Restoring Financial Trustworthiness: Inclusion Project for FDPs

The Financial Inclusion for Refugees (FI4R) project, launched in 2019 by FSD Africa, FSD Uganda, and Access to Finance Rwanda, aims to provide financial services to forcibly displaced people (FDPs). In Uganda, the project supported Equity Bank Uganda Limited, Vision Fund Uganda, and the Rural Finance Initiative, resulting in over 93,300 households registering on a digital platform and 65,484 households receiving digital payments. In Rwanda, Equity Bank Rwanda opened 57,000 accounts for refugees. The project has helped overcome barriers such as insufficient documentation and lack of financial history, with updated regulations now allowing over 600,000 refugees with attestation letters to access mobile-enabled services in Uganda.

• The FI4R project established specific targets to enable over 100,000 refugees to access financial services via mobile phones and over 300,000 refugees to receive extended financial services, such as loans for businesses, farmers, and entrepreneurs, to promote job creation.
• In Uganda, the project supported three financial service providers: Equity Bank Uganda Limited (EBUL), Vision Fund Uganda (VFU), and Rural Finance Initiative (RUFI). Key outcomes include over 93,300 households registering on EBUL's digital platform, 65,484 households receiving digital payments, and the disbursement of UGX 10.8 billion in payments during Q1 2022 via eight humanitarian agencies.
• In Rwanda, Equity Bank Rwanda opened 57,000 accounts for refugees, with 25,000 of those accounts holding savings totaling GBP 1.07 million. The bank also facilitated 66,000 remittance transactions valued at GBP 1.7 million.
• Regulatory changes in Uganda have significantly improved financial access; more than 600,000 refugees who lack government-issued IDs but possess attestation letters from the Office of the Prime Minister can now legally use mobile-enabled services in their own names.
• The project observed an increase in the use of Accumulating Saving & Credit Associations (ASCAs) among refugees in Uganda, with enrollment rising from 35% at the start of the project to 46% at its conclusion.

APA

FSD Africa (n.d.). Restoring Financial Trustworthiness: Inclusion Project for FDPs. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSD-Africa-FI4R-20.03.24.pdf

Chicago

FSD Africa. Restoring Financial Trustworthiness: Inclusion Project for FDPs. n.d. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSD-Africa-FI4R-20.03.24.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=FSD Africa |title=Restoring Financial Trustworthiness: Inclusion Project for FDPs |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSD-Africa-FI4R-20.03.24.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fsdafricandrestoring, author = {{FSD Africa}}, title = {{Restoring Financial Trustworthiness: Inclusion Project for FDPs}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSD-Africa-FI4R-20.03.24.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }