Report of the FSD Network Conference

The FSD Network Conference, held on February 19–20, 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya, focused on learnings from the Gender Collaborative Programme. The event brought together financial leaders and policymakers to discuss gender-responsive financial systems, the use of alternative data for credit scoring, the impact of societal norms on women's financial autonomy, and the role of digital public infrastructure and AI in advancing financial inclusion for women across Africa.

• Societal gender norms significantly restrict women's financial autonomy across several African nations. In Uganda, research identified that the most prevalent norm is that "Women should not have financial privacy from their husbands or male household members". In Zambia, traditional prohibitions on women raising goats limited economic opportunities, while in Rwanda, societal expectations often place men in charge of financial decisions.
• Alternative credit scoring models using non-traditional data are being tested to address high financial exclusion among women in Tanzania and Rwanda. These models leverage digital platform data, mobile transactions, and machine learning to assess creditworthiness for those lacking national identification or collateral. In Tanzania, data sources explored include mobile wallet transactions, climate data, soil data, and crop production records.
• Innovative health financing models are being used to reduce out-of-pocket maternal healthcare costs. In Uganda, the ClinicPesa project uses a "medical mobile bank" to allow low-income women to save and access loans for medical expenses. In Kenya, the Lea Mama initiative employs a value-based care (VBC) approach that prioritises health outcomes over fee-for-service to lower costs and improve the quality of care.
• Women in agriculture face systemic barriers including invisibility in financial systems and the role of men as gatekeepers. While women often demonstrate higher repayment rates than men when they have collateral, they are frequently excluded from project design. Solutions include digitising Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and bundling financial services with climate risk management and insurance.
• Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and AI present both opportunities and risks for women's financial inclusion. While AI can improve efficiency and lower investment costs, there are significant concerns regarding "algorithm bias", data privacy, and synthetic fraud. DPI efforts, such as e-KYC initiatives in the SADC region, aim to make invisible populations visible, though challenges remain regarding the cost of digital IDs and the requirement for physical documents.
• There is a critical need for gender-disaggregated financial data to inform inclusive policymaking. In Rwanda, the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) has been engaged to advocate for data disaggregation to monitor financial inclusion. Similarly, the Bank of Tanzania issued guidance for financial institutions to track gender gaps in credit and savings to drive data-driven policymaking.
• Increasing women's representation in senior leadership within the financial sector requires intentional mentorship and policy changes. Initiatives like TEKA create mentorship pipelines for women CEOs, and FSD Ethiopia has implemented capacity-building for women on boards. Proposed solutions to support women's career growth include paternity leave for men and flexible work arrangements.

APA

FSD Africa (2025). Report of the FSD Network Conference. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-FSD-Network-Conference-learnings.pdf

Chicago

FSD Africa. Report of the FSD Network Conference. 2025. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-FSD-Network-Conference-learnings.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=FSD Africa |title=Report of the FSD Network Conference |date=2025 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-FSD-Network-Conference-learnings.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fsdafrica2025report, author = {{FSD Africa}}, title = {{Report of the FSD Network Conference}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2025}, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-FSD-Network-Conference-learnings.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }