Accelerating financial inclusion during COVID-19 and beyond

Paper Prepared By: Digital Public Goods Alliance Accelerating financial inclusion during COVID-19 and beyond November 10, 2020 The Digital Public Goods Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative which aims to accelerate the attainment of the sustainable development goals in low- and middle-income countries by facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods. [...] The Secretariat of the Digital Public Goods Alliance is co-hosted by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and UNICEF and governed by an Interim Strategy Group consisting of: iSPIRT; The Government of Norway; The Government of Sierra Leone; and UNICEF. [...] The CoP sees the highest potential for driving financial inclusion at scale with digital technologies at the intersection of digital public goods and digital public infrastructures. [...] ● Cost of access and servicing: It can be costly to obtain licenses from commercial vendors and then be locked-in to that vendor for relevant services and maintenance for the period of the contract. [...] Conclusion The Financial Inclusion CoP, convened by the Digital Public Goods Alliance, is working to harness the growing international consensus around digitalisation of public financing as a driver of financial inclusion at scale, the need for which has been accentuated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic.