As countries around the world take measures to protect their populations against the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19, it is clear that this pandemic will have not only far-reaching public health consequences but also severe economic effects. As always, poor and marginalized people without access to adequate safety nets are the most at risk.
For the FinDev Gateway community of financial inclusion and microfinance practitioners around the globe - and in particular microfinance clients - each day presents new challenges. There are no best practices yet in place, so communication and knowledge exchange with peers can play a vital role in providing support in difficult times.
This Topic Hub on COVID-19 provides a collective space for our community to share experiences, ideas and lessons learned as we all struggle to manage this unprecedented global crisis.
Visit FinDev's regional platforms for resources in Spanish, French, and Arabic relevant for the financial inclusion community in Latin America and the Caribbean, Francophone Africa, and the Arab world.
COVID-10 FinDev Weekly Updates - Stay up-to-date on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the financial inclusion community with our curated list of news, blogs, publications, data and events published by various organizations worldwide.
FinDev Guide to Data: Tracking the Global Response to COVID-19 - Many organizations are mobilizing resources to track various responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We have compiled a list of existing data sources and trackers, indicating the level of relevance for microfinance and financial inclusion when possible.
Organizations List - Many organizations have created specialized COVID-19 information hubs which are relevant for financial inclusion.
FinDev Discussion - COVID-19: How Is the Pandemic Affecting Your Work and the Clients You Serve?
We invited organizations from around the world to share their experiences and thoughts on how the ongoing global health crisis is impacting their work. Join the discussion and tell us how your organization is dealing with this situation, what challenges you are facing, and what ideas you have for supporting those who most need it.
CGAP Collection Page - COVID-19 (Coronavirus) - Insights for Inclusive Finance
CGAP is compiling a list of resources from its own research and blog posts to help inform the response. This is a living resource updated regularly.
Publications - Explore the latest research on the implications of coronavirus COVID-19 for microfinance and financial inclusion.
Events - Check out upcoming online events exploring responses to the novel coronavirus pandemic and actions relevant for microfinance and financial inclusion.
News - Keep up with the latest news on how COVID-19 is impacting the microfinance and financial inclusion community.
FinDev Gateway is CGAP’s independent knowledge-sharing platform where the global financial inclusion community comes together to share the latest research, lessons and ideas on making financial services work for poor people.
This COVID-19 Resource Hub brings together the latest news, publications, blogs, events and other resources that organizations are sharing as we all struggle to manage this unprecedented global crisis. We invite you to include your resources by sharing your work on FinDev Gateway.
Quick responses by providers and regulators in the region helped mobile money keep growing despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Support for agent networks and more flexible on-boarding practices were key.
Tracking Responses to COVID-19
FinDev Coronavirus Data Tracker
Data relevant for financial inclusion - find out who is tracking what
Global Community Response to COVID-19
List of organizations offering knowledge resources and insights on coronavirus and microfinance
FinDev COVID-19 Updates on Financial Inclusion
A weekly roundup of the most relevant coronavirus-related resources for the microfinance and financial inclusion community
Featured Publications
FinDev Gateway hosts the largest, freely available online collection of resources dedicated to microfinance and financial inclusion. We source and accept submissions for a range of publications that cover over 30 topics.
This Migration and Development Brief provides updates on global trends in migration and remittances highlighting developments related to migration-related SDG indicators.
This snapshot is part of a series published by CGAP and Symbiotics, offering regular updates on how COVID-19 is affecting the microfinance sector’s portfolio quality, financial health, and ability to serve excluded clients.
This policy brief examines the types of regulatory flexibility adopted in response to the pandemic and provides early evidence on the impact of these measures.
Featured Events
FinDev offers an extensive calendar of microfinance and financial inclusion events hosted by over 100 organizations from around the world.
What Is the Future of Microfinance?
What does the COVID-19 crisis mean for the future of microfinance? Should MFIs take digital transformation more seriously? What will it take to get them there? And what is at stake if they don’t modernize?
This webinar discussed ways of improving data-collection for remittances, making transfers easier and cheaper using new technologies, and maximizing the impact of remittances.
Speakers in this webinar presented the preliminary results from their study, "Estimating the Effect of Digital Credit: An Experiment with Airtel Malawi."
Additional Resources
COVID-19-Insights for Inclusive Finance
Collection of recent CGAP blogs and publications
Discussion Forum
Forum for the financial inclusion sector to discuss responses to COVID-19
FinEquity COVID-19 Collection: Women's Financial Resiliency
Materials crowd-sourced from the FinEquity community
Frequently Asked Questions
To help the microfinance and financial inclusion community stay up-to-date with the most recent developments related to coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on the sector, we encourage organizations to share their publications, events, news and other resources responding to the crisis.
Publishing your content on FinDev Gateway is free and does not require creating an account. Simply use the following submission forms to send us your content:
All content submitted to FinDev Gateway is subject to review by the FinDev editorial team before publishing. Read the Guidelines for Submitting Content. Our review process aims to ensure that all the content we publish on the site is relevant for our community and meets minimum quality standards. We will follow up with you if we have any questions about your submission.
- Share a Publication - FinDev accepts original work from both organizations and individuals in our publications library.
- Share an Event - Include your event on FinDev's extensive calendar of in-person and online trainings and events on microfinance and financial inclusion. If your event is recorded, follow up with us after the event to add the recording to the event page.
- Share News - You can share major news and announcements about your organization with the global microfinance and financial inclusion community.
- Share a Job - Reach the best candidates for your position by posting your organization's opportunities on FinDev Gateway's job listing page.
- Share a Dataset - We don't host data, but we maintain a listing of key datasets on financial inclusion and can work with you to feature your data on FinDev Gateway.
The content must relate to financial services for the poor, microfinance and financial inclusion. Before you submit any content, review our list of topics to make sure that your content is relevant and consult the FinDev Guidelines for Content Submission to ensure that your content meets the minimum quality standards.
The FinDev editorial team reviews all submitted content before publishing. Our review process aims to ensure that all the content we publish on the site is relevant for our community and meets minimum quality standards. We will follow up with you if we have any questions about your submission.
See FinDev Guidelines for Content Submission >>
If your submission meets our criteria, we will publish it within three to five business days. We usually edit the submission to standardize the formatting and to include all relevant information. You will receive an email notification once your content has been published.
If your submission does not meet our criteria and we are unable to publish it, we will respond to you by email to let you know and explain why. We are always happy to answer any questions, to help you to prepare your content for publication on the FinDev Gateway.
FinDev Gateway has created the COVID-19 Weekly Update series with the latest and most relevant knowledge resources for financial inclusion and microfinance, carefully curated by FinDev editors. The update includes a quick summary of what FinDev editors are reading followed by a listing of the most recent publications, blogs and events related to the ongoing crisis.
At the end of each week, we publish the update on FinDev Gateway and send out an email to our newsletter subscribers featuring the top coronavirus-related news, resources and events from the past week.
- If you have content to share in our weekly update, please submit here or contact us directly.
- To receive the Weekly Updates, sign up here.
The FinDev Gateway Blog features interviews and blog posts from financial inclusion practitioners around the world who share lessons learned, new insights, and upcoming research from the field. Each year, over 70 blog contributors write for the FinDev Blog in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic.
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.
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. See blog submission guidelines >>
FinDev Regional Resources on COVID-19
FinDev's Arabic Portal
Arabic information source for microfinance community in the Arab World
FinDev's French Portal for SSA
Resources in French for the Francophone microfinance community
FinDev's Spanish Portal for LAC
Knowledge center with Spanish resources for the LAC microfinance community