Opening remarks by Alfred Hannig, Executive Director at the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), as prepared for delivery for 28 April 2016 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

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Ms. Samia Suluhu Hassan, Honorable Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania,

Professor Benno Ndulu, Distinguished Governor at the Bank of Tanzania,

Dr. Natu Mwamba, Distinguished Deputy Governor at the Bank of Tanzania,

Distinguished Governors and Deputy Governors,

AFI Members and Partners,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning and thank you very much for such a warm reception.

It gives me great pleasure to be here with all of you in this wonderful city of Dar es Salaam for the Alliance for Financial Inclusion’s high-level conference, “Bridging the Gap: Commitments and Actions for Women’s Financial Inclusion.”

First, on the behalf of the entire AFI network, permit me to express my sincere gratitude with Governor Ndulu and his staff at the Bank of Tanzania. We recognize and appreciate all of your outstanding efforts in organizing and co-hosting this important meeting, as well as the AFI Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group’s meetings the previous two days.

Congratulations on a job well done.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have taken great strides in advancing financial inclusion in recent years.

But if the progress of a society is measured by the degree of progress in which women have achieved equality of opportunity, we have much work ahead of us as advocates for inclusive finance.

Data suggests the gender gap persists, with levels of inclusion varying widely across nations. According to the Global Findex Report, only 37 percent of women in developing economies are banked, compared to 46 percent of men. Women still lag in access and usage of financial products and services.

There are steep economic costs to excluding women from participation in the economy. Today, all of us have convened here to address these issues, and work toward finally bridging this gap.

AFI members — more than 100 financial regulatory authorities and central banks from over 90 developing nations around the world — are working together to share knowledge and build capacity to promote evidence-based financial inclusion policies that help improve the lives of the poor.

With over one billion unbanked women globally, mostly from developing countries, AFI members are in a strong position to support and enhance women’s financial inclusion.

This strength comes in part from our network’s newfound independence.

In 2008, AFI started as a project of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We were a trial balloon to see if a peer-learning platform for financial inclusion policymakers from developing countries could change the world.

Our network has journeyed a long way since that humble beginning. And I am very proud to report that our ideas and our actions have indeed changed the world.

As of January 27th, 2016, AFI is now a fully-independent, member-owned organization registered under the International Organizations Act of the Laws of Malaysia. No nation in the AFI network is tasked with taking the journey alone — we are on a path, together, toward a shared prosperity for all.

This is a remarkable achievement.

Now, AFI has become the embodiment of an ongoing paradigm shift toward this new form of peer-to-peer dialogue. Our network is the model prompting the international community to re-examine its entire methodology to achieving inclusive and sustainable development.

The success of the AFI approach is why the United Nations General Assembly singled out AFI in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. The UN named the Alliance for Financial Inclusion as the ideal partner for facilitating financial inclusion peer-learning and experience-sharing among nations and regions.

The Agenda also laid out a robust case for the role of financial inclusion by committing the international community to work toward full and equal access to formal financial services for all.

It urged nations to adopt or review national financial inclusion strategies in consultation with relevant stakeholders, and recommended including financial inclusion as a policy objective in financial regulation in accordance with national priorities and legislation. And it stated the full implementation of the Agenda is paramount for the realization of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

This recognition of financial inclusion as a vital component to reaching the SDGs is indicative of how far the issue has moved from the fringe to the mainstream of the international agenda.

There are steep economic costs to excluding women from participation in the economy. Today, all of us have convened here to address these issues, and work toward finally bridging this gap.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Smart financial inclusion policies promoted and implemented by AFI members are reducing inequality and contributing to overall sustainable economic development and stability. We have embraced 132 policy initiatives aimed at increasing financial inclusion since our network’s inception.

Every country has faced a unique set of financial inclusion challenges — social, political, regulatory and cultural — throughout that process. In some cases, AFI members have taken very different approaches to confront similar challenges. Developing-country policymakers have innovated some of the most successful approaches to financial inclusion. This range of diversity is a source of richness in our network.

AFI members have laid a strong foundation. As we move forward, we must continue to lead the world by building pillars of sustainable and inclusive economic and social development.

This movement will be advanced on many fronts.

As many of you are aware, AFI working groups are the key source of policy developments and trends in financial inclusion. They serve as communities of practice on our main financial inclusion issues, and are the primary mechanism for generating and incubating knowledge within AFI.

It has been heartening to watch participation in the working groups grow over the last six years at an incredible rate. Working groups represent leadership and innovation in the network. While emphasizing and balancing financial safety and stability, members have initiated some of the most innovative policy approaches to extending the reach of financial systems within all AFI member countries.

In the future, working groups will continue to be at the heart of financial inclusion.

As such, their efforts must also be deeply intertwined with the AFI Maya Declaration — our network’s initiative to unlock the economic and social potential of the world’s 2 billion unbanked. The Maya Declaration is a proven driver of successful evidence-based financial inclusion policy solutions. Public commitments have pushed our members to reflect on their own unique needs, challenges and objectives, to bring in focus, refine and prioritize their efforts.

I strongly encourage AFI members to integrate efforts to increase financial inclusion for women into your specific commitments to the Maya Declaration, in alignment with the pertinent policy areas of your working groups. Doing so heightens support for policy implementation at the national level, and allows members to tap into the practical medium- and long-term peer advisory features prevalent in AFI working groups.

This will better enable the working groups to hold members responsible and accountable to one another, as well as work together to meet and deliver on the hope inherent in each Maya Declaration commitment.

In fact, I can think of no better place to announce new Maya Declaration commitments incorporating targets for women’s finance than at the 2016 Global Policy Forum this September in Fiji.

The GPF will once again convene more than 400 high-level financial policymakers and stakeholders from the public and private sector. It continues to be the most important annual forum on financial inclusion, providing a unique platform for AFI members to promote policy successes and share ideas about the future. The most pressing issues of our day will be featured, from women’s finance and national strategies to big data and green finance.

In the lead up to the Global Policy Forum, to help address the gender gap, members will investigate mainstreaming women’s financial inclusion as a cross-cutting issue across all work streams within AFI.

And, I am pleased to announce, the AFI Board has already approved the establishment of a high-level committee on women’s financial inclusion to provide strategic leadership and direction. Each of the six AFI working groups will also identify a focal point to champion this topic in their respective thematic policy areas.

Finally, the “Zero Draft AFI Action Plan for Women’s Financial Inclusion”, which will be presented to participants here today for review and endorsement, will be submitted to our members for adoption at the AFI Annual General Meeting during the GPF.

But little by little, we will enhance equality, we will empower every woman, and we will — once and for all — bridge the gender gap.

[Conclusion]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This meeting represents an opportunity to share our knowledge and experiences as we work toward building the more inclusive global community we all envision — where everyone has an equal share in opportunity.

Looking around this room, I believe we have the right people in the right places, poised to make a real and transformative impact in the lives of the unbanked. In you, I see leaders of financial inclusion.

Now, I know we are all excited to get started. But before I conclude these remarks, allow me to share with you a Tanzanian proverb I learned while traveling here in Dar es Salaam.

It goes: “Haba Na Haba, Hujaza Kibaba.”

It means: “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

This is a particularly salient message to keep in mind as we strive to advance financial inclusion for women. The effort will take time.

But little by little, we will enhance equality, we will empower every woman, and we will — once and for all — bridge the gender gap.

Thank you.