This paper explores model practices in financial inclusion for women through the work of the winner and nine semi-finalists for the European Microfinance Award 2022. Mr Mendelson sorts the lessons learned into three approaches to how financial services providers (FSP) can foster women’s financial inclusion: offering financial products and services to accommodate women’s needs, leveraging non-financial services, and promoting gender equity and women’s leadership within FSPs.
Among the FSPs focusing on client-centric financial products is the MicroLoan Foundation (MLF) Malawi, a unit of the UK-based MLF. The great majority of this organisation’s clients are smallholder farmers, and many were suffering due to high supply prices and poor farming techniques. To counter these challenges, MLF Malawi offers agricultural training, and it designed an agricultural loan product with terms tailored to farmers depending on what crops they cultivate. One example is an 8-month loan product with a 4-month grace period for farms growing rice and tea.
An example of the use of non-financial products to foster women’s financial inclusion comes from the Small Enterprise Foundation, a microfinance institution in South Africa that serves only women. The foundation’s non-financial services include financial education, psychosocial counselling for victims of rape, and a programme on HIV and gender-based violence. This third programme has two stages: (1) participatory training sessions on various gender-related issues and HIV, which provide information as well as fostering participants’ communication skills and confidence; and (2) leadership skills development, including encouraging participants to become activists in their communities.
An example of gender mainstreaming and the promotion of women’s leadership within financial inclusion organisations is at the Bolivian bank Banco FIE. Among the bank’s strategies is Marca Magenta, a business management model that promotes gender equity among the bank’s employees. As part of this model, Banco FIE has: (1) a Gender Equality Action Plan that it updates annually; (2) leadership training and mentorship programs for women; and (3) a system for monitoring progress toward gender equality within the institution.
In conclusion, Mr Mendelson notes that nearly all of the semi-finalists’ programs were holistic, tackling multiple aspects of financial inclusion and rarely fitting into just one of the three approaches discussed above, but often comprising features of either two or all three.
This is a summary of a paper by Sam Mendelson, published by the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP), November 2022, 44 pages, available at https://www.e-mfp.eu/resources/financial-inclusion-works-women-lessons-and-best-practices-european-microfinance-award.
By Saulius Simonas Ramanauskas, Research Associate
Additional Resources
European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) homepage
https://www.e-mfp.eu
MLF Malawi webpage
https://microloanfoundationusa.org/our-work/where-we-work/malawi
Banco FIE homepage
https://www.bancofie.com.bo
Small Enterprise Foundation homepage
https://www.sef.co.za
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