Contact:

Pamela Eser
Financial Inclusion Expert and Global Head MicroLead
pamela.eser@uncdf.org
United Nations Capital Development Fund
Two UN Plaza, 26th Floor
New York, NY 10017 (USA)

Tel: (+1) 212 906-6693 | Fax: (+1) 212 906-6479

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNCDF/MICROLEAD RELEASES FIRST DFS TOOLKIT AND CASE STUDY
NEW YORK, NY, November, 29, 2016. UNCDFs MicroLead program team is proud to
introduce its series of practical toolkits titled, "How to Succeed in Your Digital Journey: a
Series of Toolkits for Financial Service Providers. The toolkits (available both in French
and English) are designed for financial service providers (FSPs) who want to go digital.
Digital finance via mobile banking and other technologies enables banks and
microfinance institutions to reach the last mile of unserved populations. For the poor
living in remote rural areas, local bank branches and microfinance offices can be hard to
find. This, in turn, limits the ability of the rural poor to save for emergencies and
investments and access a suitable range of formal financial services.
But digital finance is turning all that on its head. Today, banks and microfinance
institutions throughout the developing world are able to cost-effectively serve rural
populations with these new technologies.
However, for FSPs, implementing digital finance comes with its challenges. Many FSPs
realize the importance of utilizing digital financial services (DFS) to reach their
customers, says Pamela Eser, the Global Head of MicroLead. But they dont
necessarily know where to start.
For this reason, sponsored by The MasterCard Foundation, MicroLead is producing a
series of six step-by-step toolkits and associated detailed case studies. These toolkits

provide a roadmap for financial institutions to successfully implement digital finance.

These toolkits are a practical step-by-step guide to evaluate an FSPs best choices
regarding DFS, says Ms. Eser. Each includes an action plan, a budget template, a list
of key performance indicators to track, a risk mapping exercise, a self-assessment grid,
a case study, and more.
The six toolkits, developed with support from PHB Development, will be released from
November 2016 through March 2017. The goals of this series of toolkits are to (i) help
financial institutions identify financially sustainable DFS business lines that fit their
needs; (ii) provide practical tools that financial institutions can use in their journey
towards digital finance; and (iii) share learnings from the DFS experiences of
MicroLead partners and other financial institutions. You can download the first toolkit,
Use Mobile as a Tool, and its associated case study here:
https://uncdf.wufoo.com/forms/q4pnwh31pqtp7r/
For more information on the MicroLead programme, please visit
www.uncdf.org/microlead. Follow UNCDF MicroLead at @UNCDFMicroLead.
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