Financial inclusion centre stage at UN #2030Agenda
The issue of economic empowerment in poor communities has been front and centre at the United Nations in recent days, with both Pope Francis and Helen Clark speaking of the need for greater financial inclusion.
Pope Francis, addressing the General Assembly in New York for the first time, talked about the trickle-down effect that oppressive global lending systems can have on individuals.
“Far from promoting progress,” he said, “[they] subject people to mechanisms which generate greater poverty, exclusion and dependence.
“To enable these real men and women to escape from extreme poverty, we must allow them to be dignified agents of their own destiny.”
“Integral human development and the full exercise of human dignity cannot be imposed. They must be built up and allowed to unfold for each individual, for every family, in communion with others, and in a right relationship with all those areas in which human social life develops — friends, communities, towns and cities, schools, businesses and unions, provinces, nations, etc.”
On the same day as Pope Francis spoke, the General Assembly adopted a new set of Sustainable Development Goals, which set out a framework for alleviating poverty and inequality over the next 15 years.
Fair access to finance is a requirement for achieving at least seven of the 17 goals — a sign of the significance of ADC’s work to the communities we operate in.
Helen Clark, head of the UN Development Program, said providing inclusive finance was integral to achieving the goals.
“Its potential to drive sustainable development forward — simultaneously reducing poverty, promoting food security, empowering women, and enabling economic growth has been well recognised.”
Clark also emphasised the need for more digitally based financial services in developing countries, which increase efficiency, accuracy and transparency, and better facilitate evaluation and auditing.
ADC continues to make progress in this area through its custom-built software, innovative practices and growth trajectory.
We are proud to be working in a field which is viewed by world leaders as so crucial to the world’s future, by providing accessible, affordable credit to enterprising people in Myanmar and Malawi.
Clients of our partner projects in Myanmar and Malawi have achieved amazing things for their families and communities and we are thankful to our our donors for giving us the means to empower more and more change.
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