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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.

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Women working in India. Photo by Peter Paul Ekka, 2016 CGAP Photo Contest.
Blog

The World Is Mobile, Why Isn’t Our Data?

Over 164 million migrant workers make a living in a foreign country, and almost 26 million refugees have been forced to flee due to conflict. Unfortunately, while migrant workers are on the move, their data is not, often preventing them from accessing financial services or better jobs. Developing a digital identity system is one potential solution to this problem.
By Tim Nourse
November 2019
Suha Al-Zyoud, FINCA Jordan client. Photo Credit: FINCA International.
Blog

Can Financial Inclusion Help Reverse Women’s Inequality in Jordan?

Women’s entrepreneurship is on the rise globally, though it still lags behind men’s in most countries. The challenge is how to get female businesses out of a survivalist mode and onto a pathway of growth.
By Scott Graham & Anahit Tevosyan
September 2019
Photo credit: GIZ / Paul Hageman
Blog

Can Mobile Wallets Increase Access to Remittances and Other Financial Services?

Home to more than 600,000 Syrian refugees, Jordan hosts the second highest ratio of refugees in the world - 89 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants. In this blog post, Amarante Consulting shares what they learned from evaluating the Dig#ttances project, which explored digital solutions for refugees and the unbanked in Jordan.
By Sahana Arun Kumar
June 2019
2018 AFIIP Finalists and Judges at the Sanabel Conference. Photo credit: Arabic FinDev Gateway
Blog

Who Is Innovating in the Arab World?

Meet the eight finalists of the inaugural edition of the Arab Financial Inclusion Innovation Prize, presented at the Sanabel Conference in Amman, Jordan.
By Miranda Beshara
December 2018
Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan. Photo credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Blog
FROM
Getting Inclusion Right: FIW 2018

Getting It Right: Providing Financial Services to Refugees

Drawing on the findings from recently released market studies in Jordan and Uganda, here are the top five recommendations for financial service providers (FSPs) willing to contribute to the financial inclusion of refugees.
By Micol Pistelli & Philippe Guichandut
October 2018
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