The past few years have seen concerted efforts among key actors: regulators, development banks, multinational financial service providers, thinktanks and other non-governmental organizations, to improve financial inclusion. The study makes a comparative assessment of selected African countries - Guinea, Sierra Leone and Zambia - by tracking progress in the inclusion of women and youth in financial services and the extent to which such services are addressing their unmet financial needs through policy and regulatory innovations, while boosting entrepreneurship and job creation. It aims to compare approaches, gauge the impact of the different approaches, delineate the differences and similarities in policy and regulatory experiences across the three countries, and draw lessons for policy makers, regulators, and service providers.
Through the four lenses of Access, Usage, Quality and Welfare, the study specifically seeks: (1) On the regulatory side, to take stock of the scope of public policy initiatives and regulatory environment in selected countries to accelerate progress towards advancing adult women's and youth access to financial services; (2) On the supply side, to take stock of the process and product innovations that are taking place in each country intended to deepen and to broaden financial inclusion beyond the traditional male clients; (3) On the demand side, to document the experiences of adult women, young men and young women and to understand how entrepreneurship opportunities, especially micro-enterprise start-ups, are being supported through financial inclusion for the youth; and (4) To identify and evaluate the effectiveness of the existing financial inclusion initiatives in the three countries and their relative success or failure in achieving desired goals.
Excerpts from publication.
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