Blog Guidelines

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.

Interested in writing a blog? Here's how you can do it.

Do you have an idea for a blog post? Have you learned some lessons in your work in the field that you’d like to share with other practitioners? Or maybe you have recently published some new research that could benefit others working on financial inclusion?

FinDev Gateway welcomes original submissions of professionally written, engaging blog posts on topics of interest and relevance for a global audience of microfinance and financial inclusion professionals.

Interested in writing in French, Spanish or Arabic? 

Submit your blog proposals here:

If you would like to write a blog post for FinDev Gateway, please submit a one-paragraph summary of your idea, and a member of the FinDev Gateway editorial team will get in touch with you.

The Editorial Team reserves the right to select which blog post submissions will be published on the FinDev Gateway Blog, as well as to edit the submissions for clarity, tone and format.

Submission Guidelines for Blogs


CONTENT/MESSAGE:

  • Blog post must be original, not published elsewhere on the web.
  • Focus on content relevant to an audience of microfinance and financial inclusion professionals around the globe, presenting ideas from one practitioner to another in the spirit of peer-to-peer learning.
  • Stay focused. Make a single point or core argument and substantiate only with the relevant details. 
  • Posts about an initiative, program or project should not come across as promotional pieces, but should explore in a thoughtful, conversational way some significant, interesting, or surprising aspect of the work in the context of a bigger conversation in financial inclusion. 

LENGTH:

  • Keep it short. Aim for 600 to 800 words. Occasionally a post will merit longer treatment, but generally a tight argument that is well thought through is more effective. You can always link to more detailed resources for anyone who wants to dive deeper. Maximum total word limit of 1000 words. 

STYLE:

  • Use an informal, chatty style. The best blogs are engaging, conversational and easy to read, not dry or academic. Let your voice shine through.
  • Minimize jargon. Your post should be meaningful to a specialist but easy to read for a generalist. Remember, English is not the first language for many of our readers.
  • Pack a punch with your title. A great title grabs readers’ attention while giving them an accurate sense of what they will get out of your post. Questions, statements, and lists do well. 
  • Blog posts must use a civil, respectful tone to engage in constructive conversation. No personal attacks allowed.

FORMAT:

  • Use strong visuals. Charts and graphics can make a post more engaging and help you make your argument. Feel free to send the blog editor suggestions. Just make sure CGAP owns the visual, has the owner’s permission to use it, or that it is in the public domain, and provide the blog editor with proper attribution.
  • Link to sources. There are no footnotes on blogs. Use hyperlinks and anchor them in evocative text that describes what readers can expect if they open a link. Avoid adding text like, “Click here to learn more” and “Available here.”

TRANSLATION:

  • If you wish for your blog post to be published in French, Spanish or Arabic, you may provide a translation that our editors will review. Translations must be of good quality with professional writing (not just a Google or other automated translation) and must meet all of our editorial guidelines. The editors for each language site will make the final decision as to whether a translation will be posted to their language site.


To express your interest in publishing a blog on FinDev Gateway, please contact Abby Augusta at aaugusta@worldbank.org.