And the role of policymaking in transformational change.

Our commitment to women’s rights to make financial decisions honors our collective intent to create a more equal world where all people enjoy quality of life, dignity, and safety.

Policymakers and regulators are increasingly embracing this vision and actively seeking ways to implement reforms, initiatives and tools for women to lead successful, financially secure lives. We partner with governments to provide advice and practical solutions to make this vision a reality.

Striving to address unequal access to essential services starts by acknowledging the structures and power relations that act as barriers to women’s financial and economic needs. Structure imbalances often arise from years of accumulated status quo. The designers and implementers of economic systems often do not consider how they excluded women at scale. Power imbalances emerge when attempts to re-structure or level set the status quo battle a multitude of interests or attitudes that rarely put women's needs at the forefront.  

This reality is not the fault of the people and governments currently in a position to facilitate change. However, it is their responsibility to support and encourage a journey towards change.

At UNCDF, we hold ourselves accountable firstly to recognize and acknowledge the existing structure and power imbalances. With this awareness, we can work with our local and international partners to provide resources and incentives to accelerate change. We expect our government and private sector counterparts to accompany us on this journey and welcome their commitment to lean in when the path forward is difficult and arduous.  

We focus on the legal and policy frameworks that enable equal access (and usage) for all people, particularly those often found on society’s margins.

The financial inclusion of women is a prerequisite to their economic empowerment. While many women rely on informal services, we know that they should have the choice to also use formal services that may serve them better. All formal financial services must be accessible and useful to be trusted by women in their daily lives.    

We know that digital technology has transformed the way formal services are offered and designed. For women excluded from traditional services, there is an opportunity to liberate newly designed services from the structural barriers that exclude. Thus, digitally enabled financial inclusion is a pathway to accelerated impact for women in emerging economies.

However, the scale of change is enormous, and governments play a critical role in accelerating impact. Policy and regulation provide long levers that can nudge and move markets towards the change we collectively seek. The people within governments are often themselves the change agents we need to own and inspire reforms that enable women’s empowerment. This includes women in government as well as their male allies.  

The Policy Accelerator’s tools, approaches, and guidance are designed to address women’s needs at all stages of policy, regulatory, and supervisory processes. Our team is proud of our work with these inspiring policymakers and regulators to design rules that are intentional about increasing women’s financial inclusion and resulting in transformational impact. 

Authors

Ahmed Dermish