Being Smart About Mobile Money
Grameen Foundation’s Bobbi Gray and Christian Loupeda discuss the valuable role of savings groups in extending digital financial services to underserved communities in Burkina Faso.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Building Resilience in Burkina Faso: Impact Study Endline Results
Building Resilience in Burkina Faso (BRB) takes a multi-sectoral approach to improving household resilience and food security and features the innovative use of community-based women’s savings groups as a platform for providing an integrated package of agricultural, nutrition, financial services, and women’s empowerment programming to help thousands of savings group members overcome many of the geographic, cultural, social, and economic constraints that hamper their resilience in the face of shocks and disasters.
Grameen Foundation Delivering Family Planning Education in Bénin
Grameen Foundation has launched a campaign to provide families in Bénin with the information, services and financing they need to make informed decisions about family planning.
Grameen Foundation and Partners bringing satellite technology to benefit smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana
Grameen Foundation is pleased to announce its engagement in a newly funded consortium, SAT4farming, which will help 240,000 smallholder cocoa farmers across Ghana increase their yields by up to 300 percent, improve their incomes, and build stronger businesses.
The initiative is funded by the Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) program of the Netherlands Space Office and led by the Rainforest Alliance. Other partners include Water Watch Projects, Satelligence, Touton, and the University of Ghana.
Factors Associated with Food Insecurity among Female Savings Group Participants in Burkina Faso
Abstract: Food security remains a challenge in Burkina Faso due to climate-related hazards that have led to decreasing food availability in areas already plagued with low food consumption and malnutrition. The purpose of this study is to describe the prevalence of food insecurity among women in savings groups in northern and central west Burkina Faso and to identify associated factors. Interviews were conducted with 429 women. Logistic regression models were constructed to describe potential associations between key variables of interest and food security.
Protecting Savings Groups Reached Through High-Tech Channels: Guidance from the New Client Protection Principles for a Digital Savings Product
Abstract: This case study, utilizing an experience from Freedom from Hunger’s Bridge to Financial Inclusion project based in Burkina Faso, aims to highlight experiences of integrating client protection principles – the minimum standards microfinance clients should expect – into the initial design and roll-out of a digital savings product designed for savings groups.
Appraisal of the Agro-Tech Smart Extension Model in Ghana, Payment options and Challenges in ICT-enabled extension services delivery
The increasing role of ICT-enabled extension services delivery to enhance agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers is an exciting development. This article assesses the effectiveness of the AgroTech Model piloted by Grameen Foundation in Ghana. AgroTech is a privately led ICT-enabled extension and support service. The study methodology includes a desk review of existing literature and a primary survey of 402 agricultural value chain actors.
Understanding Gender Norms in Rural Burkina Faso: A Qualitative Assessment
This report documents a series of qualitative assessments completed as part of a pilot test of the Pro-WEAI for the “Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project – Phase 2” (GAAP2) project led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) was launched by IFPRI, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and USAID’s Feed the Future program in February 2012 and was the first comprehensive standardized measure to capture women’s empowerment and inclusion in the agricultural sector.
November 2017
This month we’re celebrating the breakthroughs and quiet firsts of unheralded women. From Kankuri, who broke tradition by eating with her husband, to Samata, who is building a successful farming business to pass on to their children. And meet Josephine, who changed the way her family managed their health.
How Mobile Money Is Closing the Agricultural Finance Gap for Women in Kenya
Brigitta Nyawira, a Grameen Foundation program manger in Kenya, discusses the role of technology in helping women access formal financial services.