Types Publications

Cheque in: Increasing access to the formal financial system

This report seeks to identify the barriers to expanding access to and usage of formal financial services in Jamaica, with a view to remedying them.

Assessing incentives to increase digital payment acceptance and usage: A machine learning approach

Using random forest estimation, the authors identify 14 key predictors out of 190 variables with the largest predictive power for micro, small, and medium-sized retailer (MSMR) adoption and usage of digital payments. Using conditional inference trees, they study the importance…

Migrant workers’ access to justice for wage theft: A global study of promising initiatives

This study profiles promising initiatives that reduce, or have potential to reduce, the risks, burdens and costs for migrant workers of rectifying wage theft, or shift risks and burdens to business and government. The profiled initiatives can equip advocates with…

Wage digitization in Egypt’s garment sector: Impact for business, and for female and male workers at Lotus Garments Group

This report shares the impact of a wage digitization pilot initiative at Lotus Garments Group, a clothing manufacturer in Egypt. The initiative, the result of a partnership between Mastercard, Levi Strauss & Co and BSR’s HERproject, supported over 8,700 workers…

Promoting decent work by digitizing wages responsibly in Jordan

In partnership with Better Work, ILO, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the Better than Cash Alliance (BTCA) documented the business case for responsible wage digitization in the Jordanian garment industry and how Jordan can build on the upward trend in digital…

Advancing digital financial inclusion for garment workers in India: Impact for women and business

This report shares the benefits for garment sector workers and business following participation in HERfinance in India.

Within reach: How digital wages that work for women can support Bangladesh’s economic future

Drawing on the experience of the HERproject Digital Wages Program, this report sets out three possible future scenarios of how digital wages may evolve for women garment workers in Bangladesh over the next 10 years. It offers recommendations for action…

Consumer protection for financial inclusion in low- and middle-income countries: Bridging regulator and academic perspectives

Markets for consumer financial services are growing rapidly in low- and middle-income countries and are being transformed by digital technologies and platforms. With growth and change come concerns about protecting consumers. The authors seek to bridge regulator and academic perspectives…

Digitization for improved governance

This document provides an overview of how countries have leveraged the spread of digital technologies and infrastructure to improve governance, including by digitizing identification systems, social safety net services such as unconditional cash payments, and government response during emergencies (including…

On her own account: How strengthening women’s financial control impacts labor supply and gender norms

This research leverages a randomized controlled trial covering 197 village clusters in northern Madhya Pradesh, India, where the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme typically deposited women workers’ wages in the bank account of the man head of household.…