Authors: Benedikt Wahler
Partners: Alliance for Financial Inclusion
Year: 2023
“Gender-Sensitive Rapid Response and Crisis Recovery Policies Toolkit” provides practical guidance to help policymakers design crisis responses that protect and advance women’s financial inclusion.D eveloped for the Alliance for Financial Inclusion with research by ConsumerCentriX, the resource builds on lessons from recent global shocks and reflects a growing recognition that women are often affected more severely during periods of economic. It offers a clear starting point for regulators who want to strengthen resilience and ensure that emergency measures support rather than hinder inclusion.
The toolkit outlines the factors that create unequal impacts on women during crises, including income instability, informality, caregiving responsibilities, digital access barriers, and limited safety nets. It reviews evidence from different markets to show how emergency policies can either reinforce these inequalities or help mitigate them. By understanding these dynamics, regulators and policymakers can design interventions that better reflect the realities faced by women.
A central feature of the toolkit is its set of practical tools and policy options. These cover rapid assessments, gender-disaggregated data requirements, consumer protection measures, digital finance safeguards, and approaches to maintain access to essential financial services during periods of disruption. The resource also provides guidance on developing recovery strategies that support long-term financial inclusion, with a focus on improving resilience for women-owned and women-led businesses.
The toolkit offers a structured approach for policymakers who want to integrate gender considerations into both crisis response and recovery planning. It shows how to move from general principles to concrete action, using examples and templates that can be adapted to different country contexts.
