CGAP

Transforming Lives with Financial Inclusion

06/23/2026

Reaching the last mile remains the hardest challenge in expanding financial services. In fragile and conflict-affected contexts, the gap is even wider.

Shared agent networks offer a proven solution. By pooling infrastructure across operators, they improve the economics of serving rural areas that no single commercial player can justify on their own. But they rarely emerge without a catalyst, and that's where development funders come in.

CGAP’s latest publication makes the case for leveraging shared agent networks as a core consideration in fragile contexts. Funders can de-risk the initial build, attract private sector participation, and help establish networks that eventually sustain themselves.

The right approach depends on what already exists in the market, but three models have worked across different contexts:

➡ Backing an existing operator
➡ Co-creating a new shared entity
➡ Leveraging public payment infrastructure

The deck also provides a financial modeling tool to help understand the trade-offs in funder support levels and helps answer critical questions like: How long until breakeven? What happens if transaction volumes are 20 percent lower than projected?

This is one of six "Big Ideas" for strengthening social protection delivery in fragile contexts.

Read the deck here: https://cgap.pub/3SrkXI3

06/22/2026

Everyone in the world is grappling with climate change, but for those on the front lines, it’s a daily struggle for survival.

In this episode of CGAP’s Inclusive Finance Frontiers podcast, we travel to Bangladesh to speak with smallholders fighting to protect their homes and livelihoods from relentless storms, flooding, and rising sea levels.

How do people like Sita prepare for, cope with, and adapt to climate shocks, and what role do financial services—like loans, savings, and insurance—play in supporting them? Join us as we revisit our conversation with Graham Wright, Founder and Group Managing Director of MicroSave, to explore these questions and uncover the potential of inclusive finance in bringing hope, resilience, and lasting change to the communities hardest hit by our warming world.

🎥 🎧 Watch the video below and explore the full episode wherever you listen to podcasts: https://cgap.pub/3Zw3MGu

06/19/2026

The relevance of for is unexplored. Could tokenization help lower barriers to investment, expand access for small businesses, or improve cross-border ?

Read our blog to learn more: https://cgap.pub/4oxXalA

06/17/2026

As climate shocks grow more frequent and severe, financial service providers need tools that go beyond portfolio protection. Contingent Lines of Credit (CLOCs) pre-arrange loan terms and eligibility in calm times, and release funds rapidly to enable coping when a shock occurs, giving retail clients a dignified way to recover and providers a structured way to protect portfolios.

Our latest reading deck explores how climate CLOCs work, what design choices matter, and how they can complement savings, insurance, and other resilience tools: https://cgap.pub/4otseTC

06/16/2026

🔍 Financial inclusion funding is an evolving landscape.

Since 2008, CGAP's Cross-Border Funder Survey has provided important data and analysis on funding flows for financial inclusion. This research showed that financial inclusion objectives have historically been supported by a pool of traditional international funders, comprised largely of public funders, philanthropy, and impact investors.

CGAP’s most recent research, however, identified 2,015 "new" funders of financial inclusion beyond this traditional pool, and highlights opportunities to scale solutions and drive development outcomes in new ways.

Our work highlighted four key findings:

📈 The financial inclusion funding landscape is wider than we thought
📍 Funding is more local than previously recognized
⚠ With new opportunities come new risks
✅ Understanding and engaging with this “new” funding landscape requires action

Read the full paper to learn more: https://cgap.pub/4cVFeNz

06/15/2026

Can unlock affordable, green housing for the world’s growing urban poor?

With construction accounting for 37% of global CO2 emissions and housing finance out of reach for millions, CGAP is testing whether carbon markets can bridge the gap between climate finance and financial inclusion. Carbon revenues are already making green building more affordable, but what if they could also de-risk and reduce the cost of housing finance for low-income borrowers?

Read the blog here: https://cgap.pub/4vPooXC

06/14/2026

🚨 Less than 48 hours left to apply for CGAP’s Financial Literacy Solutions Sprint.

We're looking for scalable, technology-enabled solutions from countries participating in the U.S. G20 Presidency.

Apply now: https://cgap.pub/42MgBgB

06/12/2026

How does CGAP’s work translate into real impact for people living in poverty?

We generate innovative knowledge at the frontier of financial inclusion. We equip policymakers, regulators, financial service providers, funders, and more with insights they need to design policies, strategies, and services that deliver greater impact for the most vulnerable.

Watch the video to see how our knowledge helps build more resilient and inclusive financial systems 👇

06/11/2026

Does microfinance help people build better lives, or trap them in cycles of debt?

For years, the debate has swung between those two extremes. But a generation of evidence suggests that both sides are asking the wrong question. The same loan can help one entrepreneur grow a business, leave another unchanged, and push a third into distress.

Why?

Drawing on more than 400 studies, CGAP's new Focus Note finds that the impact of inclusive credit is shaped by five factors:
✅ Who borrows
✅ How credit is designed and delivered
✅ What it finances
✅ Where it operates, and
✅ When outcomes are measured.

The implication is important. Instead of asking whether microfinance works, we should be asking what shapes its impact and what providers, funders, and regulators can do to improve and maximize outcomes.

Read the Focus Note: https://cgap.pub/4ap5LRO

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