Private Sector

Inclusive financial services

UNDP recognizes that a critical input that would allow emerging and potential entrepreneurs to leverage economic opportunities for improving their quality of life is through enhanced access to basic financial services consisting of savings, credit, insurance, pensions and tools for risk management particularly for the women who represent the most vulnerable group.  Private financial institutions as well as cellular phone companies are willing partners for developing innovative partnership models to provide access to inclusive financial services. UNDP is, providing opportunities to work together to influence and formulate appropriate national policies and strengthen human and institutional capacities that would remove barriers to the market creation and provide greater access to financial services for strengthening entrepreneurship. An example of UNDP project on microinsurance

Remittances and Development

Migration is a frequent response to situations where livelihoods are threatened by poverty, insecurity, institutional weakness, ethnic and religious discrimination and repeated disasters. Remittances are the financial counterpart to migration and represent an important way out of extreme poverty for a large number of people.

The importance of remittances to economic growth and development has gained tremendous recognition in recent years due to the magnitude of migration as a global phenomenon. In fact, remittances are the only means of survival for millions of poor households worldwide where money sent to beneficiary families enable them to afford not only the basic necessities of life which are otherwise lacking or inaccessible, but also a degree of economic empowerment.

UNDP’s evolving strategy builds upon the recommendations of the 2005 Remittances Roundtable organized in cooperation with SUSSC and the Rockefeller Foundation. With a priority on gender equity, it emphasizes enhanced access to inclusive financial options and services by linking them to remittances, engaging Diaspora as transnational communities to strengthen provision of services delivery at the local levels and partnerships with the private sector to (a) offset new products risk for the commercial sector (b) increase access to unreached consumers (c) introduction of new technology (d) improve financial/technical education of the consumers and (e) mobilize private sector skills for improving financial infrastructure.

1. Report on the Regional Consultation on Migration, Remittances and Development in Africa, 4-5 September, 2007, Accra, Ghana
   The report brings views of policymakers, representatives from central banks, the private sector, the Diaspora, donor agencies and experts from a selected number of countries in Africa to address the challenge and explore ways of channeling remittances towards more productive use for individuals and communities through inclusive financial mechanisms and ensure sustained and equitable economic growth and sustainable development. Creating innovative financial products that encourage recipients to save, invest and engage in remunerative employment through savings accounts, insurance and pension schemes, mortgages and loans for SMEs, among others, can also have an enormous impact on low-income families and their livelihoods. They can lead to better nutrition, housing, health, education and employment for communities and help poor people to plan for the future. Click here to download the report, pdf
2. UNDP was invited to organize the Session on Microeconomic Impact of Remittances at the First Global Forum on Migration and Development in Brussels (9-11 July 2007). download pdf.
3. The outcomes of the Regional Consultation on Migration, Remittances and Development for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Global Private Sector Forum on Remittances and Development contributed multi-stakeholder perspective to the SG’s High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development in the above areas. The Regional Consultation Declaration is now a General Assembly document (A/61/343, 14 September 2006). 
4. Gender & Remittances: Building Gender Responsive Local Development. The hope to find suitable employment to improve their lives is the overwhelming motivation for migration for millions of people. With the number of migrants worldwide now reaching almost 200 million, their productivity and earnings are a powerful force for poverty reduction. Women constitute almost half of all migrants worldwide, an estimated 95 million. The project aims to enhance gender responsive local development by promoting options in the utilization of remittances for sustainable livelihoods and by building social capital.download project document.

For further information, please contact Arun Kashyap (arun.kashyap@undp.org) or visit UNDP Capacity Development project database