All Publications
Open Finance Self-Assessment Tool and Development Roadmap
This technical guide introduces the open finance self-assessment tool and development roadmap. It provides practical tools for policymakers to use to decide whether to implement an open finance regime to advance financial inclusion.
An Introduction to the Small Firm Diaries
The Small Firm Diaries is a global research initiative to better understand small firms in low-income neighborhoods of developing countries, especially the barriers to growth such firms face, through high frequency quantitative and qualitative data collection (“financial diaries”).
Understanding Customers in Environments of Severe Climate-Related Weather Events
This demand side study in Nigeria and Bangladesh aims to provide firsthand information about how vulnerable people build and lose resilience, as well as a close view of how they gather and spend funds to cope with a climate crisis.
Increasing Access to Formal Financial Services
This learning brief describes three models that USAID-funded Feed the Future Rural Resilience Activity utilized to provide formal financial services, in particular credit and savings, to previously excluded populations in Northeast Nigeria.
The Promises of Digital Bank Accounts for Low-Income Individuals
This study tests the extent to which the promises of digital modes of payment, increased efficiency of transactions, increased financial inclusion, and improvements in the financial well-being of low-income individuals, are fulfilled.
Solidarity in Saving: Listening to Women's Needs During Crises
Based on 3,822 (majority women) VSLA member interviews, this brief represents quantitative data from Burundi, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, and Vietnam.
Building Value in Microfinance Through Digitization: A Role for Funders
Funders play a crucial role in ensuring that microfinance institutions (MFIs) continue to serve the most excluded and underserved customers in the future. This note highlights the importance of funders in supporting the digital transformation of MFIs.
A Technical Guide to Unlock Agent Networks at the Last Mile
This guide outlines five key actions for digital financial service providers, regulators, and funders to expand rural Cash-In and Cash-Out agent networks based on CGAP's global experience.
Women Agents for Financial Inclusion: Exploring the Benefits, Constraints, and Potential Solutions
This working paper explores the benefits of having more women agents, the challenges they face, and potential solutions to promote their participation in the DFS ecosystem.
Child Labor, Rainfall Shocks, and Financial Inclusion: Evidence From Rural Households
This paper explores how rural Colombian households respond to rainfall shocks by shifting children's time from school to domestic activities, with the impact on education mitigated or exacerbated by financial inclusion measures.