Twitter. @CFI_Accion. Websites www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org ... and thanks the Bill and Melinda. Gates Foundation
THE CENTER FOR FINANCIAL INCLUSION The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) helps bring about the conditions to achieve full financial inclusion around the world. Constructing a financial inclusion sector that reaches everyone with quality services requires the combined efforts of many actors. CFI contributes to full inclusion by collaborating with sector participants to tackle challenges beyond the scope of any one actor, moving from thought leadership to action.
Financial Inclusion 2020 Could full financial inclusion around the globe be achieved by the year 2020? What Is Full Financial Inclusion? The Center defines full financial inclusion as a state in which everyone who can use them has access to a full suite of quality financial services, provided at affordable prices, in a convenient manner, with respect and dignity. Furthermore, financial services are delivered by a range of providers, in a stable, competitive market, to clients who are financially capable. This vision couples quality (what clients receive and how they receive it) with outreach (reaching more people) as the double heart of financial inclusion. Partial and poor quality services are not enough. The Center emphasizes that services should match client needs, provide good value for money, and be designed to avoid causing harm.
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Through the Financial Inclusion 2020 project, CFI is working to build a movement that mobilizes key stakeholders around the goal of full financial inclusion, using the year 2020 as a focal point to galvanize action. By bringing together private sector players, regulators, industry developers, technology providers, and other actors, the project facilitates reaching new and underserved markets with a full range of quality services. The project is working on three fronts, all essential to catalyzing action towards global financial inclusion. Mapping the Invisible Market is a research project that examines major forces that will shape the progress of financial inclusion through a series of analytic papers, graphic presentations, and online interactive data visualizations. Second, a dynamic consultative process called Building a Roadmap to Financial Inclusion is creating a set of recommendations for achieving financial inclusion globally. The findings of both efforts informed a Global Forum of leaders who can influence the pace and quality of financial inclusion in London on October 28-30, 2013.
The Smart Campaign The Smart Campaign is a global effort to embed a set of Client Protection Principles into the institutional culture and operations of the microfinance industry. The Campaign works around the world to provide microfinance institutions with the tools and resources they need to deliver transparent, respectful, and prudent financial services to all clients. The Campaign works at multiple levels: raising awareness and commitment, shaping norms and standards, creating and mobilizing resources to assist in implementation, and, most recently, developing means to certify good performance by financial institutions. Industry uptake has been overwhelmingly positive: since the Campaign launched in late 2009, it has garnered over 4,000 endorsers from 139 countries, including over 1,300 MFIs who together reach over 77 million clients. Institutions can become certified through Client Protection Certification, an independent, third-party evaluation to publicly recognize financial insitutions that meed adequate standards of care in how they treat clients. As of January 2014, 13 MFIs around the world have become Client Protection Certified.
Investing in Inclusive Finance Through this program area, CFI explores the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of financial inclusion and commercial investment. To reach the goal of developing commercially sustainable microfinance institutions – and of mainstreaming microfinance into the banking sectors of poor countries – establishing norms and best practices for investors and preparing microfinance institutions for investment is critical. CFI works directly with investors to develop consensus about practices that contribute to a robust, healthy, and socially constructive industry. Among the activities in this area are: FIEC; the Running with Risk project (to equip microfinance board members to take a more active role in managing risk); Risk Management Initiative in Microfinance (develops awareness, best practices, and standards for risk management in global microfinance); Board Development Program (provides board members and CEOs in Africa and Latin America an opportunity to share experiences and learn through peer-to-peer engagement); and the Governance Working Group (coordinates the governance-related initiatives in the microfinance sector). Community and Industry Collaboration
Advisory Council The Center’s Advisory Council is a non-fiduciary “board” made up of leaders in financial inclusion, which guides the CFI’s strategy.
Faculty Council The Center maintains a Faculty Council of business school professors, who connect the CFI to the academic world and to the lively student interest in inclusive finance.
HBS-Accion Program on Strategic
Financial Inclusion Equity Council (FIEC) CFI serves as the secretariat of FIEC, a membership organization that brings together the leading private entities that make active investments in financial institutions that serve the base of the pyramid in the developing world, to advance a shared understanding of how the field should evolve. As a Council of active investors, vested in the long-term success and sustainability of the financial inclusion industry, FIEC focuses on core institution-strengthening measures, such as governance and risk management. FIEC’s Governance Guidelines have been an important industry resource providing guidance on the governance challenges specific to microfinance institutions since 2005. The Guidelines were updated in 2012 to incorporate new thinking and resources that have emerged on topics including risk management and social performance. The Council is currently working to create a practical framework to help members better communicate how they address the challenge of balancing social and financial returns, promoting transparency and accountability.
Leadership in Inclusive Finance The Center partners with Harvard Business School to bring an intensive executive education program each spring to senior leaders in the financial inclusion sector. Over 450 leaders, including hundreds of MFI CEOs, have benefitted from the expertise of the world-renowned HBS faculty.
Funding Partners The Center gratefully acknowledges Credit Suisse as a founding sponsor and thanks the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Citi Foundation, Deutsche Bank, Ford Foundation, IDB, IFC, MasterCard Worldwide and MasterCard Foundation, MetLife Foundation, USAID, Visa, and Western Union, among others, for their generous support.
Financial Inclusion for Persons with Disabilities Over one billion people, about 15 percent of the world’s population, have some form of disability and are disproportionately excluded from access to finance. CFI works toward sustainable access for persons with disabilities through policy work, awareness-building, partnerships among providers and disability organizations, and the development and dissemination of publications and practical tools. The “Framework for Disability Inclusion,” a CFI-designed how-to guide, was successfully piloted in 2013 and will be fully implemented in 2014 with Fundación Paraguaya in Paraguay. CFI is customizing and implementing the Framework for India with partners Equitas, ESAF, and Annapurnna Finance, with technical support from v-shesh. The Persons with Disabilities project has also collaborated with the Smart Campaign and Handicap International to develop non-discrimination tools and trainings that have been tested at Fundación Paraguaya and will be disseminated to MFIs around the world in 2014.
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