Women's World Banking Blog

Global

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

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

Read More »
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

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.”

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
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,
Read More »
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.

Read More »

Categories

Posts – Filter by Category

Topics

Posts – Filter by Tag