Keeping Gender on the Agenda When Funding Is Tight

Day One brought the FinEquity community together around a shared challenge: sustaining progress on women's financial inclusion at a time of growing constraints. 

International aid is in historic decline, budgets across the sector are under pressure, and funders are making hard choices about where their support will go furthest. At the same time, AI is reshaping financial services, bringing new opportunities alongside new demands on institutions already stretched thin. In this environment, how can partnerships and collaboration through communities of practice like FinEquity help institutions do more with less, and ensure women aren't left behind? 

These questions were addressed through plenary discussions, interactive networking, and six parallel workshops. Each workshop examined a different lever for advancing women's financial inclusion in practice, from product design and gender data to financial health, social norms, and AI.

Event Details:

Date: 2 June, 2026
Time: 9:00 am - 12:30 pm ET
Venue: Online
Language: English and Spanish

Watch the recording:

09:00 – 09:15 am | Welcome and Opening (starts at 0:00 in the recording)

The opening session shared findings from a recent independent evaluation of FinEquity, highlighting practical connections and collaboration as the community’s greatest source of value. It set the stage for the day’s discussion by examining where progress has been real, where it has stalled, and how the community can sustain momentum together.

• Mariana Martínez, FinEquity Facilitator, CGAP
   

9:15 – 10:15 am | Plenary Session
Collaboration in Times of Constraint: How Funders Are Rethinking Their Role (starts at 00:10:24 in the recording)

The funding landscape for financial inclusion is being reshaped. International aid has fallen sharply and is projected to keep declining, while CGAP has found that new, largely commercial funders are stepping into the space, most without explicit impact mandates. Some are pooling resources, others are shifting from global research toward country-level implementation, and some are stepping back from financial inclusion altogether. 

This plenary brought funders into direct conversation on what these shifts meant for women's financial inclusion: what was driving these choices, what the next generation of funding for financial inclusion should look like, and where collaboration could help the sector absorb the disruption rather than fragment further.

Moderator: 

• Valdete Berisha, Senior External Affairs Officer, CGAP

Panelists:

• Greta Bull, Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment, Gates Foundation

• Luz Gomez, Vice President of Research & Insights, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

• Janet Kuteli, Founder and CEO, Fortune Credit Ltd

• Dr. Jemimah Njuki, Director of Gender, Women and Civil Society, African Development Bank Group

• Francesca Randazzo, Chief Technical Adviser - Head of Technical Assistance, Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency

   

10:15 – 10:45 am | Fireside Chat
Putting Commitments Into Practice (starts at 01:15:19 in the recording)

This short, focused session looked at concrete initiatives advancing gender‑intentional finance. Speakers shared what was working, what remained challenging, and where collaboration was making the biggest difference, drawing on both global and country‑level experience. The conversation centered on a single question: how do commitments translate into systems that actually work for women?

Moderator:

• Gayatri Murthy, Gender Lead, CGAP

Panelists:

• Wendy Teleki, Head of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) Secretariat

• Ibtissam EL Anzaoui, Deputy Director of Financial Inclusion & Sustainable Development, Bank Al-Maghrib

• Ana Karen Espinosa, Financial Inclusion, Gender & Literacy Deputy Director, Ministry of Finance and Public Credit

10:45 – 10:50 am | Transition to Workshops / Parallel Sessions (starts at 01:53:59 in the recording)

A brief transition introduced the workshop block. The next 45 minutes shifted from plenary discussion to practical exchange, with six parallel sessions covering product design, gender data, financial health, social norms, funding, and AI. Each session was grounded in real‑world experience and focused on what was working, what wasn’t, and what could be applied in different contexts.

• Mariana Martínez, FinEquity Facilitator, CGAP

• Rathi Mani-Kandt, Sr. Director, Women’s Entrepreneurship and Market Systems, CARE

10:50 – 11:40 am | Workshops / Parallel Sessions (choose one)
Workshop 1. What Works and What Doesn't: Practical Experiences in Designing Financial Services for Women (starts at 02:05:24 in the recording)

This session explored how financial products, services, and delivery channels can be intentionally designed to better respond to women's needs and experiences. Through practical case studies from different regions, participants examined what had worked, what hadn’t, and what could be scaled.

Grounded in real‑world experience, the discussion highlighted how collaboration across providers, markets, and geographies could help move from access to meaningful use and impact for women.

Moderator:
 

• Carolina Trivelli, Former Minister of Development and Social Inclusion of Peru

Panelists:

• Veronica Gavilanes, General Manager, BancoSol Bolivia

• Sarah Hewitt, Director of Strive Women, Women's Entrepreneurship, CARE

• Rathi Mani-Kandt, Sr. Director, Women’s Entrepreneurship and Market Systems, CARE

• Angela Wambugu, Advisory Director for Africa, Women’s World Banking

   

Workshop 2. Gender Data as a Game Changer (starts at 02:48:14 in the recording)

High‑quality, gender‑disaggregated data was essential to move from assumptions to evidence, and from access to impact. It enabled better product design, more effective policy, and stronger regulatory frameworks.

This session explored how different actors were using gender data to improve financial inclusion outcomes for women, while also highlighting persistent gaps in availability, use, and coordination. It also reflected on how collaboration across institutions could accelerate the use of data to inform decisions and keep gender priorities visible

Panelists:

• Gabriela Eguidazu Villota, Innovation for Inclusive Growth Director, Fundación Microfinanzas BBVA

• Juan Carlos Izaguirre, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

• Luis Trevino, Senior Policy Manager - Financial Inclusion Data, Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI)

• Sulita Levaux, Program Manager, Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR)

Workshop 3. Women's Financial Health and Resilience (starts at 03:23:37 in the recording)

Moving beyond access, this session focused on what it meant for women to be financially healthy, resilient, and able to withstand economic shocks. Participants explored emerging approaches to defining and measuring financial health, and how these frameworks were being applied in different country contexts. The discussion also highlighted the importance of peer learning in strengthening measurement and informing policy and product design.

Panelists:

• Tatiana Alonso, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

• Peter McConaghy, Policy Advisor, United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA)

• Marco Antonio del Rio, Director of Advisory Latam, BFA Global

Workshop 4. From Invisible Norms to Intentional Design (the recording is not available)

Social and gender norms continue to shape women's financial behaviors, opportunities, and outcomes, often in ways that remain invisible in financial system design.

Building on FinEquity's LinkedIn dialogue on gender norms, this session explored how these constraints can be better understood and intentionally addressed through product design, policy, and program implementation. It highlighted the importance of integrating behavioral insights into financial inclusion strategies to improve effectiveness and impact.

Panelists:

• Yasmin Bin-Humam, Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

• Sophie Mills, Network Gender Lead, FSD Africa

• Nisha Singh, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

Workshop 5. Curating the Ecosystem: Navigating Gender Finance Resources in an Age of Information Overload (starts at 04:04:47 in the recording)

The gender finance ecosystem has no shortage of tools, frameworks, case studies, platforms, and guidance. The challenge is no longer access to information, but how to navigate, interpret, and apply it effectively in increasingly complex institutional and market contexts.

This session explored how platforms and initiatives can help practitioners move from information abundance to practical action. Bringing together perspectives from e-MFP’s newly launched GLI Resource Portal, Pro Mujer’s Gender Knowledge Lab (GKL), and FinEquity, the discussion examined the evolving role of curation, peer learning, and ecosystem building in gender finance. It also highlighted the continued importance of human judgment and contextual understanding in determining what is relevant, credible, and actionable, especially as AI tools reshape how knowledge is accessed and synthesized.

Panelists:

• Sam Mendelson, Financial Inclusion Specialist, e-MFP

• Tomás González Bergez, Global Gender and Advisory Manager, Pro Mujer

• Mariana Martínez, FinEquity Facilitator, CGAP

   

Workshop 6. AI, Digital Finance and Women's Financial Inclusion: Opportunities and Risks (the recording is not available)

Artificial intelligence and digital finance are reshaping financial services faster than the sector can assess the implications for women, creating both new opportunities and new risks. This session examined how innovation can be harnessed to improve access, usage, and outcomes for women, while addressing the risks: algorithmic bias, exclusion from training data, weakened consumer protections, and the widening of existing gender gaps as automated decisions replace human judgment. It also looked at what practitioners, regulators, and funders can do to support more inclusive and accountable use of these technologies.

Moderator:

• Cristina Martinez, Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

Panelists:

• Nandini Harihareswara, Director of Digital Programmes, Consumers International 

• Scott Graham, Vice President of Research and Data Science, FINCA International

• Paul Breloff, Co-founder and CEO, Shortlist

   

11:40 am – 12:05 pm | Plenary: Workshops Debrief 
From Insights to Action (starts at 04:40:06 in the recording)

This plenary session brought together the key insights emerging from the parallel workshops, creating a space to synthesize learning and connect ideas across themes. Representatives from each group shared their main takeaways and reflections, helping to identify common priorities and highlight practical pathways forward.

• Carolina Trivelli, Former Minister of Development and Social Inclusion of Peru

• Juan Carlos Izaguirre, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

• Tatiana Alonso, Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

• Yasmin Bin-Humam, Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

• Sam Mendelson, Financial Inclusion Specialist, e-MFP

• Cristina Martinez, Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP
   

12:05 – 12:10 pm | Closing Remarks
The Road Ahead: From Inclusion to Agency Through Collaboration  (starts at 05:01:54 in the recording)

The closing session reflected on the day's discussions and outlined the broader direction for advancing women's financial inclusion in a context of tightening resources and persistent gender gaps. It emphasized the importance of moving beyond access toward strengthening women's agency, resilience, and meaningful economic opportunity.

Speaker: Mariana Martínez, FinEquity Facilitator, CGAP
 

12:10 – 12:20 pm | FinEquity Speed Networking
Turning Connections Into Collaboration

An interactive session designed to foster connections across regions and sectors, identify shared priorities, and spark potential collaborations.
 

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