MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Financial Solutions for Women in Rural and Agricultural Livelihoods: Evidence and Strategy,” Published by CGAP

The authors of this slide deck have outlined a strategy to increase access to labor and market opportunities for women in rural and agricultural livelihoods (WIRAL). Among the constraints addressed are saved labor, wage labor, hired labor, digital markets, traditional markets and cultural norms.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CGAP, GOGLA, IFC’s Lighting Global Launch PAYGo PERFORM Standards, Seeking to Boost Investment in Off-grid Solar

Two NGOs, US-based CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and the Netherlands-based Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA), along with the Lighting Global program of the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently launched a framework for measuring the outcomes of selling off-grid solar products on a pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) basis. The PAYGo Performance, Reporting and Measurement (PAYGo PERFORM) plan “offers the PAYGo solar industry a standardized and transparent set of key performance indicators (KPIs)…

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “The Future of Government-to-Person (G2P) Payments: Three Years of Learning About G2P Choice in Zambia;” by Silvia Baur-Yazbeck et al; Published by CGAP, World Bank Group

The authors of this paper evaluated the methods that Zambia’s Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS) uses to issue government-to-person (G2P) payments via its Supporting Women’s Lives (SWL) and Girls Education and Women’s Empowerment and Livelihoods (GEWEL) projects. Launched in

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Consumer Protection and COVID-19: Borrower Risks as Economies Reopen,” by Elisabeth Rhyne, Published by CGAP

Dr Rhyne has analyzed data collected by CGAP, microfinance investors and financial service providers (FSPs) to consider how FSPs can collect outstanding microloans – including after repayment moratoria – and issue

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Gendered Social Norms in Financial Inclusion: A Diagnostic Study from Southeastern Turkey,” by Adriano Scarampi et al, published by CGAP

Through this qualitative study on how social norms impact women’s “access to and use of financial services,” the authors explored potential interventions for promoting women’s financial inclusion. They interviewed 93 members of southeastern Turkey’s Arab population. This community was selected because Turkey’s financial-inclusion gender gap closely resembles that of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as a whole, and the country holds other geographical and cultural similarities to the Arab world, therefore increasing

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Via Atlas, CGAP Begins Releasing Results from Biweekly “Pulse” Survey of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) on COVID-19 Impact

In an effort to understand the needs of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic, the US-based NGO CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) recently launched a biweekly survey called the “Global Pulse Survey of Microfinance Institutions.” CGAP is releasing the results on the Atlas data platform, which is a service of Italy-based MFR (MicroFinanza Rating), in the form of 13 charts. These charts can be manipulated to group the data by

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP UP: “High-saving Youth in Smallholder Households: An Untapped Market,” Published by CGAP

This is a summary of a paper by Jamie Anderson, Ramesh Karuppusamy, Paul Enrico Neumann and Vijendran Thangavel; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); November 2018; 4 pages; available at:
https://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/publications/Brief-High-Saving-Youth-Nov-2018_1.pdf

As in many places, mobile financial services are becoming increasingly popular in rural parts of developing countries. However, the authors of this paper argue

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP UP: “Digitizing Agricultural Payments: Lessons from Uganda’s Coffee Value Chain,” Published by CGAP, UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)

This is a summary of a paper by Amani M’Bale, Rashmi Pillai and Nathan Were; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and UNCDF; June 2018; 40 pages; available at
https://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/researches/documents/Working-Paper-Digitizing-Agricultural-Payments-June-2018.pdf

This paper focuses on the digitization of payments in Uganda for the coffee industry, which accounts for 20 percent of the country’s GDP. Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P), a program of the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), worked with Ugandan

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: CGAP: “Building Inclusive Payment Ecosystems in Tanzania and Ghana;” by Max Mattern, Claudia McKay

This is a summary of a paper by Max Mattern and Claudia McKay, published by CGAP (the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), June 2018, 35 pages, available at:
http://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/Focus-Note-Building-Inclusive-Payment-Ecosystems-June-2018.pdf

This report addresses how advances in technology over the past

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Symbiotics 2013 MIV Survey Report: Market Data and Peer Group Analysis

Published by Symbiotics Research and Advisory; 2013; 31 pages; available at: http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m//template.rc/1.9.62223

Symbiotics SA has conducted the seventh annual survey of microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) which draws on survey responses from 84 MIVs representing approximately 93 percent of the global MIV market asset base. This paper presents an analysis of the financial and social performance of the microfinance investment industry based on data from December 2012.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: 2013 CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Microfinance Photo Contest Accepting Entries Through October 2

CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a US-based, nonprofit policy and research center that aims to facilitate the provision of financial access to poor people, has opened its annual photo contest and seeks entries of original images that capture the impact of microfinance on poor households. Participants may submit up to 20 images.