Cocoa is one of the world’s most prized foods, but the smallholder farmers in Cote d’Ivoire who produce it live in extreme poverty. Formal land ownership can improve their financial outlook.

A Scale2Save project in Cote d’Ivoire shares what they’ve learned working with farmer cooperatives as financial agents.

Research in Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire provides guidance for DFS providers and regulators on how to help ensure that digital tools make women more - not less - financially included. 

Results from a recent survey in Kenya question the impact of flexible loan terms on how much credit smallholder farmers take up. But the issue may be that loans were still not flexible enough.

Five principles and five key actions to help build trust and confidence in Kenya’s digital finance ecosystem 

How cashless transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa can be improved and expanded

European Microfinance Award winner, APA Insurance, is working with Kenyan smallholders to help them build resilience to the effects of climate change such as droughts and flooding.

Organizations implementing the graduation approach need tools to manage their different program components effectively. Mobile and cloud technology are helping them to support poor women on their path out of poverty. 

Informal Savings Mechanisms (ISMs) have long been important to many people’s day-to-day money management across Africa. But as formal financial services become much more prevalent in the region, what will happen to these ISMs? Will they fall by the wayside as the digital revolution takes over? 

Access to a mobile phone is not enough. The BOMA Project works to overcome illiteracy and innumeracy to bring digital financial services to women living in extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.