“The Africa and Middle East Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report”; by The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) and Energy4Impact; published by CCAF; February 2017; 64 pages; available at https://www.scribd.com/document/338995486/CCAF-Africa-and-Middle-East-Alternative-Finance-Report-2017#download&from_embed/
This report focuses on assessing the types and prevalence of alternative financing in Africa and the Middle East.
“How to IPO Successfully and Responsibly: Lessons From Indian Financial Inclusion Institutions”; by Anna Kanze; published by the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) at Accion; Fall 2016; 25 pages; available at: http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/storage/documents/How_to_IPO_Final.pdf
This report draws upon two recent initial public offerings (IPOs) in the financial inclusion industry – those of Equitas and Ujjivan, both microfinance lenders in India – to make the case that institutions can use IPOs to strengthen their capital base while remaining committed to their social missions.
Event Name: Regional Workshop and Field Trip in Johannesburg: How to optimise distribution in the low-cost insurance environment?
Event Date: September 27 – September 28, 2016
Event Location: The Country Club, Napier Road, Auckland Park, Johannesburg
“Financial Diaries with Smallholder Families;” by J. Anderson, W. Ahmed; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); February 2016; 108 pages; available at http://www.cgap.org/publications/financial-diaries-smallholder-families
This report investigates the financial situations of 270 families in Mozambique, Pakistan and Tanzania and the challenges they faced pertaining to agriculture, finance, health and education. The authors offer the following recommendations: (1) non-commerical smallholders in Mozambique would benefit from improved agricultural production and crop storage methods; (2) Tanzanian households should diversify their savings methods; and (3) Pakistani farmers would benefit from tools that may improve their relationships with middlemen.
“Mobile Money Momentum in Four African Countries;” published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); December 2015; 101 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/news/new-data-cgap-sets-benchmark-use-mobile-financial-services
Event Location: Mogador Palace Agdal, Marrakech, Morocco
Cost: The standard cost to attend this event is USD 225 per participant. Participants who register before March 17, 2016, may enjoy a discounted rate of USD 175.
Event Dates: March 2-3, 2016
Event Location: Deutsche Bank Building, New York, New York, USA
“Current Trends in International Funding for Financial Inclusion;” by M. Soursourian, E. Dashi and E. Dokle; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); December 2015; 4 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/Brief-Current-Trends-in-International-Funding-Dec-2015.pdf
“Is Islamic Banking Good for Growth?”; by Patrick Imam and Kangni Kpodar; published by the International Monetary Fund; April 2015; 33 pages; available at: http://www.microfinancegateway.org/library/islamic-banking-good-growth
This paper analyzes the relationship between the development of Islamic banking and economic growth in low- and middle-income countries, finding that “countries where Islamic banking is present experience faster economic growth than others” [1].
During a session on financial stability at European Microfinance Week yesterday, Piotr Korynski of the Microfinance Centre said regarding financial services that “it is not always a good idea to include everybody.” After showing data from a range of countries showing a positive correlation between the share of adults with formal financial accounts and gross domestic product, Mr Korynski asked,
“Doing Digital Finance Right: The Case for Stronger Mitigation of Customer Risks;” by Katherine McKee, Michelle Kaffenberger, Jamie Zimmerman; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); June 2015; 40 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/publications/doing-digital-finance-right
Digital financial services (DFS), which allow the use of cellular devices to make and receive payments without travelling to a brick-and-mortar bank branch, are believed by some to be a pathway toward financial inclusion for low-income people.
“Ending the Microfinance Crisis in Morocco: Acting early, acting right;” published by the International Finance Corporation in partnership with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development; the Danish International Development Agency; Japan; Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs; and UKaid; October 2014; available at http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/5e1e5a0047850bdba0d4f5299ede9589/IFC+Morocco+MicroFinance+Crisis+report.English.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
The Social Performance Task Force (SPTF), a US-based nonprofit charged with addressing questions about measuring and managing social performance, and the France-based network CERISE (Comité d’Echanges de Réflexion et d’Information sur les Systèmes d’Epargne-crédit) recently released version 1.2 of SPI4, their assessment tool for the social performance of microfinance institutions.
Event Name: Webinar: Data Driven Social Performance Management
Event Dates: English-language webinars will be held on May 26, 2015, at 7:00 AM Eastern US Time and May 27, 2015, at noon Eastern US Time. A Spanish-language version of the webinar will be held on May 28, 2015 at noon Eastern US Time.
“Aging and Financial Inclusion: An Opportunity;” published by HelpAge International and Accion’s Center for Financial Inclusion; 2015; 40 pages; available at https://centerforfinancialinclusionblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/aging_and_financial_inclusion_an_opportunity.pdf
This report highlights various barriers and opportunities in providing financial services to older people and helping younger people plan for old age, focusing on middle-income countries, in particular Colombia.
Risks and unexpected events affect us all. However, for low-income people, the financial impact of an unforeseen shock such as a health crisis, the death of a breadwinner or destroyed crops can be devastating. With minimal resources to draw on, many must rely on informal coping mechanisms, such as selling productive assets, taking children out of school either to work or because fees are no longer affordable, or relying on their support network to finance the shock, which can often cause families to spiral into poverty.
The Social Performance Task Force, a US-based nonprofit charged with addressing questions about measuring and managing social performance, in collaboration with the Smart Campaign, a client-protection initiative of US-based nonprofit Accion, recently launched the Responsible Microfinance Facility (RMF), a three-year initiative funded by the French government’s Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) to improve the capacity and performance of microfinance institutions in Africa and the Middle East.
CGAP (The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a US-based nonprofit that aims to facilitate the expansion of financial access, recently selected the following financial service providers to receive an unspecified level of support from human-centered design firms to improve their digital financial services for small-scale farmers: (1) Amret Microfinance, a Cambodian microfinance institution; (2) the Zimbabwean arm of South African mobile network operator Econet Wireless and US-based relief and development nonprofit Mercy Corps; (3) myAgro, a nonprofit organization in Mali that sells agricultural inputs via mobile technology; and (4) Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB), a microfinance institution that was created as a result of a merger between Urwego Community Banking and Opportunity International Bank of Rwanda [1]. While the Econet-Mercy partnership will engage human-centered design firm Ideo.org, the other three programs have not yet released the names of the organizations with which they will work.