June 11, 2020
Opportunity Clients in India making face masks

Survive to Thrive

"The hammer of any crisis falls hardest on the extremely poor." Atul Tandon explains how Opportunity International is responding.
May 2, 2020

Sparing Spazas

Is a spaza shop an essential business?  Spaza shops abound on the sides of South African roads.  Most people living in rural areas buy their food […]
April 24, 2020

When Things Get Tough, Trust the Group

Marc Bavois believes deeply in the capabilities of people living in poverty to pool their own resources, invent solutions, and care for those who suffer most.
April 8, 2020

Who Gets Helped First?

On March 24th, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put 1.5 billion Indians on lockdown for at least 21 days. On April 3rd, eight days later, money from the government began flowing into the accounts of 20 million families hardest hit by that stay at home order.
April 8, 2020

Digital Banking Provides Lifeline in Pandemic

An Interview with Mohammad Mudassar Aqil, President & CEO, Easypaisa / Telenor Microfinance Bank, Pakistan
April 1, 2020

Illiquid Contagion

Half of the financial service organizations responding to our survey in the past week have said that their operations have been suspended due to government lockdowns […]
March 28, 2020

When “Stay at Home” Means “Starve at Home”

Over the last few days, Marin Burt, President of Fundación Paraguaya has been on the phone with the President and leaders of Parliament, convincing them to […]
March 28, 2020

An Update from Aris Alip, CARD MRI, Philippines

With a part of the year designated as “typhoon season,” the Philppines gets regular practice in dealing with disasters. But nothing like COVID-19 has ever hit […]
March 26, 2020

A Trusted Source of Life-Saving Information: BRAC in Bangladesh

When a pandemic is spreading, how do you communicate with millions of people in living in poverty to help them know what they can do to […]
March 26, 2020

Financial First Responders: COVID-19 Resources for Financial Inclusion

Links to Resources for those Providing Financial Services Updated 26 April 2020 Covid-finclusion.org – A forum of SPTF, CFI and EMP, including an important 3-part series […]
March 24, 2020

Financial First Responders: VisionFund Mexico

I interviewed Nino Gonjilashvili, CEO of VisionFund Mexico, about what they are doing to serve their clients and protect their staff during the coronavirus crisis. Some […]
March 24, 2020

Financial First Responders

To stay safe, people need to stay home. But when people stay home, they earn no money. That leaves Bashyal and his team trying to figure out how to bridge the gap, how to help their clients manage scarce resources long enough to survive this crisis.