The money management practices of women from Low-Income Households (LIHs) revolve around the challenges posed by their small, irregular, and unpredictable household incomes. Their primary focus is on daily cashflow management to ensure that money is available when needed. These women make financial decisions frequently, in an irregular, intuitive, and automatic manner, and embedded within a complex network of interactions that they maintain within their communities. Despite these realities, the design and delivery of financial services have not adequately taken into account the unique needs of women from LIHs, and thus fail to seamlessly integrate into their lives. Moreover, with the increasing digitization across various aspects of life, Financial Service Providers (FSPs) are increasingly exploring opportunities to leverage Digital Financial Services (DFS) in reaching a wider demographic, including previously underserved groups such as women from LIHs. However, the scarcity of formal financial tools relevant to them results in limited engagement by these women, thus further hindering their ability to fully benefit from the advantages offered by DFS.
Read the project brief here.
