Financial Inclusion Initiative of the Year

Description

This award is open to all initiatives that are designed to increase the ability of targeted groups to access financial products and services that will improve their lives.  The initiative should have been active and operational between 2022 and 24, with significant progress during this time.  A long-running financial inclusion initiative is also eligible, provided that the application focuses on the progress made in the 2022-24 timeframe.  The financial inclusion initiative should have helped to improve financial inclusion on a local, national or international level. This positive impact could have been created either directly or indirectly (for example by helping a third sector organisation to achieve its objectives).

Judges do not expect perfection in all aspects of the activities of the financial institution that has developed this financial inclusion initiative: they know that embedding sustainable finance across all activities is a challenging process! But the initiative cannot be an isolated example of sustainability within the activities of the financial institution: the judges expect a company to also show evidence that it takes appropriate account of social and environmental issues in wider aspects of its business.

The judging panel will be looking for details on how and why the initiative was developed, how it creates change, and the benefits that accrue from it. The judges will also be interested to hear about the challenges faced in developing the initiative; how these were overcome: and how end users were made aware of the initiative and supported in use of the product or service offered.

The judges will specifically be looking for evidence of verifiable impact on individuals or communities. Entrants are asked to provide details about the scale of the challenge being tackled, the degree to which it has increased financial inclusion to date, and an estimation of the potential scope of its reach in the future.

Judges will take into account efforts to avoid any negative impacts associated with its implementation, such as the potential for over-indebtedness.

Criteria

Judges will be looking for evidence of progress on the following points (weighting percentages in brackets):

  • Details of the initiative, how and why it was developed, challenges overcome, support and training provided, and the benefits that accrue from it (35%)

  • Evidence of its effectiveness, including the verifiable positive impact on targeted individuals or communities (40%)

  • Effectiveness of awareness raising to promote and support the initiative (15%)

  • The wider potential for scalability and replicability (10%)

Any confidential data will be treated as such and only shared with the judging panel, all of whom will have signed NDAs.