$250 / Finance Available
This 4-week course aims at assisting digital finance professionals and organisations navigate the gender gap and improve digital finance adoption among women.
Blind Spots
Whether your goals are commercial (to build a healthy business) or social (to promote human development) or a combination of the two, you may be missing important social groups in your efforts to promote digital financial services. This course, taking place online over four weeks, aims to shed light on overlooked populations, their financial needs and their potential as viable customers. Through a process of discovery and analysis, you’ll learn how to detect and remove supply-side blind spots, uncover new market opportunities, and imagine a future where new groups, especially women, use and enjoy high-quality financial services.
Why do I need a course on Gender in Digital Finance?
This course is designed for managers and aspiring leaders of banks, microfinance institutions, fintechs, NGOs, and policy and regulatory bodies. We welcome members of think tank organizations, donors and academic institutions. No background in gender analysis and/ or financial inclusion is required.
By taking the course, students will pick up a set of analytical frameworks for discussing issues that pertain to market gaps. They will be able to apply concepts of power, gender and customer experiences to their individual projects or home institutions, and use them to strengthen their institutions and particular projects they may be working on.
Students coming out of the course should have an understanding of how blind spots occur, what the downsides of these blind spots are, and how to detect and address them. They will be familiar with key analytical tools, such as gender analysis, diffusion analysis and change theory and be able to apply these tools to remedy key omissions and overcome barriers that now hamper DFS’ efforts to reach women.
Course Curriculum
Week 1
Key analytical tools
Week 2
Applying tools
Week 3
Digitized information and financial services
Week 4
Exploring personal blind spots
Faculty
Professor Kim Wilson
Director
The Fletcher Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion,
The Fletcher School,
Tufts University
Roxani Krystali
Program Manager
Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Julie Zollmann
Senior Researcher
Independent Researcher
What is The Gender Gap?
The gender gap refers to the income disparity between the salaries of men and women in a sector, as well as the relative lack of women in decision-making positions in that same sector.
Why is Gender Relevant for Digital Financial Services?
Historically and currently, women are much less common in decision-making positions in the DFS sector, earn much less money and are underserved by available DFS products. Solving those gaps is crucial to achieving financial inclusion in DFS.
What is a Smallholder Farmer?
Smallholder farmers farm small plots of lands, on which they generally grow subsistence crops and one or two cash crops..
What is DFS?
DFS, or digital financial services, are any financial services that are available through digital channels, and includes payments, credit, savings, transfers and insurance.
What is Fintech?
Fintech, or financial technology, refers to any digital technological tools or business models used to support the delivery of financial services.
What is Financial Inclusion
Financial inclusion is a key part of DFI’s agenda and refers to the goal of ensuring that all people, especially marginalised groups, have access to the financial tools they need.
What is a Virtual Classroom?
A virtual classroom is a learning environment that only exists through a digital platform and that allows students to participate regardless of their geographic location. All DFI’s courses are delivered in a virtual classroom.
What is Digital Frontiers Institute?
Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) is a digital education provider designed to prepare professionals for the challenges and opportunities they will encounter in a rapidly changing economy.
We offer flexible, cost-effective group memberships for your business, school, or government organisation. Contact us to learn more.
