In-Country
Implementation

In-Country
Implementation

In-Country Implementation (ICI) is a strategic initiative that aims to accelerate financial inclusion across the AFI network, by supporting members in  implementing policy interventions.  

Demand-based, the ICI program focuses on high-impact projects with scalability potential. It also fosters peer-learning among member institutions, contributing to an ecosystem of shared growth and knowledge. 

To date, the ICI program has supported over 80 projects, covering all of AFI’s main policy areas, including consumer empowerment and market conduct, digital financial services, financial inclusion data, financial inclusion strategy, global standard proportionality, inclusive green finance, SME finance, gender inclusive finance, and forcibly displaced persons.  

Who can apply for ICI support? 

The below eligibility criteria allow for diverse, impactful, and fair application of the ICI program, while remaining cognizant of AFI’s contractual obligations and membership structures. 

There are two types of ICI services available:

AFI provides financial support in the form of grants to its member institutions to aid them in attaining their policy objectives for financial inclusion on a national scale. These grants catalyze the development and successful execution of comprehensive financial inclusion policies that, in turn, have a profound impact on improving the accessibility, usage, and quality of financial services for the unbanked and underbanked populations. This grant support enables the member institutions to tackle diverse challenges and deliver impactful policy outcomes.

Technical support includes a range of AFI support services tailored to member institutions. These technical supports primarily include assisting with the development of policies and regulations, conducting comprehensive policy reviews, and providing input on members’ financial inclusion policies, strategies, or regulatory tools adopted by the member institutions. Technical support also includes conducting technical on-site capacity-building training for implementing regulatory and/or supervisory tools and providing technical input for member workshops or seminars.

 Featured ICI Projects

Below, we showcase successful ICI projects which show potential for replication by other members, exhibit sustainability beyond the project duration, embrace innovation in policy responses, and push the boundaries of conventional practices to address complex financial inclusion challenges. These are intended to inspire AFI members and other organizations in advancing their financial inclusion journeys.

Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador

Measurement of Financial Inclusion and Payment System

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Central Bank of The Gambia

Gender-focused Digital Financial Services, National Financial Inclusion Strategy and Consumer Protection Framework

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Palestine Monetary Authority

Demand Side Survey for Gender and Digital Awareness Roadmaps

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Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)

Create an Agent Registry and RegTech tool for supervision, consumer protection and financial inclusion monitoring

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Maldives Monetary Authority

Development of an electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) framework

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Central Bank of Nigeria

Development of a National FinTech Strategy

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Bangladesh Bank

Boosting Financial Literacy

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Central Bank of Nigeria

Leveraging Agent Networks to Drive Women’s Financial Inclusion

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Nepal Rastra Bank

Development of a Gender-Inclusive Financial Roadmap

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Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Women Financial Inclusion DSS and development of NFIS II

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SEPS Ecuador

Development of a Gender-Inclusive Financial Roadmap

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Impact:
99 projects since 2019

 

Projects per region 

 

 

Projects per thematic area

* Data as of June 2024

 

Central Bank of Lesotho

  • 2019: Financial Consumer Protection and Financial Education
  • Lesotho National Switch (LeSwitch) study tours 

Ministry of Finance Eswatini

  • 2019: Eswatini Gender Financial Inclusion Roadmap
  • 2020: Mid-Term Review of NFIS
  • 2020: Eswatini Gender Inclusive Finance Roadmap
  • 2021: Advancing the Financial Inclusion of FDPs and development of a National Financial Literacy Strategy for the Kingdom of Eswatini
  • 2024 Transition the SME sector into a greener economy  

Central Bank of the Gambia

  • 2019: Formulation and Implementation of the NFIS
  • 2022: Gender focused DFS, NFIS, and Consumer Protection Framework

Bank of Uganda

  • 2019: Financial Capability Survey
  • 2020: Mid-Term Review of NFIS

Reserve Bank of Malawi

  • 2020: Improving Women’s Financial Inclusion and Economic Empowerment in Malawi
  • 2021: Scale up regulation of Electronic Payments/Digital Financial Services
  • 2023: Advancing the Financial Inclusion of FDPs in Malawi

Banco de Mozambique

  • 2020: Enhancing Access and Use of Financial Services in Mozambique
  • 2021: National diagnosis of financial literacy in Mozambique, with special focus on women and other vulnerable groups

Bank of Namibia

  • 2020: Increasing access and usage of financial services in Namibia

Banco Central de Sao Tome e Principe

  • 2020: Formulation of the NFIS
  • Financial inclusion demand side survey in Sao Tome and Principe 

Ministere de l’Economie et des Finances de la Cote d’Ivoire

  • 2020: Promoting Financial Literacy in Cote d’Ivoire
  • 2023: Financial Literacy Training for Ministry of Finance & Economy Cote d’Ivoire

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

  • 2020: Review NFIS I and Develop NFIS II for Zimbabwe
  • 2021: Women financial inclusion DSS and development of NFIS II
  • 2024 Advancing the Financial Inclusion of FDPs in Nigeria
  • In-country training on financial literacy for women-led MSMEs
  • Financial literacy manual for women-led MSMEs

Central Bank of Nigeria

  • 2020: National FinTech Strategy
  • 2020: Leveraging agent networks to drive women’s financial inclusion

Central Bank of Kenya

  • 2021: FinAccess Household Survey Project
  • 2024 FinAccess Household Survey Project 

Central Bank of Liberia

  • 2021: Financial Inclusion Baseline Survey

Bank of Ghana

  • 2021: Development of a holistic and coordinated policy and regulatory framework and financial literacy framework that promote inclusive finance in Ghana

Banque de la Republique du Burundi

  • 2021: NFIS 2015-2020 and Knowledge Exchange Visits on Digital Financial Services

Bank of Sierra Leone

  • 2021: NFIS

Ministry of Finance and Budget, Senegal

  • 2021: Support for capacity building in Islamic Finance and the setting up of a sex-disaggregated data collection tool
  • 2022: Policies to mitigate the adverse effects of crises on decentralized financial systems in Senegal
  • Project to support the financial education strategy for women working in the SME sector 

National Bank of Rwanda

  • 2020: Implementation of Rwanda’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy
  • 2021: Rwanda’s MSMEs Financial Literacy and Savings & Credits Groups digitalization strategy project

Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest

  • 2021: Capacity Building on IGF
  • 2022: Policy support program to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 as part of the implementation of the regional financial inclusion

Central Bank of Seychelles

  • 2022: Support of the Implementation of a Regulatory Sandbox

Ministere des Finances de la Republique du Niger

  • 2022: Setting up data collection mechanism and financial inclusion database

Central Bank of Eswatini

  • 2022: FinTech scoping exercise and development of the National FinTech Strategy in Eswatini

Banque Centrale des Comores

  • 2023: NFIS In-country Training in Comoros

Bank of Tanzania 

  • Bank of Tanzania
  • 2024 Advancing the Financial Inclusion of IDPs in Tanzania 

Ministry of Finance and National Planning Zambia

  • 2024 Roadmap to Greening the MSME’s in Zambia

Bank of Zambia

  • Technical support to simplify the FAMOS toolkit to increase access to finance for women MSMEs in Zambia 

Banque Centrale de Mauritanie

  • 2010: Mauritania’s NFIS
  • 2022: Technical Support on Financial Inclusion Diagnostic and Governance Structure
  • Mauritania’s National Financial Education Strategy 

Central Bank of Sudan

  • 2022: NFIS of Sudan (Microfinance Strategy)

Central Bank of Egypt

  • 2021: Inclusion of Women into the Formal Financial Sector

Banque Centrale de Tunisie

  • 2022: Peer learning exchange on Financial Education and Consumer Protection

Palestine Monetary Authority

  • 2019: Peer Learning Advisory (Financial inclusion sex disaggregated data collection framework)
  • 2021: Demand side survey for gender and digital awareness roadmaps
  • 2022: Inclusive green finance capacity building for the Palestine Monetary Authority
  • 2023: PMA sustainable finance project (Sustainable Finance Roadmap)
  • 2023: Advancing Gender Inclusive Finance and Digital Financial Services in Palestine

Central Bank of Iraq

  • 2022: Technical support for the structuration and operationalization of the NFIS Secretariat and for Enhancing Central Bank of Iraq staff capacities in coordinating and monitoring.

Bank al-Maghrib

  • Development of digital awareness guide for rural women entrepreneurs 

Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan

  • 2019: NFIS Action Plan Implementation 2018-2023 – A2F Demand Side Survey

Maldives Monetary Authority

  • 2019: National Financial Inclusion Strategy for the Maldives
  • 2022: Inclusive green finance capacity building for the Maldives Monetary Authority
  • 2023: Development of Green Taxonomy for the Maldives

Bangladesh Bank

  • 2020: Striving for a Financially Literate Society

Nepal Rastra Bank

  • 2021: Implementation of Financial Literacy Framework in Nepal
  • 2021: IGF capacity-building for the Nepal Rastra Bank
  • 2022: Green taxonomy development for Nepal

National Bank of Cambodia

  • 2021: Sex Disaggregated Data & Digital Financial Literacy

State Bank of Pakistan

  • 2021: Gender Policy Implementation Support

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

  • 2021: Creation of an agent registry in the Philippines

Financial Regulatory Commission of Mongolia

  • 2019: Regulated entities empowerment on Green Finance

Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan

  • 2020: NFIS implementation support

Central Bank of Armenia

  • 2023: Feasibility study to establish Behavioral Economic Research Hub (BERH) in Armenia (Phase 1)

Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Regulation and Development of Financial Market 

  • 2024 Providing technical assistance within the framework of protecting the rights of consumers of financial services 

 

Reserve Bank of Vanuatu

  • 2019: RBV-MSME Financing Facility
  • 2022: Facilitation of stakeholder workshop on MSME financing strategy report and capacity building on Inclusive Green Finance and the FinTech Regulatory Sandbox
  • Demand side survey 2 

Central Bank of Solomon Islands

  • 2020: Development and Implementation of PIRI Regional Regulatory Sandbox and Policy Document on Women Financial Inclusion

Bank of Papua New Guinea

  • 2020: COVID-19 Business Pulse Survey
  • 2021: Development of an Inclusive Green Finance Taxonomy

Reserve Bank of Fiji

  • 2020: Gender Inclusion and Demand Side Survey

Central Bank of Samoa

  • 2022: FinTech Regulatory Sandbox

National Reserve Bank of Tonga

  • Development of Tonga’s first NFIS 
  • Capacity building on IGF and DFS in Tonga  

Comision Nacional Bancaria y de Valores de Mexico

  • 2019: Using behavioral approach to expand financial inclusion in Mexico

Superintendecia de la Economia Popular y Solidaria de Ecuador

  • 2020: Environmental and Social Risk Management for Financial Institutions & Green Landing Policy Implementation and Assessment of Regulatory Framework for Digital Financial Services
  • 2021: Ecuador’s Gender Inclusive Financial Roadmap
  • 2023: Development of knowledge tools and capacity building for the implementation of Standard for Environmental and Social Risk Management in financial entities of the Popular and Solidarity Economy Sector
  • 2023: SEPS In-country Training on Supervisitng FinTech for Financial Inclusion

Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador

  • 2021: Measurement of Financial Inclusion and Payment System

Central Bank of Suriname

  • 2021: Demand side baseline study focusing on Financial Inclusion and Financial Education in Suriname

Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras de Costa Rica (SUGEF)

  • 2022: National Credit Information System
  • 2024 National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 

Superintendencia de Bancos de la República Dominicana 

  • 2024 Virtual training on IGF in the financial sector

Comisión Nacional de Bancos y Seguros de Honduras 

  • National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 

 

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