Building Climate Resilience: What Can FSPs Do?

Calum Scott is the Global Impact Director for Opportunity International, leading Opportunity’s program to implement Social Performance Management across a global network of microfinance partners and development projects. Calum also leads Opportunity’s Climate Resilience strategy. He has worked for Opportunity International for over 10 years, and previously worked as an economist for the Scottish Government and the National Health Service in the UK. He holds a BAcc in Accounting and Political Economy. Calum has previously served as a Board member of the Social Performance Taskforce (SPTF).

Sophia joined Opportunity International to help establish the organization’s climate strategy. She currently works with the Agriculture Finance team to develop scalable programs and financial products tailored to building climate change resilience in marginalized farming communities. Sophia’s background is in economics and environmental sciences. Prior to joining Opportunity, she lived at the deforestation forefront of the Amazon Rainforest in Mato Grosso, Brazil, where she founded two startups in education and ecosystem services. She holds a master’s in Environmental Change and Management and an MBA from Oxford University.

Kartik Mehta is co-founder and Managing Director of the Indian MFI, Pahal Financial Services. He has over 30 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry in India, working across corporate finance, treasury management, retail banking and distribution, agriculture credit and priority sector and microfinance. Most recently, he has worked as a microfinance practitioner in western India. Mr. Mehta has also been involved with pioneering work in the banking correspondent space and has traveled extensively to study the model in Brazil and South Africa. 

Pedro Marchetti is co-founder and board member of Financiera FDL, a Nicaraguan MFI with a strong focus on the rural and agricultural sector. The unifying force in his life has been locally led development in different forms, including access to finance in Nicaragua with the Nitlapan-FDL Initiative in Microfinance Plus (more than just credit) from 1986 to 2010, and then Green Microfinance Plus from 2010 to 2021. As a Jesuit he has held academic posts at universities in Nicaragua and Guatemala, co-founding research programs and research institutes. His recent interests are traditional indigenous and peasant knowledge and he is currently executive director of a research institute recently founded by Maya Ch’orti’ community authorities. In microfinance, his current focus is on ecosystem-based mitigation and he is a member of e-MFP's Green Inclusive & Climate Smart Finance Action Group. Pedro has a PhD in International Development from Yale University. 

Wendy is a consultant working with CGAP on the topic of climate resilience. She was Global Program Director for The BOMA Project, a poverty graduation program in Kenya. Prior to that, she spent 12 years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she worked on developing and delivering solutions to drive financial inclusion for the ultra-poor in emerging markets.