From 1-4 October, AFI and Bank of Zambia (BOZ) hosted an in-country training event for BOZ staff and other national stakeholders, to explore how market conduct regulation and supervision programs can support the financial inclusion of women-led small businesses.

The sessions, led by AFI’s Management Unit and experts from the Bank of Tanzania, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the National Bank of Rwanda, assessed gaps and challenges in market conduct regulatory and supervisory practices in Zambia, opportunities to build financial literacy and empower consumers, and how to build effective consumer protection mechanisms. 

“A lot of women are involved in economic activities, but those activities are not supported,” explained Bank of Zambia’s, Luka Mhango. “We want to promote women’s access to finance and enhance their consumer rights […and] this training can provide us with the necessary capacity to do that.”

“In-country training is a new service we offer to our AFI members,” said AFI’s Head of Capacity Building, Madhurantika Moulick. “It was born out of a demand from members for closer, hand-holding support in policy implementation.” 

The last day of each AFI in-country training is dedicated to designing a robust action plan that participants take back home to implement in their own institutions with AFI’s support.

The event followed a recent similar training in Zimbabwe, led by AFI and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Both events were supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) project.