Why FinDev Gateway Matters for Financial Inclusion

Dear Gateway Community Members and Partners,

I am happy to announce that the Microfinance Gateway, CGAP’s independent knowledge platform, is changing its name to FinDev Gateway. FinDev stands for "Financial Inclusion for Development," a name that recognizes the significance of financial inclusion in achieving the global development goals.  

The new name is part of a strategic repositioning of the Gateway, which has evolved from a microfinance online repository established nearly 20 years ago into a knowledge-sharing platform engaging the broader financial inclusion community. Today’s Gateway has over 1 million visits annually, covers a wide range of financial inclusion topics, and provides new ways for practitioners to connect, share knowledge, and learn from the experiences of others.

What’s new on FinDev Gateway?

• The Gateway Blog was launched recently in response to an increasing number of original blog contributions from professionals working in financial inclusion. It provides a forum for sharing diverse perspectives, ideas, and approaches with the aim of inspiring dialogue and innovation on key financial inclusion issues. The blog also includes Gateway Interviews offering insights from financial inclusion experts on the most important challenges facing the sector.
• Gateway Webinars enable practitioners to easily share lessons and participate in discussions with their peers globally. Since the series was launched last year, the Gateway hosted 20 webinars, some of which attracted well over 200 participants.
• To keep the content relevant and up to date, FinDev Gateway maintains partnerships with 30 key organizations. It also hosts communities of practice (COP), such as the Women’s Financial Inclusion COP, which connects over 400 organizations across nearly 60 countries, and lists job opportunities.

How does FinDev Gateway enable knowledge sharing?

Editors curate an English site plus three regional platforms in French, Spanish, and Arabic, which serve their respective audiences in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Arab world. The platforms house over 10,000 papers, case studies and toolkits on financial inclusion submitted by members. And they are updated daily. In addition, each platform keeps the community informed with the latest developments on financial inclusion through bi-weekly bulletins that reach over 20,000 recipients globally.

I invite you to use FinDev Gateway as a collaborative platform where we can all exchange knowledge, share our experiences and ideas, learn from one another, and find innovative solutions to key challenges in making financial services work for poor people. 

We’re excited about the new name and these changes on FinDev Gateway and hope you are too.  

Sincerely,

Greta Bull
CEO, CGAP