Schedule

Opening remarks and welcome

• Corina Constantinescu (University of Liverpool)

• Craig Churchill (International Labour Organization)

Panel: Improving Financial inclusion and financial education

This panel will present the lessons from the ILO’s extensive experience in working with financial services providers and regulators to improve financial education programmes. The panel will also include insights from digital providers on latest learnings on digital financial inclusion services.  

Speakers:

• Yousra Hamed (International Labour Organization)

• Porhour Ly (Boost Capital)

• Karen Bennett CBE (Enterprise Credit Union) 

Academic talk: Impact of social factors on loan delinquency in microfinance

This talk will highlight the impact of some social factors that play an important role in understanding repayments behaviours of customer of micro-finance institutions in developing countries. The speaker will present a model that can be used as benchmark to predict the future behaviour of customers throughout the repayment period of their loans and over multiple periods. This is joint work of Cedric Coffie and Olivier Menoukeu Pamen from University of Liverpool.

Speaker: Cedric Koffi (University of Liverpool)

Coffee break

Academic talk: ESG? Let’s consider CEP, first

The ESG acronym is ubiquitous, used as a label to designate and certify environmental, social, and governance sustainability. However, evidence that the ESG label is not fulfilling its purpose and is misused abounds. We shall focus on the E of ESG and consider the carbon equivalence principle (CEP) to show how greenhouse gases can be effectively incorporated in financial markets at a fundamental level, thus achieving robust investment redesign and incentives alignment with environmental policies and carbon net-zero goals. As a case study, we shall consider the impact of adopting the CEP on South Africa’s power utility, Eskom.

Speaker: Andrea Macrina (University College London)

Panel: Climate change adaptation and public-private partnerships for agricultural insurance and just transition

This panel will present various models of public private partnerships for agricultural insurance and climate change adaptation. The panellists will present lessons for the private and public sectors, including donor agencies, on how to design and implement solutions that reduce the vulnerabilities of small holder farmers and help governments achieve public policy objectives. The panel will also include discussion on how the financial sector can support a transition to a resilient and sustainable economy by funding green technologies and innovative ventures. The lessons are based on a joint project between the Agence Française de Développement and the ILO. 

Speakers:

• Aparna Dalal (International Labour Organization)

• Craig Churchill (International Labour Organization)

Lunch break
Buffet lunch will be provided in a nearby location.

Panel: Inclusive insurance and financial resilience

The panel will explore the solutions that leading insurance providers have implemented to overcome the barriers facing inclusion of the vulnerable population. The lessons are based on projects of the ILO and the Generation Foundation and will feature reflections from practitioners and donors on key practices to improve access to insurance. 

Speakers: 

• Lisa Morgan (International Labour Organization)

• Maria Elena Anker (The Generation Foundation)

• Michal Matul (AXA Emerging Consumers)

Case study: Reducing the gender gap

This session will present three case studies on how insurers are designing solutions for women that factor their risk profiles and preferences with the goal of improving their financial resilience.

Speaker: Lisa Morgan (International Labour Organization)

Academic talk: Impact of inclusive insurance

This talk will discuss the results on impact inclusive insurance has in behavioural changes with respect to financial or health services of individuals and communities. The meta-analysis was conducted on more than 1,000 journal articles published since 2014. This is joint work of the ILO's Social Finance Programme, Severine Arnold from University of Lausanne, Ida Ferrara from York University and Corina Constantinescu from University of Liverpool.

Speakers:

• Severine Arnold (University of Lausanne)

• Ida Ferrara (York University)

Coffee break

Panel: Digital financial services for wage workers

This panel will present innovative strategies regarding the collaboration of researchers and practitioners in academia, development organizations, and the private sector towards an evidence-based approach to developing responsible digital financial services for wage workers. The Global Centre on Digital Wages for Decent Work, RISE, and Wagestream will present results from recent studies and discuss how they have been used to fine-tune their work in terms of policy recommendations, support to businesses, upgrading of supply chains, and design of financial products.

Speakers: 

• Andrej Slivnik (International Labour Organization)

• Ella Moffat (RISE)

• Emily Trant (Wagestream)

Academic talk: Mobile money payments in Kenya

This talk will advocate for mobile money wage payments in Kenya to be recognized as digital payments. Using the World Bank Enterprise Survey, the study aims to reveal the relationship between firm characteristics and the likelihood of an enterprise adopting mobile wages, in Kenya. Identifying the factors that lead to the use of mobile money for wage payments by enterprises in Kenya will provide insight into the motivation of Kenyan enterprises to adopt mobile payments. This is joint work of Valerie Breda and Andrej Slivnik from ILO's Social Finance Programme, Dhorasso Nguefack from AIMS Rwanda, Munir Hiabu from University of Copenhagen and Corina Constantinescu from University of Liverpool.

Speaker: Munir Hiabu (University of Copenhagen)

Closing