AFI was recognized by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a key driving force to advance financial inclusion in developing and emerging countries. AFI’s Maya Commitment platform was cited as a “vital accelerator platform for progress on financial inclusion policy development and implementation.” The recognition came during the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Accelerators event in New York City, held on the sidelines of the UN Week meetings, on 20 September 2017.

The event convened a community of global leaders and next-generation innovators committed to action, awareness and accountability in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the aim to highlight institutions and projects that have made an impact and are driving progress in the years ahead. Dignitaries speaking at the event included former U.S. President Barak Obama, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan and numerous celebrity activists.

AFI was represented by Dr. Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Zambia and Chair of AFI’s Gender and Financial Inclusion for Women Committee and Ilya Sverdlov, AFI’s Head of Global Partnerships.

About Goalkeeper Accelerators:

Accelerators are a key part of Goalkeepers. They bring together partners from different sectors around common agendas for action, seeking to catalyze investments, expertise, and innovation to drive further progress towards the SDGs.

Each Accelerator:

• Involves partners across several sectors (e.g. government, civil society, media, business, academia)
• Scales proven interventions or innovations, designed to benefit the poorest
• Aims at driving near-term progress on one or more challenges associated with the SDGs
• Can benefit from additional resources or attention boost

This year’s accelerators are investments in supporting women’s movements, advancing digital financial inclusion, fighting child undernutrition and building the capacity of community health worker across countries.

There are different ways for individuals and organizations to get involved in each accelerator from raising awareness to sharing expertise or committing funding.

Accelerating progress: Advancing digital financial inclusion for all

What is the challenge?

Almost two billion people live outside the formal financial system — that is, without access to products and services like savings, credit, insurance, and the ability to make and receive electronic payments. This makes it extremely difficult for poor people — especially women — to save for the future, provide for their family’s health and children’s education or invest in a business. Life without access to formal financial services is expensive, time-consuming and unsafe.

What is the opportunity?

Digital financial inclusion benefits everyone in the economy. Moving away from a cash-based system and employing digital services enables: cost savings through increased efficiency and speed; transparency and security by increasing accountability and tracking; and women’s economic empowerment, by giving women more control over their financial lives. Widespread adoption and use of digital finance could increase the GDPs of all emerging economies by 6 percent or a total of $3.7 trillion, by 2025. This additional GDP could create up to 95 million new jobs across all sectors of the economy.

What is the goal?

• Grow the number of governments championing greater financial inclusion through the Maya Declaration, an initiative by financial sector policymakers and regulators to unlock the economic and social potential of the two billion currently unbanked. More than 60 countries have committed to the Maya Declaration through AFI. Read the 2017 Maya Declaration Progress Report.

• Expand opportunities for digital payments. Over 60 governments, companies and international organizations — members of the UN-based Better Than Cash Alliance — have demonstrated their leadership by committing to move away from cash. This global Alliance brings together these three sectors to create a digital economy where everyone can send and receive payments digitally. The global company Unilever and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have now joined this worldwide movement to help millions of people lift themselves out of poverty.

• Encourage continued innovation by companies who create the digital tools and services needed to advance financial inclusion. GSMA and their 80 mobile phone company partners commit to developing mobile accounts and services for the poor, particularly women.

Thanks to:

AFI, Better than Cash Alliance, GSMA, Unilever and UNHCR

What can you do?

1. Support proactive policy reform and learn more about the Maya Declaration: www.afi-global.org

2. Learn about how your organization can change lives through shifting to digital payments: www.betterthancash.org

3. Find out more about the GSMA’s Mobile for Development work, in particular the Mobile Money and Connected Women programs: www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment

Resources:

Learn more about Accelerators:

• Accelerating Progress: Advancing Digital Financial Inclusion for All
• Accelerating Progress: Scaling National Community Health Worker Programs
• Accelerating Progress: Investing in the women changing the world
• Accelerating Progress: The Power of Nutrition

Learn more about #Goalkeepers17:

Bill and Melinda Gates Host Inaugural ‘Goalkeepers’ Event to Engage a New Generation of Leaders in the Fight Against Poverty and Disease