• Moving beyond financial inclusion: MFIs supported through IGNITE+ are beginning to examine how their policies, products, services, and institutional systems can better respond to the different needs of women and other underserved clients.
•  Small institutional changes can drive bigger impact: Examples from PAMIFI SA, Coris Meso Finance, and Micro-Start SA show how reviewing policies, strengthening governance, and improving gender-disaggregated data can create stronger foundations for gender-responsive financial services.
•  Connecting finance with nutrition and household wellbeing: Financial services can go beyond credit and savings to support food security, nutrition, and resilient livelihoods, from financing food-related activities to equipping field agents with basic nutrition knowledge and incorporating nutrition considerations into financial services.

What if access to finance could do more than provide a loan? What if it could help women overcome economic barriers, strengthen household food security, and build more resilient livelihoods?

For women entrepreneurs, rural households, and low-income families, financial needs are closely connected to food security, nutrition, income stability, and household wellbeing.

Through the IGNITE+ programme, Tanager,is working with the Association Professionnelle des Systèmes Financiers Décentralisés du Burkina Faso (APSFD-BF) as its Local Service Provider to strengthen their capacity  and its member institutions who are primarily microfinance institutions, to look beyond financial inclusion and consider how their policies, products, services, and institutional systems can better respond to the needs of their beneficiaries.

 

Turning Financial Services into more Inclusive Solutions

Integrating gender and nutrition in MFIs is about understanding how financial services affect women, men, and households differently and using that understanding to improve institutional decisions. MFIs can therefore:

• Designing more inclusive financial products that respond to different client needs;
• Strengthening support and guidance for beneficiaries;
• Improving institutional-community relationships; and
• Supporting household economic resilience and wellbeing.

 

Three Institutions, Three Pathways to Change

Some of the MFIs supported by APSFD-BF have begun to see tangible changes from integrating gender and nutrition into their institutional systems and practices. For instance, Pascal Microfinance (PAMIFI SA) previously operated without a formalized gender policy, and women’s specific needs were not systematically reflected in its financial products. With support from IGNITE+, PAMIFI SA has begun reviewing its credit and savings policy through a gender lens and has committed to developing an institutional gender strategy that addresses barriers faced by women.

In the case of Coris Meso Finance (CMF), gender considerations were previously not integrated into governance processes. The institution has now taken advantage of its broader strategy review to incorporate gender more systematically into its institutional direction.

Meanwhile, Micro-Start SA previously lacked a gender-sensitive data collection system. Following capacity strengthening, the institution began reviewing its data collection tools to incorporate gender-disaggregated information.

These examples demonstrate an important shift: institutional change begins with understanding who is being served, whose needs are being missed, and what systems need to change.

 

What Does Nutrition Look Like in Financial Services?

For APSFD-BF member institutions, integrating nutrition is also moving from principle to practice. This includes developing financial products that contribute to household food security, such as:

• Loans supporting post-harvest storage;
• Savings products designed to help households manage lean seasons;
• Financing for market gardening and livestock activities; and
• Financial services supporting income-generating activities linked to food security.

MFIs can also strengthen the role of field agents by providing basic nutrition awareness training, enabling them to share simple nutrition and health messages during interactions with clients.

Another opportunity is incorporating nutrition considerations into loan and savings assessments, helping institutions better understand whether financed activities can contribute to household food security and wellbeing.

CODEC-Ouaga, one of the MFIs supported through IGNITE+, is already offering products that demonstrate how nutrition considerations can be incorporated into financial services.

 

Why this Matters?

 

When financial institutions become more responsive to gender and nutrition, the benefits can extend beyond access to credit or savings. More inclusive financial services can contribute to:

• Greater access to economic opportunities for women;
• Stronger household food security and resilience;
• Increased awareness of nutrition and household resource management; and
• More sustainable income-generating activities.

A Strategic Opportunity for MFIs

Understanding the needs of different client groups can help institutions develop services that are more relevant, strengthen beneficiary satisfaction and retention, and build greater credibility with partners and stakeholders as actors of inclusive development.

The experience emerging from APSFD-BF demonstrates that institutional transformation does not always begin with sweeping changes. It can start with a policy review, better data, a redesigned financial product, or a field agent equipped with the right knowledge.

This blog is also available in French