November was marked by the world waiting to see the results of American elections. For us, it was a month of optimising a different kind of polling. Our surveys underwent three iterations over the course of the month and are now finalised for distribution to over 4000 individuals in the coming months. The key… Continue reading Catalysts to Accelerate Financial Inclusion
Image by By Shyamalamuralinath on Shutterstock In the last two blogs of this series, we articulated the point of view of sector experts and insurance providers about introducing meso-level insurance for agriculture in India. As we move forward towards building the case for meso-level insurance, in this blog we will discuss the perspectives of one of the potential… Continue reading Building a case for meso-level insurance: FPOs as Beneficiaries
I arrive at Pinky’s house in Aurangabad, a small town in Bihar. Pinky’s husband welcomes me at the door and tells me Pinky is doing pooja. I wait and in a few minutes Pinky emerges from an interior room. Pinky is 35, well-groomed and talks animatedly to me about herself. Pinky was born… Continue reading People of Bharat: Pinky, Aurangabad (Bihar)
Photo by Madhukar Kumar on Unsplash In March this year, when the government imposed lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic, the primary concern among most small business owners in Sivakasi, a fireworks cluster in Tamil Nadu — was their ability to supply, and not demand. For many, the equation was simple. The less number of days… Continue reading Why Sivakasi is preparing for a dull 2021
Image by Uplift Mutuals The recent recommendations by the IRDAI committee to allow standalone or exclusive Micro Insurance Companies (SAMI) has caused quite a stir and excitement in the financial inclusion space. In this blog, we de-code what it means for the microinsurance sector in general and mutuals and cooperatives in particular. What’s Great?… Continue reading Unbundling the Standalone Micro Insurance Company Recommendations
Image by pixelfusion3d on iStock As we commence our study of mobile based tools that can promote entrepreneurship, self-employment and livelihoods among rural women, we want to understand if a tool is accessible to rural poor women who face unique barriers to using ICTs (access, affordability, and cultural norms, among others). We would also want to… Continue reading Insights from Studying Community Radio Users
Walking through a small village in rural Telengana I find a woman sitting on a mud verandah outside a house, leaning against the wall. As I approach her, a cat napping by her side, jumps up and runs away surprised by the apparent stranger. I ask her for directions to the post office and… Continue reading People of Bharat: Pushpa, Hyderabad
Image by Freedomz on Shutterstock Our previous blogs have given a succinct glimpse into the chaos that a researcher gets into understanding farmer producer organisations (FPOs). The degree of mismatch between theoretical and actual definitions of financial inclusion and even farmer producer organisation is so high- we just do not have a standard to follow. The… Continue reading Building an FPO Database
“Takkar mein bahut hain. Par ek bahu hai. Uske aadmi ke party pehle se sarpanch ban chuke hain, rah chuke hain, unko toh aadat pad gayi hai,” (There are many contestants. Though, there is one lady. Her husband’s party has got accustomed to winning. It has become their habit) says Meena Devi. Meena, 29,… Continue reading Bridge2Capital’s potential to boost SHGs finances
Image by GSK919 on ShutterStock In the last few months, we’ve arrived at a theoretical model of a potential community platform with data cooperatives through literature review and conversations with industry leaders from SEWA, Platform Coop, ICAAP and a multitude of knowledge level gig workers. As a logical next step, we have started talking to gig workers across the skill spectrum… Continue reading Data Ownership & Gig Economy – Insights from Primary Research
“…his speech is of mortgaged bedding, On his knee, he borrows yet, At his heart is his daughter’s wedding, In his eye foreknowledge of debt. He eats and hath indigestion, He toils, and he may not stop; His life is a long-drawn question, Between a crop and a crop.” – Rudyard Kipling on ‘The… Continue reading AgriTech – A revolution in the making
Image by pixelfusion3d on iStock As we move forward with building the case for meso-level insurance in agriculture, in this blog we will discuss the perspectives of one of the primary stakeholders in meso-level insurance — ‘the insurers’. In our previous blog we highlighted emerging insights from our ongoing interviews with key insurance sector experts. It covered… Continue reading Building a case for meso-level insurance: Perspectives from Private Insurers