The United Nations commemorates the World Day of Social Justice on February 20, 2022. This year, the focus will be on efforts by the international community to identify solutions that create sustainable development, poverty eradication and promotion of full employment, gender equality and access to social wellbeing for all. FINCA Canada, in partnership with the Government of Canada, has been championing this effort through the Financial Inclusion Project. 

Over the past few years, the Financial Inclusion Project has positively impacted many women in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), empowering them to step into entrepreneurial leadership roles, establish economic equality within their communities and combat poverty across their nations. 

As the project enters its fourth year, FINCA Canada conducted a survey with clients in Haiti and the DRC to capture product perception and customer satisfaction about whether the quality, type and channel of FINCA’s services are fulfilling their needs. As the goal of the project is the increased economic prosperity for low-income individuals (primarily women) in Haiti and in the DRC, the survey’s objective is to track the successful implementation of data-backed, client-centric and gender-equal financial services for FINCA clients. 

Customer Satisfaction Projects Enhanced Client Engagement 

For decades, financial institutions and their traditional offerings have been infamously known for their generic and typically complicated products and delivery. With the help of the Financial Inclusion Project, and its work to suit gender-centric and low-income needs, female clients are showing heightened engagement with minimized barriers towards financial independence. 

FINCA Canada reported impressive improvements across the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), which highlights the overall depth of support and progressive impacts their services and products have had amongst its clients. The DRC saw an eight percent improvement in customer satisfaction from 2020 to 2021, showcasing an upward trajectory to satisfying its client base with relevant products. This year, FINCA has been renamed as the main financial institution for most clients. Ninety-three percent of clients surveyed report FINCA is their main service provider, with a larger majority of respondents being female (96 percent) compared to male (91 percent).

The Haitian population also witnessed an enhanced customer satisfaction rate, standing at 86 percent in 2021 compared to 71 percent in 2020. Although the CSI survey was only conducted in four regions (Port au Prince, Croix des Bouquets, Carrefour and Saint Marc) due to delays and barriers from violence, tropical storms and political impacts, each region showed signs of improvement, yet express no significant difference between men and women. In addition, 91 percent of Haitian clients consider FINCA as their primary bank, highlighting a seven percent increase from 2020, 93 percent being female and 85 percent being male.

Recognizing the Successes in Female-Focused Financial Products and Delivery

Following the Awareness, Choice and Voice report in the DRC, data found that the largest priority for women in choosing a financial institution is a large, widespread agent network as agency banks offer proximity, convenience, flexibility and enhanced safety and trust. In contrast, Congolese men prioritize ATMs due to their prestige, confidentiality and lesser tolerance of frequent connectivity or liquidity issues and disruptions. In Haiti, new data present that women prioritize product features, such as loan terms, repayment schedules, loyalty programs and financial education, more in comparison to men. Haitian men prioritize product advertising most within their financial institution in relation to women. 

The continued relevancy of FINCA’s product offering to clients in the DRC and Haiti, combined with improving customer satisfaction rates, reveals a promising future for FINCA, our clients and for our vision of alleviating poverty through lasting solutions.  

Progressing Social Justice Measures

Although breakthrough improvements continue across Haiti and the DRC, the financial health of both regions remains challenging. For overall clients in the DRC, the local population still shows signs of struggle and requires further assistance with critical issues such as being unable to save for retirement (61 percent), having difficulties in paying bills/obligations on time (38 percent) and struggling to save money regularly (33 percent). The financial health indicators in Haiti are similar: the majority of overall clients in the region feel they are unable to save for retirement (77 percent), do not have assets worth for a month of living expenses (37 percent) and lack enough savings to cover emergencies (23 percent). 

As FINCA Canada enters another year of building economic prosperity for all clients, the organization looks forward to continuing to improve the livelihoods of clients and communities in Haiti and the DRC. To reach social justice amongst each community facing inequalities and increased poverty rates, the need for gender-centric and data-backed infrastructure and products to promote financial inclusion is clearly more important than ever. 

Click here to learn more about FINCA Canada’s work in social justice reform across the DRC and Haiti as they lay empowering stepping stones for women’s financial independence.

The Financial Inclusion Project is dedicated to supporting the financial inclusion of women in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), empowering them to step into entrepreneurial leadership roles with stability and confidence. FINCA Canada, in partnership with the Government of Canada, began this work in 2018. As the fourth year of the project ends, we looked back at the challenges and successes of the past year and our renewed focus for the year ahead.

Social, Political, and Geographic Change

In addition to the unrelenting challenge of COVID-19, Haiti and the DRC faced a combination of social, political, and geographic change resulting in diminishing economic development throughout 2021. Both nations experienced changes in political leadership following the assassination of Haitian President Moïse and the DRC’s new formation of government. Natural disasters also ignited crisis and economic stagnation following Haiti’s 4.3 magnitude earthquake and tropical storm Grace, while the DRC’s volcanic eruption in Goma caused additional strain on the country.

However, progress continued to be made to further support FINCA’s clients in both Haiti and the DRC. Both countries have faced unimaginable struggles over the last year and yet, their resilience remains unrelenting, no matter the challenge.

FINCA Culture

The extensive change we have continued to see over the last year has given our teams an even better understanding of the financial inclusion needs of female clients in Haiti and the DRC. FINCA’s work continues to be guided by research findings that inform capacity building and gender action plans. 

Staff participation rates in training courses saw an increase this year, and a total of eight modules have been deployed on topics like gender equality, diversity and inclusion and day-to-day work interactions. The use of digital and mobile technologies was crucial in both countries as the number of MonCash users in Haiti doubled while FINCA DRC added approximately 32,000 users from the previous year. 

Measuring our Goals and Impacts

There are four main goals of the Financial Inclusion Project. The first goal is to increase the use of financial services by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), those led by women in Haiti and the DRC. This year, FINCA was able to offer financial services to 40,000 more people from the previous year, a milestone we are incredibly proud of. In Haiti, there were approximately 13,000 more clients and, in the DRC, there were 27,000 more clients than the previous year, 36 percent of whom were women. 

The second goal is to increase the use of financial services and technical assistance pertaining to business development, natural resource management and climate change adaptation by agricultural entrepreneurs, particularly those led by women in Haiti. This year, the agricultural loan program continued to be very successful, doubling the number of beneficiaries from last year and reaching a cumulative total of 2,080 beneficiaries. Women who work in different parts of the agricultural supply chain accounted for 83 percent of agriculture loan beneficiaries. 

The third goal is improving access to mobile savings services for low-income individuals, especially women in the DRC. There were 32,000 more mobile savings clients in the DRC reaching a total of 158,568 active clients. 

The fourth goal of the Financial Inclusion Project is to create loans adapted to microenterprises with financial literacy programs and loans also adapted to SMEs in Haiti and the DRC, targeting businesses led by women. During the fourth year of project implementation, FINCA DRC developed and launched the Just for Her loan, a new loan product targeting MSMEs controlled by women in the DRC.  Just for Her has preferential conditions for women, such as a lower interest rate and the option for a grace period before loan reimbursement starts.  Since its release on March 8, a total of 1,001 women have benefited from this product to grow and expand their businesses, with USD 6.6 million disbursed.

We are extremely proud to share that this year, through the Financial Inclusion Project, FINCA Canada, in partnership with the Government of Canada, trained over 216,000 clients in financial literacy, 65 percent of whom were women. FINCA Haiti has trained a cumulative total of 76,290 clients, 92 percent of whom are women while FINCA DRC trained a total of 140,483 clients, 51 percent of whom are women. FINCA DRC moved much of its training activities online as training videos were made available to clients and non-clients through digital channels such as social media, FINCA webpages and text messages.

Driving for More Change

As we carry forward into the new year, FINCA Canada will continue to go move beyond measure, topping each year’s successes and restoring financial stability. With 192 female entrepreneurs trained in Haiti and 34,391 community members trained in financial literacy and financial technologies in the DRC this year, we are excited to see what is to come in 2022.