by the MicroCapital Team - European Microfinance Week, Events, Green Energy, Mobile Money, Technology, Trends/Challenges, Women -

SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Week Is Almost Here!

e-MFP logoEuropean Microfinance Week (EMW) 2022 is fast approaching, and we’re delighted that it will be in-person again, with a hybrid component for remote speakers and participants. EMW2022 offers more than 30 sessions organised across several thematic streams, including “Finan­cial Inclusion that Works for Women” – the topic of the European Micro­finance Award 2022 – as well as green and climate-smart finance, digital­isation, funding, financial health, and social performance and impact. Other subject areas include agri-insurance, women’s leadership, fund regu­la­tion, mobile money, biodiversity, refugee finance, WASH, food security and more. To give MicroCapital readers a sense of what they can look forward to, here are some details of just three of the EMW2022 thematic streams:

Climate and Green Finance
Climate change represents one of the greatest issues the world faces today. While the changing climate impacts all countries, sectors and people, they are not all affected in the same ways. Climate change is par­ticularly threatening to poor and marginalised communities. Tackling the issue requires battling on many fronts – not just on the mitigation side (mini­mising the actual climate change that takes place), but on the adap­ta­­tion side too. The financial inclusion sector has an important role in increas­ing the resilience of communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and EMW2022 will feature a variety of related sessions, including:

– Improving Access to Climate Finance
– How Green Inclusive Finance Fosters Women’s Empowerment Through Energy Access
– Inclusive Insurance: Technology-based Innovations to Scale Up Inclusive Agriculture and Climate – Risk Insurance
– Biodiversity Inclusive Finance
– Protecting Forests Through Financial Inclusion of Local and Indigenous Communities

Financial Inclusion that Works for Women
The Euro­pean Microfinance Award, the EUR 100,000 prize awarded by the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, this year highlights organisations working in financial inclusion that aim to under­stand and meet women’s challenges and aspirations in order to go be­yond traditional gender outreach strategies. Key to understanding and meeting women’s needs is recognising that women comprise a group of clients with a diverse set of situations and circumstances that are often quite distinct from men’s – and from each other’s.

EMW 2022 will have an unprecedented range of sessions on the Award topic, including:

– Financial Inclusion that Works for Women (plenary)
– Gender Diversity and Leadership in Financial Inclusion
– High Tech & High Touch

Digitalisation
Digital transformation is a broad term, an umbrella covering a grow­ing range of technological innovations that improve efficiency, reduce costs, improve understanding of current and potential clients’ needs and situations, and – in theory, at least – improve services and outreach to vulnerable groups. Perceived as both a challenge and an opportunity, the digitalisation of the sector is seen as having been catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which accelerated innovation but exa­cer­bated risks as well. The sector must address barriers of fear and distrust that are still widespread among some clients to strengthen their digital capa­bilities and skills to change the culture of using cash in favor of digital money and the adoption of digital applications.

Sessions on this topic that will be held during EMW2022 include:

– Making Digital Finance Responsible (plenary)
– Fintechs vs MFIs: Who Will Win the Race to Digitise Microenterprise Finance?
– Innovative Finance for MSMEs

Apart from these three themes, there are many other themes and ses­sions across subjects as varied as inclusive agri-insurance and women’s leadership to fund regulation, mobile money, biodiversity, fintechs, MSME finance, refugees, research, WASH and food security.

Finally, there will be two other plenaries besides those listed above – one on the increasingly relevant subject of the relationship between financial education and financial health – titled From Financial Educa­tion to Finan­cial Health – and a closing plenary that will bring together a panel of opinion leaders to discuss some of the “Big Questions of Today and Tomorrow.”

We look forward to seeing you at EMW2022, either at the Abbaye de Neumünster in Luxembourg, or online on the bespoke conference platform and app!

For more information on all EMW2022 themes and sessions, please visit the conference website.

The European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP), the host of EMW, has over 130 members from all geographic regions and specialisations. As the leading network of organisations and individuals active in the financial inclusion sector in developing countries, it fosters activities that increase global access to affordable, quality, sus­tainable and inclusive financial services for the un(der)banked by driving knowledge-sharing, partnership development and innovation.

This feature is part of a sponsored series on EMW2022, which will take place in Luxembourg and on-line from November 16 to November 18. MicroCapital has been engaged to report on the conference each year since 2012.

Additional Resources

European Microfinance Week 2022
https://emw2022.eu/

European Microfinance Award
https://www.european-microfinance-award.com

MicroCapital coverage of European Microfinance Week since 2012, including the European Microfinance Award
https://www.microcapital.org/category/european-microfinance-week/

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