ANGIN is proud to have been invited to join the discussion on financial inclusion for women held by Indonesia’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy and Women’s World Banking on Tue (8/5).
Before the recap, here are some facts you need to know about the unbanked Indonesian women:
- According to the 2017 Global Index, 51% of all Indonesian women have a bank account. Out of the unbanked, 2/3 of them are under 35 years old.
- Half of all unbanked women are housewives, only 36% are employed.
- 50% of unbanked women have a secondary education or higher.
- Unbanked women share the same financial goals: 1) Make more money, 2) Prepare for a new child
- Unbanked women save money for: 1) Emergencies, 2) Meeting daily expenses, 3) Protecting the family from poverty and crime.
The discussion centers around women in Indonesia and how important it is for them to have more access to finance. To kickoff the discussion, Anna Ginchermen, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development from Women’s World Banking, talked about a particular solution they did in Pakistan to make women’s financial inclusion work. They partnered with Unilever and Jazzcash in Pakistan to include women in field team and using women-centric language to communicate with rural women. The result was an increase in women customers of Jazzcash from 11.9% to 17.9%. Caroline Mangowal, founder of RISE Indonesia, continued the discussion on a presentation explaining the women who need to be targeted for financial inclusion. The key point here is that the unbanked women use their money in a similar way as the banked, which is why it is necessary for them to have access to financial institutions. The third session was presented by Francine Pickup, Deputy Country Director for Indonesia in the UNDP. Francine talked about women’s entrepreneurship and access to finance. In this presentation she also included the UNDP/ANGIN initiatives that is being done to tackle the problem of lack of women entrepreneurs as well as findings from Connector.ID on the number of women entrepreneurs applying through Connector.ID.
The roundtable discussion was divided in 2 topics. Representatives from Bank Indonesia, Financial Services Authority (OJK), and Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection shared their thoughts about access to financial Services and economic empowerment of Indonesian women. Finally, the discussion was closed with the topic “Serving Indonesia’s Women Entrepreneurs” which consists of panelists from Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Koperasi Mitra Dhuafa, and Tanaoba Lais Manekat Foundation.
The discussion only emphasizes that financial inclusion for women is crucial for the development of a country. ANGIN will continue to support this cause.
