Informal Finance

This report offers insights from the pilot of DreamSave conducted in 2021-22 by TechnoServe and DreamStart Labs among 40 savings groups in the Zou, Collines and Borgou Departments in the Benin Republic. This included 31 pre-existing savings groups (“paper-to-digital”) and 9 newly formed groups (“born-digital”).

FinEquity’s 2023 Annual Meeting explored the nexus linking financial inclusion, women’s empowerment, and climate change, with the purpose of understanding how financial services can help women adapt their livelihoods to erratic rainfall patterns and rising temperatures to mitigate climate risks. Among others, the speakers addressed digitally-enabled financial inclusion, stressing the importance of designing digital financial […]

This article discusses the main findings from a qualitative assessment of Savings at the Frontier (SatF) projects in Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia, implemented in 2015-2022 and funded by the Mastercard Foundation. The program sought to bridge the gap between formal financial services and informal savings groups, enabling members to access the financial services that best […]