Blog

The FinDev Gateway Blog features interviews and blog posts from financial inclusion practitioners around the world. In this community space, we share lessons learned, new ideas, and upcoming research from the field.

Making Clean Cooking Affordable

By Meixi Gan & Richenda Van Leeuwen, The Global LPG Partnership
March 2019
Photo credit: The Global LPG Partnership

Following the FinDev Gateway webinar on financing for clean cooking, GLPGP discusses how innovative consumer finance approaches can help facilitate access to clean cooking in developing countries.

Photo by Adam Yussif, 2017 CGAP Photo Contest.
Interview

Why Do Practitioners Value FinEquity?

In honor of International Women’s Day, FinDev Gateway features FinEquity (formerly known as the Women’s Financial Inclusion Community of Practice), a special corner of FinDev where practitioners working to increase women’s financial inclusion can share ideas, resources and lessons learned. Uloma Ogba of UNCDF tells us what she values about this community of practice.
By FinEquity
March 2019
Nubian woman in Egypt. Photo by Ali Hegazy.
Blog

The Hole in the Bucket: The Impact of De-risking on Non-Profit Organizations

Whole groups are at risk of falling out of the financial system as banks develop increasingly risk-averse controls due to AML/CFT regulations. As non-profits face growing barriers to financial access, what can we do to reverse this trend?
By Karina Avakyan, Floor Knoote, Sofia Ortega, Lia van Broekhoven, Fulco van Deventer & Sangeeta Goswami
February 2019

MOST READ

Engraving on copper. From the 2018 IFC report, Transforming Microfinance Institutions in the Arab World.
Blog

Why Have MFIs in the Arab World Been Reluctant to Transform?

Some say regulatory issues, others cite fear of mission drift. But all of these can be overcome.
By Karen Beshay
October 2018
The Microfinance Gateway is now FinDev Gateway
Blog

Why We Changed Our Name

The question that will be on everyone’s mind is why the name change? The simple answer is that the world has changed, and so has FinDev Gateway.
By Valdete Berisha
October 2018
Tailor and microentrepreneur in Ghana. Photo by Kristin Weidner, 2017 CGAP Photo Contest.
Blog

First, Do No Harm

As the microfinance sector has matured, client protection principles have been introduced around issues such as interest rates and product transparency, fair pricing and appropriate product design. But where do gender-based risks fit into these principles?
By Bobbi Gray
November 2018
Interested in writing a blog? Find out how
Subscribe to our bulletin to stay up to date
Photo by Adam Yussif, 2017 CGAP Photo Contest.
Interview

Why Do Practitioners Value FinEquity?

In honor of International Women’s Day, FinDev Gateway features FinEquity (formerly known as the Women’s Financial Inclusion Community of Practice), a special corner of FinDev where practitioners working to increase women’s financial inclusion can share ideas, resources and lessons learned. Uloma Ogba of UNCDF tells us what she values about this community of practice.
By FinEquity
March 2019
Photo credit: The Global LPG Partnership
Blog

Making Clean Cooking Affordable

Following the FinDev Gateway webinar on financing for clean cooking, GLPGP discusses how innovative consumer finance approaches can help facilitate access to clean cooking in developing countries.
By Meixi Gan & Richenda Van Leeuwen
March 2019
Fish vendor in the Philippines. Photo by Jaime Singlador, 2014 CGAP Photo Contest.
Blog

Great Expectations: Fintech and the Poor

There’s off-the-charts hype around fintech in the financial inclusion community, but how much does it really help poor people? CGAP’s CEO Greta Bull says it’s time to rethink the promise of fintech and focus on how to better harness the innovation it brings in service of poor people.
By Greta Bull
February 2019
Nubian woman in Egypt. Photo by Ali Hegazy.
Blog

The Hole in the Bucket: The Impact of De-risking on Non-Profit Organizations

Whole groups are at risk of falling out of the financial system as banks develop increasingly risk-averse controls due to AML/CFT regulations. As non-profits face growing barriers to financial access, what can we do to reverse this trend?
By Karina Avakyan, Floor Knoote, Sofia Ortega, Lia van Broekhoven, Fulco van Deventer & Sangeeta Goswami
February 2019
Aluminum cookware factory, Bangladesh. Photo by KM Asad, 2016 CGAP Photo Contest.
Blog

Does Fintech Have Us Spellbound?

How can we identify which fintech companies and products offer impact potential without being enthralled by the latest 'shiny new object'? Four frameworks help us separate potential from hype.
By Camilla Nestor
February 2019
Leather dyeing in Morocco. Photo by Ihab Fayad, 2017 CGAP Photo Contest.
Blog

Top Ten Blog Posts of 2018

In 2018, FinDev Gateway published more blog posts than ever before, thanks to so many of our partner organizations and contributing community members. So which ones did you read the most?
By Abby Augusta
January 2019