leadership learning experience

In 2013, Women’s World Banking’s Center for Microfinance Leadership (CML) was given the incredible opportunity to create a new Senior Leadership Exchange to grow its own product offering while supporting the development of women leaders in microfinance.

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Research & Perspectives

2012 Annual Report

In 2011 Women’s World Banking set-out to prove that providing low-income women with financial services is not charity but smart business. In developing economies 63 percent of women don’t have a bank account, which severely limits their ability to build a business or save for emergencies or a child’s education. During the second year of our three-year strategic plan, we provided more than 1,000,000 clients with access to the financial tools and resources they need.

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WWB News

Happy Fourth of July from Women’s World Banking!

Today, the United States of America celebrates its 237th day of independence from Great Britain. While Americans all over the world reflect on the over 200 years of democratic liberty they enjoy, we at Women’s World Banking would like to encourage everyone to spend a few minutes to think about

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General

Microfinance CEOs: Smart Campaign Certification is a “Clear Step” Toward Responsible Microfinance

Since we began meeting in early 2011, many of the Working Group’s discussions have focused on the fundamental question of what the microfinance industry requires to flourish in the future. We believe that client protection is central to the answer. It is common sense – and good business practice – that a fair and respectful relationship with clients is required to develop trust, reduce risk, and serve them appropriately.

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WWB News

Announcing our new Fellows for 2013

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Sandy Salama from network member The Lead Foundation (Egypt) has been selected as the first network representative in the Women’s World Banking Fellowship Program.

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WWB News

Brand Evolution: Women’s World Banking

I’m so excited to introduce our new logo and website today! For more than 35 years, we have been the authoritative resource for the needs of low-income women. In the evolution of our work, we are serving more women than ever before with the essential tools and resources that allow

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Research & Perspectives

Are Financial Institutions Serving Women Well?

When a financial institution reaches out to us and tells us they are starting to see the value of serving low-income women but don’t know how to begin, we are of course pleased that institutions are starting to recognize what Women’s World Banking has known for more than 30 years.

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WWB News

Equity Bank wins at 7th African Banker Awards

Equity Bank was awarded “the Best Bank in East Africa” in 2013 and was a nominee for “African Bank of the Year” at the 7th African Banker Awards which took place during the Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank.

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Leadership & Diversity

10 Steps for a Successful Transition from Program to Office

Microfinance practitioners attend numerous training, workshops, exchanges, and conferences during the year. The skills and theories learned are invaluable for the participants of such events who normally leave these programs re-energized and full of ideas they want to implement in their organization and toward modifying their own management styles. However, at times it is difficult to get buy-in from others in the organization, and the concepts or organization development goals are often forgotten and never put into practice.

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General

Mary Ellen Iskenderian speaking at Institute of International Education event on women’s role in economic growth

Women’s World Banking President and CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian will be speaking at the Institute of International Education’s book launch event on Tuesday, May 7 at 5:30pm. The event will be held at the IIE’s offices at 809 United Nations Plaza. Mary Ellen contributed to the book, “Women in the Global Economy: Leading Social Change.” The book explores the landscape of women’s participation in the economy and the key role that women play in fueling economic growth by creating stable societies.

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Products & Solutions

Savings work with Banco ADOPEM featured

Our savings work with Banco ADOPEM, our network member in the Dominican Republica, was featured in a local media outlet, Informate Diario, for promoting a savings culture to low-income communities in outlying areas.

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Research & Perspectives

What Women’s Empowerment Means to Me

What empowerment means to a woman is complex. At Women’s World Banking, we focus on economic empowerment because we know that the ability to earn an income is linked to the ability to make decisions about how household money is allocated.

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WWB News

Ujjivan at Pacific Forum 2013

Ujjivan was invited for the Pacific Regional Forum held at Auckland, New Zealand from February 28 to March 1, 2013 to share best practices in building an organizational culture that values human capital and creative ways of building capacity in a resource-constrained environment.

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Research & Perspectives

Women are tough but loyal bank clients

Women’s World Banking is a network of 39 financial companies across 28 countries that focus solely on women. Recognising the poor access women have to credit and savings instruments, WWB works to level the playing field. Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of WWB, talks to TOI-CREST about why women need to treated

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Products & Solutions

Helping low-income women protect their assets: microinsurance

In a recent project we worked with our network member Microfund for Women (MFW, Jordan) to launch Ri’aya (The Caregiver Policy). Ri’aya is a unique micro‐health insurance product that provides a cash benefit after hospitalization to help with costs associated with loss of business, medical expenses, transportation and other household needs.

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Products & Solutions

Financial Literacy in Cairo

Microfinance has been operating in Egypt since the 90’s; however this has not created a market of savvy borrowers. Through our market research we found that the façade of interest-free Islamic loans has created a lack of clarity around interest rates and compounded the issue of low financial literacy among men

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Products & Solutions

Saving for the Future: Youth Savings

The total global population of girls ages 10 to 24 is expected to peak in the next decade. According to market research conducted by Women’s World Banking, girls as young as 10 years old regularly accumulate money, actively manage it and want a safe place to save it. Ana Laura lives in a low-income

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Products & Solutions

Cash Management Toolkit

This Cash Management Toolkit is part of a suite of practitioner guides and tools developed by Women’s World Banking for use by microfinance institutions (MFIs). It integrates closely with the Tool for Developing a Financial Risk Management Policy (Women’s World Banking, 2005) and expands on the fundamental guidance regarding liquidity risk management provided there. Cash Management includes all activities related to the efficient planning, procurement, investment and control of cash in a financial institution.

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WWB News

Kenya Women Holding wins a Ford Foundation Champions of Democracy Award

Women’s World Banking is thrilled to announce that Dr. Jennifer Riria, chair of Women’s World Banking, Group Chief Executive of Kenya Women Holding Company Ltd (KWH) and a board member of network member and KWH subsidiary Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT) was awarded one of the ten Ford Foundation Champions of Democracy Award in Nairobi on November 13, 2012.

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Research & Perspectives

Economic Empowerment Through Access

More than 1.3 billion people globally live in poverty; the majority of them are women. The United Nations International Labour Office reports that women face substantially lower employment rates, have very little control over property and resources, are more prone to working in the informal sector with lower earnings.

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Research & Perspectives

2011 Annual Report

This year, the first year of our current three-year strategic plan, was a year of innovation for WWB. Central to this strategy is a cycle of market research, piloting new products and then learning from the pilots to scale these products to new markets.Throughout this report, we will provide examples of work in each of these phases.

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Research & Perspectives

Contracorriente Trainer’s Guide (Spanish)

Women’s World Banking worked with Banco ADOPEM to create a soap opera to help teach women how to save. This guide takes trainers through a step-by-step process of the classroom education component.

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Products & Solutions

Portfolio Analytics Toolkit

As the microfinance industry continues to shift its focus into understanding client’s needs and more effectively targeting specific segments, it is essential for management to understand an institution’s performance based on data.

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WWB News

Women’s World Banking and Interfisa Financiera celebrate the launch of NdeVale in Paraguay

On May 30, 2012, Women’s World Banking (WWB) and network member Interfisa Financiera celebrated the launch of NdeVale, a new loan product targeted at Paraguay’s rural women population. NdeVale was developed so that it can be issued to all clients who have a income-generating activity, with minimal documentation requirements and flexible collateral and duration. Through market research, we knew that collateral was a concern for women as assets, particularly property, are traditionally owned by men.

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WWB News

The Great Power of Ela Bhatt’s Gentle Revolution

‘It all started at the world conference of the international women’s year in Mexico City in 1975. There I met with Esther Afua Ocloo from Ghana. She shared her stories about the position of market women in the capital city Accra and their need for economic empowerment.’

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WWB News

World Jurist Association 2012 Conference: “Law and Technology: Innovation in the Digital Age”

Keynote Speech: Women’s World Banking and the Role of Innovation and New Technologies in Increasing Women’s and Girl’s, Economic Security

The World Jurist Association has the pleasure to invite you to join our members and other legal professionals from around the world at our DC 2012 conference!  Law and Technology: Innovation in the Digital Age, to be held on April 22-24, 2012 in Washington, DC USA.

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WWB News

Microlumbia 5th Annual Microfinance Conference: “Redefining Microfinance: Driving Innovation in a Maturing Market”

Microlumbia Fund is a 501(c)3 organization run by Columbia Business School (CBS) students that provides growing microfinance institutions with pro-bono consulting services and debt capital while stimulating interest in the field among a new generation of future business leaders. Our mission is to help alleviate global poverty by providing the CBS community the means and opportunities to become lifelong contributors to the field of microfinance. For CBS students, we offer education, investment management and consulting opportunities.

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Mary Ellen Iskenderian speaks to Forbes about her recent NPR interview on gender diversity in corporate governance

“…I first heard Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking, in action while listening to NPR’s coverage of the recent controversy that has erupted over reports that the presence of women in senior roles was a contributing factor to the banking crash. Iskenderian was giving The Takeaway hosts Celeste Headlee and John Hockenberry an earful on what’s wrong with the media spin on new research by Germany’s central bank on the impact women directors are having on previously all-male boards of financial institutions…”

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WWB News

Milken Institute 2012 Global Conference: “Global Banking Regulation”

As part of the Milken Institute 2012 Global Conference, Mary Ellen Iskenderian will participate in a session called “Global Banking Regulation,” currently scheduled for Tuesday, May 1 from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m.

This year’s Milken Institute Global Conference will be held from April 29- May 2 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. A capacity crowd of 3,000 senior executives from more than 50 countries representing finance, business, government and the nonprofit world (including academia) is expected.

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Microfinance Helps Women Help Society

“…But the lesson that I’ve learned, and what I really, I sort of regret having missed so many years of my life not knowing this, was just how absolutely central the role of women is to financial stability, to household stability. If kids are going to get to school and stay in school and have food to eat while they’re there and remain healthy while they’re there, it’s because the women are going to make that happen. And I had not made that connection before coming to Women’s World Banking. Directed / Produced by Jonathan Fowler & Elizabeth Rodd”

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WWB Hosts Women in Leadership Exchange in Morocco

WWB hosted its fourth Women in Leadership Exchange from February 20 to 23, 2012. Nine graduates of WWB’s Women in Leadership Program from seven institutions in seven countries participated in the four-day Exchange in Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco. Al Amana microfinance, a leading Moroccan microfinance institution and member of the WWB network, acted as local co-host and was one of the sites visited during the Exchange.

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Notes from the President: Girls’ Savings, the Dominican Republic, and Women’s History Month

Dear friends,

One of my favorite parts about being the CEO of a global microfinance network is the opportunity to travel the world, visiting WWB network members and observing, first-hand, the impact that access to financial services can have on the lives of women and girls. I recently had the pleasure of leading a field visit to Banco ADOPEM in the Dominican Republic with four members of the WWB Board.

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ARS and Women’s World Banking to Participate in UN Commission on the Status of Women Gathering

On Friday, March 2 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., the ARS has organized a high-level panel event with the Armenia’s Permanent Mission to the UN and Ambassador Garen Nazarian. Along with Mary Ellen Iskenderian, the CEO of Women’s World Banking, and Meryl Frank, president and CEO of Makeda Global, Nazarian will discuss “From Empowerment to Sustainability: Financing, Health, and Participation for Rural Women.” Killian will represent the ARS and present the organization’s decades-long efforts in advancing rural women in Armenia and the diaspora.

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Year of the Cooperative, a Year for Localization

“The year 2012 is the UN year of cooperatives. After a roller-coaster year for microfinance—where markets were a solution, then markets created a problem, a state reigning in the markets while being a player—it is a good time to reflect on where it started and where it thrives. We have three examples and a few thoughts. These institutions did not exist for profits, not scale, just relevance to their customers.

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Redbook Magazine features Women’s World Banking in “7 Easy Ways to Save a Whole Family from Poverty”

“…Learn how microfinance creates miracles. “When women are economically empowered, they’re more likely than men to put money back into the family and spend on things like education for their kids, health care for the whole family, and improving their housing,” says Mary Ellen Iskenderian, the president of Women’s World Banking, an organization that helps low-income women entrepreneurs in 27 countries. Microfinance gives these women access to capital they’d never qualify for at traditional banks…”

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Women’s World Banking Partners with ACLEDA Training Center to Enhance Management Quality in Microfinance

27 participants from 15 institutions in 5 countries in the Asia Pacific region came together in Cambodia from January 16 to 21, 2012 for Women’s World Banking’s (WWB) Center for Microfinance Leadership Management Development Program and Training of Trainers (MDP TOT), a 6-day course aiming to develop transformational skills for managers of microfinance institutions (MFIs).
 
WWB partnered with  Read More »

Road Map for the Microfinance Industry: Focusing on Responsible and Client-Centered Microfinance

In less than 40 years, microfinance has spread around the world, today providing access to credit and other financial services to more than 205 million poor clients,1 most of whom were previously ignored by mainstream financial institutions. From modest roots, microfinance has built a global network of institutions dedicated to serving low-income people. It has transformed our understanding about the power of opportunity.

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Mary Ellen Iskenderian blogs for Financial Access Initiative (FAI) on “The Year in Microfinance”

 

“As CEO of a global microfinance network I spent much of 2010 answering questions about the crisis in India and advocating for the continued relevance of microfinance as a model. This year’s challenges, however, gave me an opportunity to talk about the essential role of transparency and good governance and the importance of building on a deep understanding of client needs to tailoring products to fit those needs.

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VIP Corner: Mary Ellen Iskenderian on being a smart philanthropist for Big Think

“…A strong philanthropist leader in her own right, Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking, said she believes that individual leaders can affect not only the lives of others, but also the world at large.

“In coming to Women’s World Banking, I’d say, the greatest privilege is that I meet — literally, daily — women who are clients, who are leaders of our institutions, founders of our organizations, whose lives, if left to their own devices, would have gone in a very, very different path,” Iskenderian said…”

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Happy Holidays From Women’s World Banking!

WWB has a vision that one day all women will have access to a secure financial future for themselves and their families. We work with our 39 network member institutions, including CECM in Burundi, to help them create sustainable financial solutions for women and girls. Microfinance is about much more than credit, and has the capacity to help more than entrepreneurs. Our network reaches more than 26 million clients, 80 percent of whom are women. The key economic priorities for poor women continue to be health care, the education of their children, and housing.

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Leadership & Diversity

What if it Had Been Lehman Brothers & Sisters?: The Importance of Building Gender Diverse Microfinance Institutions

Microfinance as an industry is still quite young, and when it comes to addressing institutional support for gender diversity, the efforts are nascent. Much has been learned—both about what has worked and what has failed—in the corporate world about engaging women professionals. The question to the microfinance industry is how well can we take advantage of these inroads, these tested efforts and do even better at building inclusive institutions?

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Research & Perspectives

2010 Annual Report

Although 2010 was a year of unprecedented growth in microfinance, it was also a year of considerable introspection as the industry grappled with questions of profitability, transparency and impact. While some of these questions were overdue, they prompted many to re-examine their beliefs about how microfinance can and should adapt and reform. It also forced the realization that the close knowledge of our clients’ lives and financial needs—traditionally a hallmark of microfinance—may have become secondary
to the push for greater numbers of clients.

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WWB News

9th Annual Women’s World Banking and the Capital Markets Conference

On April 7th and 8th, WWB hosted the 9th annual Women’s World Banking and the Capital Markets Conference. This conference is the leading industry event of its kind, bringing together expert practitioners from the mainstream financial sector and the microfinance industry, and providing a forum for knowledge exchange.

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WWB Global Dinner 2011

On March 21, 2011, Women’s World Banking held its annual Global Dinner Celebration at Capitale in New York City. We were delighted by the confluence of over 400 men and women from different corners of the world who came together to celebrate women entrepreneurs and to support financial inclusion for the poor.


WWB’s annual dinner honors women who have championed and advanced the cause of empowering women.

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Research & Perspectives

2011 Excellence in Leadership Award Case Study: Kenya Women Finance Trust

WWB’s commitment to supporting principled leaders at the helm of gender diverse microfinance providers dates to its establishment as a global network in 1979. Today the WWB network includes some of the most celebrated leaders in the industry, representing a global commitment to responsive, sustainable microfinance. As we work with institutions to create innovative products that meet the needs of women we are increasingly convinced that leadership commitment is crucial to the success of growing the institution

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Products & Solutions

Solutions for Financial Inclusion: Serving Rural Women

Using Uganda as a case study, Women’s World Banking set out to better understand the needs of rural women and to use the research and lessons learned there to make recommendations on the design and delivery of microfinance products within Uganda and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

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Who Should Get What and Why? Financing Economic Justice for the World’s Poor

While world poverty has decreased over recent years, we still live in a world where economic justice has not been achieved. Almost two thirds of the world’s people live without the security of knowing that they can earn enough to sustain themselves and their families.

This means they are unable to do the things we take for granted – like sending their kids to school, being able to go to a doctor, having a job, or even having access to land to grow food. The poorest of the poor (just under 1 billion) don’t even know where their next meal is coming from.

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Microfinance: Why does it matter? Where can you take it?

A topical discussion with leading experts on the development and impacts of microfinance around the world. Chaired by Lori Bittner, a director in Deloitte Consulting LLP focused on emerging markets, the event will feature a panel discussion among experts from both the commercial and non-profit sectors.

Microfinance is an area of considerable research and attention in the economic development community. The Deloitte Northeast International Business Resource Group (IBRG) hopes to deepen understanding of microfinance and engage Deloitte professionals and guests by offering:

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WWB Network Member Enda Continues Operations Amid Tunisian Political Upheaval

WWB network member enda in Tunisia, which has 60 offices nationally, continues to operate amid a change in government that has left the country in an uneasy limbo. Michael Cracknell, co-director of enda, wrote “We are naturally concerned for our operations and our staff, and especially our clients. I learned yesterday that at least three have died. But we are trying to keep our operations working since the clients need us more now than before, especially some whose businesses have been damaged.

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Research & Perspectives

2009 Annual Report

The year 2009 began with intense speculation about how the microfinance industry would weather the financial crisis, with even seasoned industry leaders questioning microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) ability to cope with dramatic shifts in portfolio quality, growth rates and liquidity. Now, with the worst of the financial crisis behind us, we can clearly see that while the microfinance industry generally experienced lower profitability and portfolio quality, it also demonstrated remarkable resilience.

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Research & Perspectives

2008 Annual Report

The year 2008 was one of historic change and dynamic accomplishment. Yet, when retrospectives of 2008 are written, they will undoubtedly center on the warning signs and fourth-quarter collapse of the global financial system. Similarly, the microfinance sector reflected this dual sense of opportunity and crisis in 2008. More than $11 billion of capital flowed into the sector, allowing providers to reach more than 155 million clients with a broader array of products and through a more diverse set of channels.

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Research & Perspectives

2007 Annual Report

The report illustrates the accomplishments of WWB and our network members, united in our mission of improving the economic access and power of poor women microentrepreneurs, and thereby improving livelihoods and creating sustainable change.

2007 was an exciting and successful year for WWB. Some key accomplishments of our network members worth noting are:

  • 8.8 million women clients were served by the WWB core network in 2007,
  • Women now comprise 64% of core network board members,
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Research & Perspectives

2006 Annual Report

The report illustrates the accomplishments of WWB and our network members for 2006, united in our mission of improving the economic access and power of poor women microentrepreneurs, and thereby improving livelihoods and creating sustainable change.

The results combined with the individual successes of our network members illustrate that together we are making a difference in the lives of millions of poor people worldwide.

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Products & Solutions

Diagnostic to Action: Microfinance in Africa

Something decidedly new is on the horizon in Africa since the mid-1990s. Many African economies appear to have turned the corner and have moved towards a path of faster and steadier economic growth. Their performance between 1995 and 2005 has reversed the economic collapses that marked the period from 1975 to 1985, and the stagnation that was rife between 1985 and 1995. Moreover, per capita income is now also increasing in tandem with other developing countries.

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Research & Perspectives

Gender Baseline Survey: Household Resource Allocation and the Capacity of Poor Women to Grow Their Businesses in Morocco

Providing credit to poor women can encourage the financial stability and economic progress of low-income households. But in Morocco as in many countries, gender-based constraints, burdens and responsibilities mean that more than credit is necessary if women are to make progress women in lifting their families out of poverty.

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Products & Solutions

Equity Valuation Toolkit

This toolkit gives MFI managers the theoretical understanding and practical examples to conduct an equity valuation of their institutions.

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Research & Perspectives

Stemming the Tide of Mission Drift: Microfinance Transformations and the Double Bottom Line

This paper provides an overview of the process by which microfinance institutions (MFIs) convert from NGOs into regulated financial institutions—known as transformation—and examines the impact of transformation on a control group of MFIs tracked by WWB over the past five years, giving particular attention to the effect of transformation on MFIs’ outreach to low-income women.

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Products & Solutions

How Microcredit is Changing Villages in India

The book Saris on Scooters, which tells inspiring stories of women in India who have overcome many obstacles and successfully built businesses using small loans, features a foreword written by Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President of WWB.

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Products & Solutions

Product Development For Girls – Girls’ Savings And Financial Education

This case study published by Making Cents International was featured as part of their Youth Inclusive Financial Service Case Study Series and details how Women’s World Banking has helped one of its network members, XacBank (Mongolia) design and roll-out savings products and financial education programs for girls ages 14 to 17.

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