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Tanzania: Government Unveils 10-Year National Microfinance Plan
The Vice-President noted the implementation of the National Microfinance Policy would enable the low income population which was excluded from financial services to begin benefiting from the services.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Longest Last Mile: Are India’s Poor Ready for Digital Financial Services?
With the Indian government working to transform the country into a digital economy, the focus of financial inclusion is heavily inclined toward digital financial services for all. But are India’s poor ready for this shift? Anoushaka Chandrashekar and Misha Sharma at IFMR LEAD argue that poor customers are far from reaching this stage, and that policymakers and practitioners should focus on access and usage, rather than introducing digital products that very few people use.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Shift to ‘innovative’ financing to achieve 2030 SDGs pushed
If countries in Asia and the Pacific, like the Philippines, will achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, their governments must turn to innovative financing models. In a report, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap) and Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute (Stepi) said meeting the SDGs worldwide could amount to $2.5 trillion.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Report: Recovery Lending Program Prevents Thousands of African Families from Falling into Extreme Poverty after Climate Shocks
A report released by DFID, World Vision UK and VisionFund International has revealed that an innovative market-based approach was central in building resilience to the El Nino climate shock that impacted East Africa throughout 2016 and early 2017. These findings are critical as climate change continues to impact the world’s most vulnerable communities.
- Categories
- Environment, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The untold story behind IndusInd Bank-Bharat Financial merger
Bharat Financial’s earlier avatar SKS’s quest to become a bank started in right earnest from the day it realized that once small finance banks are in place, it would be difficult to successfully run the microfinance business.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Blockchain for Inclusion? Gates Foundation Strikes Tepid Tone at Money2020
Bitcoin and other blockchain applications may help expand access to financial services for the world's poor, but the technology is not the cure-all that some of the early rhetoric in the space made it out to be.
That’s the takeaway from a panel discussion Sunday at Money2020 in Las Vegas featuring representatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Omidyar Network, two of the most prominent philanthropic organizations focused on promoting financial inclusion.- Categories
- Finance
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Helping Farmers Rebuild After Civil War Isn’t Charity; It’s Good Business
As an agribusiness owner in Africa, GADC founder Bruce Robertson has grown weary of the silver bullet solutions proposed for transforming rural economies. In 22 years in Uganda, he has yet to see a quick fix. But private enterprise has enormous potential to improve rural lives when donors and businesses collaborate, he says, explaining GADC's "replicable model with huge potential for expansion."
- Categories
- Agriculture, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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