Bridging the gap between youth and access to financial services

Social norms, product suitability and lack of collateral are some of the hindrances to inclusive finance for women and youth cited by the Mastercard Foundation partners under the Young Africa Works Program in Uganda.

This was discussed during the launch of the Young Africa Works community of practice on inclusive finance in January 2023. Inclusive finance means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs – transactions, payments, savings, credit, and insurance – delivered in a responsible and sustainable way.

The community of practice on inclusive finance will provide a platform to convene and share ideas, resources, and lessons on a wide range of topics related to financial inclusion. It is one of many collaborative and intentional approaches of the Mastercard Foundation Young Africa Works program to ensure more impactful delivery and achievement of benefits for young people.

“The ultimate intention of the community of practice on inclusive finance is to deepen understanding of the various aspects of inclusive finance and drive a more collaborative and intentional approach to program implementation,” said Arnold Byarugaba the Foundation’s MSME Finance Lead during the launch.

Composed of all partners under the Young Africa Works program in Uganda, the community of practice on inclusive finance will review ongoing challenges, gains, and opportunities affecting financial inclusion within the Young Africa Works interventions in Uganda and pivot accordingly to achieve greater impact.

During the first gathering, partners learnt from each other what others are doing to sustainably enable young people in work. Group discussions brought to light the financial inclusion gaps for each partner as well as recommendations on how these can be filled or addressed for that matter.

Even though the community of practice on inclusive finance membership is primarily for Young Africa Works partners, bridging the gap between youth and access to financial services isn’t exclusive to the partners. Establishment of the community is evidence that all stakeholders seeking to impact youth need to reflect on their financial inclusion gaps, come up with solutions on how they can be bridged and implement them.

A steering committee was set up and is responsible for both governance and technical aspects of running the community of practice on inclusive finance, including tasks such as setting or reviewing the community’s objectives. Going forward, meetings will be held on a quarterly basis tackling different themes that are relevant to the impactful implementation and deepening access to finance amongst women, youth and refugees under the Young Africa Works Programs funded by the Mastercard Foundation.

Since its launch, one quarterly meeting has been held in March 2023. The theme of the meeting revolved around ‘unlocking access to finance partnerships for program participants’.  A key highlight from the meeting is acknowledgement that traditional financial institutions are not sufficient to meet the needs of startup enterprises yet majority of these make up the Young Africa Works target group. Partners agreed to intentionally craft solutions on how to meet the finance and growth needs of businesses at ideation and start up stage.

About the Young Africa Works Program

The Young Africa Works Program works closely with key stakeholders to enable young women and men, including refugees, internally displaced youth, and those living with disabilities, to acquire the skills needed to find employment or create work opportunities. Financial sector Deepening Uganda is leading the partnership on financial inclusion.