At the Global Forum, many providers and policymakers woke up to the large market of persons with disabilities, possibly the largest vulnerable minority in the world. Discussions began at pre-Forum meetings on disability inclusion led by the CFI’s Joshua Goldstein in partnership with Pina D’Intino of Scotiabank and Axel Leblois of the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs.
Over 15 percent of the world’s adult population, 785 million people, live with a disability, and by age 60, 40 percent of humanity has acquired some disability. There is an economic impact when persons with disability are excluded: unemployment for persons with disabilities is as high as 90 percent in the developing world.
Thanks to heightened awareness, legal mandates as embodied in the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and assistive technology innovations, new solutions are emerging to close the accessibility gap.
Financial service providers, IT providers, and persons with disabilities are working together to achieve digital equality, including digital access to mobile devices and other platforms. The good news is that inclusion solutions need not be expensive, especially if they are built in from the start—and sometimes all it takes to make progress is a leader who decides to put accessible financial services onto the agenda.
Not Just Inclusive Finance, but Accessible Finance
In 1950, 1 in 20 were elderly. By 2050, it will be 1 in 5 (Source: United Nations).
The Global Forum paid special attention to vulnerable populations, including older people. The demands of aging populations are acutely felt in high income economies today, and will soon be felt in middle and lower income economies. Basic demographic analysis, as laid out in CFI’s Mapping the Invisible Market research, reveals the rapid aging of the population in middle income countries, with over-65 frequently the fastest growing population age bracket. Aging is everyone’s issue, but is especially salient for women, as older people are disproportionately female, and women facing old age alone are often especially vulnerable.
Financial services could play an important role in meeting several of the most pressing needs related to aging, such as income security and access to health care. Yet most people in the financial inclusion sector remain largely unaware of older people as a distinct client group, of the need to assist mature adults to prepare for their old age, and of the barriers that can block access to finance for older adults.
While youth are a well-represented vulnerable group in work being undertaken on financial inclusion, older people have not received the same attention. The mismatch between the scale of the need and the attention devoted to it is staggering.Given global demographic reality, research and action on this issue is critical to the goal of financial inclusion for all.
In 2014, the Center for Financial Inclusion will be turning attention to aging in an attempt to identify some of the important challenges and opportunities it will bring to the financial inclusion sector.
Population Focus: Aging Adults
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Brian Clancy (CFI), Flavia Bwire (Association of Microfinance institutions of Uganda), Pina D'Intino (Scotiabank/G3-ICT), Josh Goldstein (CFI), Daniela Bas (UN-DESA), Luis Gallegos (United Nations Office of Geneva), Axel Leblois (G3ict) present findings on disability inclusion to the Global Forum.