Event: Financial Inclusion that Works for Women, 2nd March in London

Microfinance has ostensibly been about - and for - women since its modern inception. But the reality has been too often a lazy conflation of outreach with impact, of access with value. More than ever, FSPs can play a role through developing gender-responsive and transformative strategies - in product design and delivery to clients and also within the institution itself - that builds on a real understanding of women’s specific needs, aspirations and challenges to ensure that financial inclusion really does work for them.

The European Microfinance Award 2022 was on 'Financial Inclusion that Works for Women', a year-long process that this year received a record 88 applications from organisations all over the world, and which over several evaluations stages was reduced to ten semi-finalists and, among them, three finalists. Since 2016, FIF UK has partnered with the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) to present the landscape, findings and best practices from the preceding year’s Award, and continuing this, this event will present the most recent e-MFP publication, also entitled Financial Inclusion that Works for Women, the case studies of the ten organisations presented within, and the factors for success that emerged from the process. The session will be led by the publication’s lead author Sam Mendelson, a longstanding FIF UK board member, and bring together several gender experts to discuss what financial inclusion organisations can do to mainstream gender within and outside the organisation.

Speakers are: Sam Mendelson (e-MFP and FIF UK), Noemie Renier (Incofin), Johanna Ryan (VisionFund International), Jorge Rubio (Citi Social Finance), Roshaneh Zafar (Kashf Foundation, Pakistan) and Sally Yacoub (independent gender expert and EMA2022 consultant).

Kindly hosted by Citi at Citigroup Centre, 33 Canada Square, London E14 5LB, UK

Register here