Empowering Pakistani Women through Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth (EPW)

OVERVIEW

The project ‘Empowering Pakistani Women through Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth’ is working to increase womens’ economic opportunity and financial inclusion in Pakistan, by creating a commercially sustainable model of women retailers as mobile financial services agents. The project is a partnership between Unilever, who will support and supply the women with FMCG products, RSPN, who will recruit and train the Guddi Bajis, Mobilink Microfinance Bank Limited (Jazz), who will provide access to finance to retailers and customers via their JazzCash application, and BoPInc, who is an expert in facilitating partnerships and developing inclusive business models with micro-entrepreneurs. RSPN’s implementing partners in this project are National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) & Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO).

DISTRICTS:

 Punjab (Bahawalpur, Jhang, Rahim Yar Khan, TT Singh) Sindh (Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Qamber, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Mitiari, Sujawal, Thatta, Larkana) KP (Mardan & Swabi)

The development objective is to create decent employment and income for 3,000 women retailers in 15 districts in Pakistan and to expand financial inclusion of women in Pakistan. The project is expected to grow exponentially after the life of the project to create increased income opportunities for 15,000 women and advance progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

The project began on July 13th, 2018, and will be actively funded till December 31st, 2021.

The project targets the following SDGs:

• SDG 8: As women retailers become JazzCash Guddi Bajis, they will increase their revenue, creating sustainable income opportunities and contributing to economic growth in Pakistan.
• SDG 5: As JazzCash Guddi Bajis interact with women customers, women will have greater opportunity to access and use mobile financial services, providing equal opportunity for financial inclusion and ultimately increasing financial security, prosperity and empowerment of women.
• SDG 17: As the network of JazzCash Guddi Bajis expands, Women’s World Banking will demonstrate the business rationale for commercial partners, further promoting private sector partnerships in the financial inclusion space. For Unilever, this business rationale will be demonstrated through the growth of their distribution in rural areas, through the expanded Guddi Baji network. For Jazz, this business rationale will be demonstrated through increased numbers of women customers and activity by women customers, due to interaction with the female agents.

DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES:

• Sustainable income opportunities are created, through increased revenue and enhanced skills for women retailers (JazzCash Guddi Bajis) in Pakistan.
• Women in Pakistan are financially included, through increased engagement with female agents (JazzCash Guddi Bajis) and use of mobile financial services.