Financial Inclusion

Gender Finance

KIT promotes the financial inclusion of women through a three pronged approach: incorporating a gender lens into financial institutions’ environmental and social safeguarding processes; leveraging data to prove the business case and developing gender strategies to raise impact on women’s livelihoods. KIT´s rooted expertise in women´s markets catalyzes a greater understanding of the gendered risks by sector and region, reveals women’s needs and wants and enables the design of gender-smart products and customer value propositions tailored to women and gender-sensitive Monitoring and Evaluation frameworks.

KIT applies a well-grounded approach to gender equality and women’s empowerment in various sectors and domains. KIT has a long track record of providing technical assistance to governmental and non-governmental agencies, financial institutions and organizations to integrate gender equality concerns into policies, organizational structures, systems and practices as well as sector strategies and programs. We work on both stand-alone women’s rights and empowerment initiatives as well as gender and rights issues within programs related to health, food security, energy, finance and broader inclusion in agribusiness value chains.

Youth Finance

KIT promotes the financial inclusion of youth in agricultural value chains by developing and implementing youth programs and business models that improve access to finance amongst youth-led Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). KIT is also involved in projects that support youth development in a holistic manner, complementing the financial component with training in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and mentorship opportunities.

Rural Finance

KIT promotes the financial inclusion of rural stakeholders and builds its work in its extensive track record in the fields of agribusiness development, value chain finance, and understanding the needs of smallholder farmers and Micro, Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises. A diversity of financial products and related non-financial services are being developed, experimented with, and rolled out by donors, financial institutions and investors, and KIT has been active in assessments of impact and learning processes for a wide variety of clients. Guarantee and insurance schemes, credit facilities for crop-specific loan products and business development services have benefited smallholders and youth and women in particular.