The World Bank Group places strong focus on financial inclusion, especially on increasing the use of financial services by women as one of the important pathways towards women’s economic empowerment. To highlight the importance of closing the gender gaps in finance, the use of financial services indicator is included under the Gender Equality outcome area of the Scorecard. This outcome area is closely related to the recently announced targets of the World Bank Group Gender Strategy. The target to “provide 80 million more women and women-led businesses with capital by 2030” will use the Scorecard indicator to track its progress.

A notable change in the Scorecard indicator is a shift from measuring access to financial services to active usage of them. Ensuring that everyone not only has access to transaction accounts and other financial services but can also use them when needed is critical to improve the overall quality of people’s lives.

F4D’s Tier 1 indicators now align with the following Scorecard indicator: “People and businesses using financial services, of which (%) are women”

F4D finances a combination of policy reforms, institutional development, capacity building, and knowledge products, customized to meet the unique needs of client countries to boost financial inclusion. Gender lens is integrated across F4D’s grant portfolio. This includes gender-sensitive diagnostics and analysis in the design of activities, ensuring evidence-based targeting of women during implementation, and/or using indicators to measure progress of activities that target women. Read a story about our work in Mexico which is advancing women’s financial inclusion through gender-sensitive financial services.