The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF), in partnership with the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP), hosted a consultation workshop to seek stakeholders’ participation on Fiji’s National Financial Inclusion Strategic Plan due to be launched in 2016. The proposed strategy will build on the achievements from Fiji’s first national strategy (2010-2014) and the results from the demand side survey and other reports published over the past five years. As articulated in the National Financial Inclusion Taskforce Framework, Fiji’s strategic plan is being developed using a multi-stakeholder, integrated approach. Support and collaboration of national stakeholders from the public and private sectors, civil society groups, development partners and donor agencies is therefore considered essential in achieving a common goal of financial inclusion.

Opening statements provided a snapshot of the state of financial inclusion in Fiji and impact of the country’s current strategy. RBF Governor Barry Whiteside focused on what had been learned about small and micro enterprises and their strong connection to financial literacy and education. Governor Whiteside suggested that it was important that Fiji’s next strategic plan take this connection into account, stating, “Now more than ever we are seeing the importance of small and micro enterprises. It’s time to encourage further development of this in the school system. If we can encourage even a small number of graduating students to start their own business we will see enormous long term benefits.”

AFI was represented by Deputy Executive Director Norbert Mumba, who congratulated Fiji on the success of its first strategy and for the progress made on its Maya Declaration commitments. Mr. Mumba highlighted how the development of financial inclusion strategies has consistently resulted in greater progress on a global level. He indicated that, based on the experience of AFI members such as RBF, there is now a strong case to be made that national strategies should be a foundation for any financial inclusion policy activity. Mr. Mumba also praised RBF for its inclusive approach to strategic design as reflected by the strong representation of financial inclusion leaders present at the workshop.

After a quick review of the results from PFIP’s demand side surveys, participants broke into mixed working groups, each examining one of seven different national strategy objectives, opportunities and challenges, specifically: empowerment of women and youth and disabled, financial infrastructure, digital financial services, products and services, financial literacy and consumer protection, private public partnerships, and data measurement.

At the conclusion of these discussions each group reported back on common areas of agreement. One theme that was evident in all areas was the importance of literacy, education and outreach. Each group’s suggested activities included some element of education or outreach as a fundamental aspect for the success of their area or as a significant challenge that needed further attention. The importance of using digital technology as an enabler and of ensuring that financial inclusion efforts were relevant to the target audiences was also highlighted in many of the group presentations.

The participants agreed on a set of recommend targets for future action including:

• Decreasing financial exclusion by 50 percent from current exclusion of 27 percent;
• Reducing the unbanked and underserved percentage from 36 percent to 25 percent;
• Increasing the usage of mobile banking from 8 percent to 20 percent;
• Increasing mobile remittances from 1 percent to 10 percent;
• Increasing insurance from 12 percent to 20 percent, and;
• Reducing the gender gap (DSS).

The next step of the process will see the National Financial Inclusion Taskforce take up these targets as part of the mid-term development process where it will help strengthen the ongoing development of the national strategic plan. Fiji’s national strategy is expected to be prominently featured at the 2016 AFI Global Policy Forum (GPF), which will be held in the Pacific region for the first time in September 2016.