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1.3 Million Square Miles of Financial Inclusion: New MIX report offers granular data on India
India is currently home to 21 percent of the world’s unbanked adults, a problem the government is addressing through its ambitious financial inclusion plan. Ensuring that this and other efforts are effective requires a detailed understanding of the distribution of financial service access points, through granular, subnational data. MIX has created a custom tool to provide this, and Nikhil Gehani describes what it has found.
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- Education
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Tablets + Smartphones = Easier Microloans?: New Accion case study explores use of digital field applications by microfinance banks
Providing micro financial services often involves manual processes which limit the potential for scaling up and expose clients to poor service, errors and fraud. That's why many microfinance banks are increasing the use of tablets, smartphones and other digital tools among loan officers and other staff. Accion has published a case study aiming to provide some clarity on the impact of these devices.
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- Education, Technology, Telecommunications
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Rising Star or Red Flag?: South Africa’s financial inclusion growth raises questions for the entire industry
South Africa placed second in a recent Brookings Institute study comparing financial inclusion in 21 developing countries – surpassed only by Kenya. But though this has led to celebration in some quarters, there’s a troubling aspect to these findings. Illana Melzer argues that the risks of burgeoning financial access and usage are too significant for beneficiaries, development organizations and donors to ignore.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment
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Taking Financial Inclusion Data to the Next Level: National data is useful – but it’s not enough
The era of “big data” has fully arrived in the financial inclusion industry. But while existing data platforms are beginning to fill the gaps in national measures of inclusion, this information may not reflect the situation on the ground. That's why the next iteration of financial inclusion data needs to drill down to the subnational level to increase clarity around financial service access, usage and quality.
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- Education
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Tapping New Sources to Raise Funds on Healthcare Research
Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have been left out on technology investments in healthcare research due to the huge financial needs and difficulties in sourcing them.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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VIEWPOINT: Humanitarian Cash Transfers: Six Things We Know and One (Big) Thing We Don’t
The Center for Global Development has been working with the Overseas Development Institute to look into humanitarian cash transfers, and will launch its report on September 14.
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- Education
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Health innovations need much more than research
The Global Forum for Research and Innovation for Health recognised that health care innovations take more than research, but the challenges of "scaling up" and efficient collaboration were largely missed. We need to focus more on the development process following academic studies.
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- Education, Environment, Health Care
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This 50-Cent Paper Microscope Could ‘Democratize Science’
A couple of months ago, I received an interesting package in the mail. It looked like a standard manila envelope, but inside was a device that could quite possibly revolutionize the way we view the microscopic world. I'm referring to the Foldscope, an origami-based optical microscope that is small enough to fit inside your pocket.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Technology
- Tags
- research