{"id":6968,"date":"2021-03-10T08:23:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T07:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesmartcityjournal.cibeles.net\/sin-categoria\/the-africa-digital-inclusion-facility-approves-grants-worth-1-3m-for-two-research-efforts-to-enhance-women-s-digital-access-to-loans-and-micro-insurance\/"},"modified":"2021-03-10T08:12:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T07:12:58","slug":"the-africa-digital-inclusion-facility-approves-grants-worth-1-3m-for-two-research-efforts-to-enhance-women-s-digital-access-to-loans-and-micro-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesmartcityjournal.com\/en\/news\/the-africa-digital-inclusion-facility-approves-grants-worth-1-3m-for-two-research-efforts-to-enhance-women-s-digital-access-to-loans-and-micro-insura_89a3890134b8eac8fd71e4b1ba7fa890","title":{"rendered":"The Africa Digital Inclusion Facility approves grants worth $1.3M for two research efforts to enhance women\u2019s digital access to loans and micro-insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The three-year project will have three phases: product development, piloting and scaling<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The grants, for $1 million and $300,000 respectively, will be disbursed through the <strong>Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility<\/strong>, a blended finance vehicle supported by the <strong>Bank<\/strong>, to two financial technology firms, <strong>Pula Advisors Kenya Ltd., and M-KOPA Kenya Ltd.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Pula Advisors<\/strong> will use the $1 million for research of social, cultural, and economic factors that impact women farmers\u2019 access to microinsurance in Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia. Research findings will inform the design and implementation of gender-centric insurance products. The project will be undertaken over a 3-year time frame.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>This grant funding will be used to leverage technology to develop innovative and responsive loan and insurance products that can spur productivity and inclusion, especially for our women smallholder farmers and traders,\u201d <\/em>said <strong>Sheila Okiro, the Bank\u2019s Coordinator for ADFI.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The three-year project will have three phases: product development; piloting; and scaling; the outcomes are expected to benefit 360,000 farmers, 50% of them women, as well as boost farm yields by up to 30%. This will also raise incomes and enhance <strong>household <\/strong>and<strong> national food security<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>M-KOPA<\/strong> will use the $300,000 grant funding for research involving 250 women and 250 men in <strong>Kenya\u2019s Kisumu, Eldoret, <\/strong>and<strong> Machakos<\/strong> counties. The company will assess the barriers to and <strong>opportunities for women\u2019s access to digital financial services and financial literacy programs via smartphone and use the research insights to design a financial services app that is relevant to small-scale women traders.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The project, approved by the <strong>Bank<\/strong> on 9 February 2021, will benefit women with no or limited access to financial services that run small informal businesses. Once developed, the mobile app will be used to pilot small loans to women traders.<\/p>\n<p>Both projects align with <strong>ADFI<\/strong>\u2019s digital products and innovation and capacity-building intervention pillars as well as its cross-cutting focus on gender inclusion, a thematic running across all its interventions.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>PULA<\/strong> grant approval meets <strong>African Development Bank<\/strong>\u2019s strategic goals, including the <strong>Ten-Year Strategy<\/strong>, two High-5 priority areas\u2014feed Africa and improve the quality of life for Africans\u2014 and the financial inclusion strategies of Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>M-KOPA<\/strong> project is aligned with the <strong>Bank\u2019s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA)<\/strong> program that seeks to increase access to finance for women.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ADFI<\/strong> is a pan-African initiative designed to accelerate digital financial inclusion throughout Africa, with the goal of ensuring that 332 million more Africans, 60% of them women, gain access to the formal economy. The Facility was formally launched in June 2019 at the <strong>Bank\u2019s Annual Meetings<\/strong> in <strong>Malabo, Equatorial Guinea<\/strong>. Current <strong>ADFI<\/strong> partners are the&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"#!\/donors\/view\/118366\/afd\">French Development Agency (AFD)<\/a><\/strong>; the <strong>French Treasury\u2019s Ministry of Economy and Finance<\/strong>; <strong>The Government of Luxembourg\u2019s Ministry of Finance<\/strong>; the&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"#!\/donors\/view\/118458\/gates-foundation\">Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation<\/a><\/strong>; and the <strong>African Development Bank<\/strong>, which also hosts the fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The three-year project will have three phases: product development, piloting and scaling The grants, for $1 million and $300,000 respectively, will be disbursed through the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility, a blended finance vehicle supported by the Bank, to two financial technology firms, Pula Advisors Kenya Ltd., and M-KOPA Kenya Ltd. Pula Advisors will use\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6967,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_scj_primary_category_id":136,"_scj_featured":false,"_scj_featured_from":"","_scj_featured_until":"","_scj_featured_order":0,"_scj_visibility_class":"current","_scj_layout_family":"standard","_scj_article_style":"","_scj_display_overrides":[],"_scj_intro_image_id":6967,"_scj_intro_alt":"The Africa Digital Inclusion Facility approves grants worth $1.3M for two research efforts to enhance women\u2019s digital access to loans and micro-insurance","_scj_intro_caption":"","_scj_intro_class":"","_scj_intro_float":"","_scj_full_image_id":6967,"_scj_full_alt":"The Africa Digital Inclusion Facility approves grants worth $1.3M for two research efforts to enhance women\u2019s digital access to loans and 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