By Chloe Gueguen, Julia Hakspiel and Sabal Majali of the Arab Women’s Enterprise Fund; published by the SEEP Network; April 2020; 37 pages; available at https://seepnetwork.org/files/galleries/AWEF_DFS_Practitioner_Learning_Brief_compressed.pdf
Despite efforts to boost digital financial services (DFS) and otherwise increase the financial inclusion of women, gender inequality remains high in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This paper addresses several “gender-smart” efforts in the region and enumerates some of the remaining challenges relating to DFS. In addition, the authors advocate a shift of focus from digital financial inclusion to “digital financial empowerment” in order to increase women’s agency and well-being.
To make digital finance more helpful to women in the region, the authors propose practitioners develop a “holistic understanding of women’s needs” to create “inclusive distribution networks” as part of “a solid DFS ecosystem with relevant use cases for women.” This ecosystem should dovetail with traditional financial services, non-financial services, social media, e-commerce and digital identities. Finally, practitioners should monitor progress by collecting and analyzing sex-disaggregated data.
By Anna Gravois, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Arab Women’s Enterprise Fund report
https://seepnetwork.org/files/galleries/AWEF_DFS_Practitioner_Learning_Brief_compressed.pdf
Arab Women’s Enterprise Fund description from DAI (formerly Development Alternatives Incorporated)
https://www.dai.com/our-work/projects/jordan-egypt-and-palestine-arab-women-enterprise-fund
SEEP Network (formerly known as the Small Enterprise and Education Promotion Network) homepage
https://seepnetwork.org
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