Motivation
Financial services are important instruments for moving people out of poverty, promoting women’s livelihood options, and women’s economic empowerment (WEE). Standard financial services (SFS) have been effective in Bangladesh, as they expand enterprises of various kinds and promote women’s participation in them. However, there remains a persistent financing gap. Digital financial services (DFS) are known to reduce transaction costs that contribute to this gap.
Objective
This study builds upon a randomized control trial (RCT) funded by WEE-DiFine that examines the mediating role of transaction costs on the relationship between DFS and WEE. Implemented by the Shakti Foundation, a microfinance organization working with low-income households, the intervention will help clients open mobile money accounts with features that reduce transaction costs. Drawing on Professor Naila Kabeer’s work on gender, livelihoods, and capabilities, this extension study will engage ten women from each of the treatment and control arms in qualitative interviews.1 The interviews will be semi-structured in nature; some interviews will focus on understanding the causality captured through the RCT while others will be more open-ended to further unpack impacts not explored through the RCT. This mixed-method approach aims to inform and improve program design as it may lead to more inclusive DFS interventions in the future. Furthermore, women’s qualitative accounts of their experiences will apply at different stages of the study, from opening their mobile money accounts, to the utilization of financial services, to achievements in different domains of their lives over the following year.
