The intricate role of digital finance in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals

There is a growing body of research that demonstrates the link between access to financial services and improvement in the daily life of low-income populations across a range of Sustainable Development Goals. However, the research has shown that attribution is difficult, manifests over a lengthy period, and is very expensive to measure in a methodologically robust manner. The relationship between financial services and the Goals is direct and clear in some areas and less clear in others. Substantial research remains somewhat inconclusive.

Impact Pathways was therefore designed as a tool to help illuminate the ‘pathways’ which lead from the use of a particular financial service to the benefits which users experience as a result of that usage, to the potential contribution of the experience of that benefit over time to the SDGs. Many customers experience multiple benefits from a single use-case which in turn leads to positive progress against multiple SDGs.

The Impact Pathways approach provides a series of resources.

The Focus Note: Pathways To A Better Life explores the methodology and key features of Impact Pathways in detail.

The Focus Note: Mapping The Benefits Of Financial Inclusion compares users’ experiences of four different tools.

Blog: From Financially Excluded To Entrepreneur takes a deeper dive into how M-PAiSA helped two women in Fiji to build their own businesses

Blog: Mobile Money in the Ascendant tells the story of how new features are changing the way customers use Vodafone’s M-PAiSA in Fiji