Capturing Our Impact: Harnessing Innovation for Financial Inclusion

This e-book shows the transformative effect that technology and innovation has on the lives of the most vulnerable. The book contains impact stories, videos and photos that put faces behind the numbers and illustrate that digital innovation does not only unlock basic life-changing financial services for low-income people but also serves as an enabler for delivering clean water, solar energy, education, and more. This e-book is a product of the program Harnessing Innovation for Financial Inclusion (HiFi), the World Bank Group’s partnership aimed at scaling up financial inclusion on a sustainable basis through technology and innovation and funded with UK aid from the UK government. 

The e-book highlights cases which push the boundaries of what is possible in revolutionizing financial services through technology, particularly in the world’s most challenging markets. For example, in Ethiopia, World Bank is supporting digitization of social transfer payments for people who chronically lack adequate food through Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP). In Yemen, despite ongoing violence and severe security constraints, IFC helped Al Kuraimi Islamic Microfinance Bank (KIMB) successfully launch a mobile banking platform that allows its clients to access money when they can’t access a physical bank branch. And in Uganda, solar company Fenix partnered with CGAP to design education loan products to help its customers pay for school.