AFI, along with the Bank of Tanzania (BOT), co-hosted the AFI Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Working Group (FISPLG) Meeting in Dar es Salaam on 26-27 April 2016.

The event convened more than 50 high-level financial inclusion policymakers and stakeholders from around the globe for robust and fruitful discussion surrounding national financial inclusion strategies.

During her opening remarks, Dr. Natu Mwamba, Deputy Governor at the Bank of Tanzania, commended FISPLG members for their “continuing education and hard work to drive financial inclusion in each of (their) respective countries.” She also highlighted that the importance of effective strategy development and implementation resonates globally.

“The significance of FISPLG’s work has been underlined by the steady and continuing increase in countries adopting national strategies, with China, Mozambique and Zimbabwe doing so already in 2016,” said Robin Newnham, Head of Policy Analysis and Capacity Building at AFI.

FISPLG members used the opening morning to recap its previous meeting after receiving an introduction to the recently-launched AFI Online Data Portal. More than 20 nations also provided progress updates on key developments in the status of their financial inclusion strategies over the previous 12 months, including key areas of prioritization.

Dr. Luke Forau, Advisor to the Governor at the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, and Mr. Norman Mataruka, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, each submitted their nations’ national financial inclusion strategies to a peer review in the afternoon of the first day.

“The national financial inclusion strategy of Zimbabwe will prioritize and address special and vulnerable groups,” said Mr. Mataruka. “We are also looking at prudential and regulatory incentives that are biased toward lending to MSMEs.”

The final day of the conference explored integrating policies for financial inclusion of women into national strategies, and permitted FISPLG members an opportunity to discuss the production of a guideline note on integrating financial inclusion of women into national strategies.

Importantly, FISPLG members also reviewed, offered input and agreed on the language of the Zero Draft of the AFI Action Plan for Women’s Financial Inclusion to discuss AFI strategies and action plans to advance women’s financial inclusion.

The Action Plan will next be presented tomorrow to the participants of the High-Level Conference “Bridging the Gap: Commitments and Actions for Women’s Financial Inclusion”, also held at BOT’s headquarters, for review and endorsement ahead of submitting the action plan for adoption at the AFI Annual General Meeting to be held on 7 September 2016 during the Global Policy Forum (GPF) in Nadi, Fiji.

The Action Plan intends to identify measures AFI members can take to reduce the number of women lacking access to quality financial services globally and closing the gender gap to ensure equal access to financial services for all. It promotes development and implementation of smart policies and regulations by members of the AFI network to create an enabling environment to accelerate women’s financial inclusion. The Action Plan also emphasizes the importance of frameworks for measurement and evaluation.

“It was heartening to see this important development of the AFI Action Plan for Women’s Financial Inclusion at this FISPLG meeting,” said Mr. Alfred Hannig, Executive Director at AFI. “More than one billion of women are unbanked globally—mostly from developing nations—putting AFI members are in a strong position to support and increase women’s financial inclusion.”

The working group also named former Co-Chair Mr. Joseph Attah, Central Bank of Nigeria, as the new FISPLG Chair, while Ms. Nangi Massawe, Bank of Tanzania, and, Ms. Nomcebo Hadebe, Central Bank of Swaziland, were elected Co-Chairs. FISPLG members also offered immense gratitude to out-going Co-Chairs Ms. Eden Dema, Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) and Alper Batur, Undersecretariat of Treasury of the Republic of Turkey.

Ms. Liza Mohammad Noor, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), was also named FISPLG’s first Gender Champion Representative to promote financial inclusion for women in the working group under the AFI Action Plan for Women’s Financial Inclusion.