By Jessica Meckler and Anaar Kara
WASHINGTON DC, Apr 18 2025 – The global risk landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, posing significant threats to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As extreme weather, macroeconomic shocks, conflict, and other risks intensify and intertwine, they can create ripple effects that amplify existing vulnerabilities and put both human and development progress in peril.

People living in poverty bear the brunt of these crises, which weakens their ability to contribute economically and poses a threat to social stability. Therefore, developing products and services that strengthen their resilience is crucial to getting back on track to meet the SDGs.

However, despite increasing efforts to build resilience, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of what works, for whom, and in what contexts. Without stronger evidence and impact measurement, resilience strategies risk being ineffective or misaligned with the needs of society.

Through the Financial Inclusion 2.0 initiative, CGAP has explored existing evidence to better understand how financial services can contribute to various development outcomes, including increased resilience.

Our findings are encapsulated in the newly launched Impact Pathfinder, a global public good that provides insights into the links between financial services, increased resilience, and development outcomes.

Inclusive finance is essential for building resilience

Overall, evidence shows that insurance, credit, digital payments, and savings all play a meaningful role in building the resilience of vulnerable populations and small businesses globally. The Impact Pathfinder examined resilience through a collective 176 studies that paint a strong picture of financial services’ role in enhancing resilience.

Insurance, credit, digital payments, and savings all play a meaningful role in building the resilience of vulnerable populations and small businesses globally.

In particular, literature primarily focusing on remittances found a positive link between digital payments and rural households’ and farmers’ ability to better prepare for and absorb climate-related shocks.

Digital payments help users build cash reserves or save, providing critical liquidity during crises. For instance, a study in Burkina Faso indicates that mobile money users are more inclined to save for unexpected events compared to non-users.

Further, digital payments can be more convenient than cash by allowing quicker access to funds from potentially more varied sources, and they also enable greater control, security, and flexibility over funds.

A study in Mozambique found that one year after experiencing floods, households with access to mobile money services were 33 percentage points more likely to receive remittances than households without access.

Insurance can also play an essential role in enabling rural households and farmers to absorb and recover from climate shocks. Insurance payouts can help farming households smooth consumption and avoid negative coping strategies—if certain conditions, like timely payouts, affordable premiums, and payouts covering actual losses, are met.

A study from Ghana finds that insurance reduced the rate of missed meals in farming households affected by climate shocks from 23% to 15%. Payouts can also enable farming households to maintain and potentially expand their farmland, as well as increase their use of farming inputs such as fertilizer.

That said, although insurance can build the resilience of rural households and farmers, its impact on increasing women’s resilience—and ultimately their economic empowerment—is less clear.

Significant knowledge gaps remain around the connections between insurance and women’s enhanced resilience, with much of the existing literature focusing on households, rather than women individually.

More research is needed to understand how insurance can be a potent tool for enhancing women’s resilience and economic empowerment.

As for credit, we have explored its impact on resilience in two separate blogs – one on credit and climate resilience and another on credit and resilience of micro- and small enterprises (MSEs).

One size does not fit all

While financial services can play a critical role in resilience-building, their impact depends on how well they are designed and adapted to specific populations and risks. Evidence shows that the same financial tool can be highly effective in one setting but ineffective—or even counterproductive—in another.

For example, evidence shows that savings enable women to invest in their businesses, farms, and education, as well as reduce risks through preventative health measures and relevant agricultural technologies.

In particular, group and community-based savings, such as rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) and village savings and loan associations (VSLAs), are helpful, as they foster social commitment and enable women to pool resources—thus building their resilience.

In Kenya, group savings led women to boost their investments in preventative health items such as bed nets, water chlorination products, and ceramic water filters by 66%.

While financial services can play a critical role in resilience-building, their impact depends on how well they are designed and adapted to specific populations and risks.

However, these same group effects that can support women in increasing their resilience and economic empowerment can backfire in other contexts. Evidence shows that although savings products can encourage rural households to establish regular savings habits and build reserve funds for emergencies if those households experience frequent and compounding shocks, group-based lending models might not work as well.

Such circumstances may indeed lead to many group members electing to withdraw savings simultaneously or withdrawing from the group altogether, impacting the group’s ability to save and repay.

Towards a resilient future for all

There is ample evidence that financial services can increase resilience, and in turn, enable broader development goals. The Impact Pathfinder sheds light on what we know from existing evidence, but this is only the beginning.

There are many remaining questions, such as the impact of financial services on recovery from shocks in the longer term and how to tailor specific products, such as insurance, for particular customers, such as women.

Addressing these knowledge gaps will increase the positive impact that financial services have on building resilience among vulnerable populations and small businesses.

Going forward, with the Impact Pathfinder’s findings demonstrating the role that financial services have in increasing the resilience of low-income people and small businesses, it is clear that inclusive finance should be integrated into resilience strategies.

The Impact Pathfinder’s insights can be leveraged by financial service providers to design solutions with resilience in mind; by policymakers to consider how inclusive finance supports resilience objectives; and by funders to consider how to channel funding towards inclusive finance to support resilience objectives. By integrating evidence, stakeholders at all levels can better leverage inclusive finance to promote a resilient world for all.

Jessica Meckler is Strategy Officer, CGAP; Anaar Kara is Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP

Source: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, (CGAP), a global partnership dedicated to advancing financial inclusion for the world’s poor, especially women. It is a research and policy organization that works to expand access to financial services for low-income individuals.

IPS UN Bureau

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By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 18 2025 – France, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, the most powerful political body at the UN, is planning to break ranks with the other two Western members, the US and UK– and recognize Palestine as a nation state.

French president Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying that France would recognize a Palestinian state within months, and suggested he could do it alongside a UN conference in New York in June.

Currently the 15-member Security Council comprises 10 non-permanent members, elected on the basis of geographical rotation for two-year terms, and five permanent members (P-5): the US, UK, France, Russia and China (with several other major powers, including India, Germany and Japan, trying unsuccessfully to join the P-5)

As of April 2025, 147 of the 193 UN member states have recognized the State of Palestine as a sovereign nation. This recognition includes countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, but excludes major Western powers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. WikipediaReuters

Palestine has been a “non-member observer state” at the UN General Assembly since November 2012. Efforts to achieve full UN membership have been hindered by the United States’ veto power in the Security Council.

The U.S. has long opposed any unilateral recognition of Palestine – and is very unlikely to change its position even against the backdrop of France’s decision to recognize Palestine.

Asked if the US position still remains the same, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters April 10: “Well, I can tell you that we are aware of, of course, the reports that you refer to regarding the French government’s remarks, and we refer you to them for further comment”.

“What I can say is that the United States stands firmly with the state of Israel in its pursuit to bring all the hostages back home and the defeat of Hamas. The groundbreaking Abraham Accords and the devastating October 7th attacks have forever changed the Middle East.

As US Special Envoy Witkoff has said, “we need to explore new policy prescriptions that ultimately end up in a better life for the Gazans and the Palestinians”.

“Look at the discourse that’s now happening today, she said. We’re actually engaging in a productive conversation around what is best for Gaza and how we can make people’s lives better. This administration will continue to engage our partners in the region on a serious solution for Gaza that secures peace and the release of all the hostages, among them five Americans, including Edan Alexander.

Dr. Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, who has written extensively on the politics of the UN, told IPS it is rather bizarre that State Department spokesperson Bruce would bring up Hamas, which is a rebel Palestinian group openly challenging the internationally-recognized government of the Palestine Authority (PA), in a question about recognition of the state of Palestine.

And the PA, he pointed out, had nothing to do with the October 7 terrorist attacks. It is revealing, however, that she emphasized the so-called Abraham Accords, which are designed to get Arab states to unilaterally recognize Israel instead of doing so in return for Israel ending the occupation and allowing for an independent Palestine, which has historically been the position of Arab governments.

Putting Bruce’s bizarre response aside, however, the Trump administration’s policy is not that different from that of the Biden administration. Biden, like Trump, opposed any recognition of Palestine by the United Nations or any member state.

One year ago, under Biden, the United States vetoed an otherwise-unanimous UN Security Council resolution recommending full membership for Palestine. It even claimed the International Criminal Court had no jurisdiction regarding war crimes committed from or on Palestinian territory because Palestine was not a state.

The United States has long insisted that the only way a Palestinian state should be recognized was under terms agreed to by the Israeli government, despite the fact that the Israeli government has categorically ruled out Palestinian statehood, declared Dr Zunes.

Mouin Rabbani, Co-Editor, Jadaliyya, an independent ezine produced by the Arab Studies Institute, told IPS France has indicated it intends to recognize Palestinian statehood at a UN conference it is jointly organising with Saudi Arabia in June. Whether it will actually do so remains an open question.

President Macron’s various statements on the issue, he pointed out, are about as clear as dense fog. He has both emphasized the importance of recognition, but also tempered this with what appear to be various conditions, such as recognition of Israel by other Middle Eastern states and removal of Hamas from the Palestinian body politic.

He made these statements in the full knowledge neither is going to happen in response to a mere declaration of recognition by the French state.

Macron has identified a two-state settlement as the objective motivating his potential initiative. Yet it’s somewhat difficult to take France’s proclaimed endorsement of a two-state solution seriously when Paris recognizes only the Israeli state, and additionally has attached zero consequences to more than half a century of ceaseless Israeli efforts to make the prospect of a Palestinian state impossible, he noted.

“In 2025, words have become so utterly meaningless that even French recognition of Palestinian statehood, while welcome in principle, are tantamount to a diversionary charade if not accompanied by meaningful policy changes”.

Still, President Macron recently decided to permit indicted war criminal and international fugitive Binyamin Netanyahu to use French airspace to travel to the United States.

This of course has not stopped Netanyahu and his proxy in Florida, his son Yair, from lashing out at Macron, comparing him to the head of the Vichy collaborationist regime, Petain, and concluding with “screw you”.

“The vulgarity is unlikely to produce a response, because Israel continues to enjoy unconditional impunity in Paris,” declared Rabbani, who is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.

Dr Ramzy Baroud, a journalist and Editor of The Palestine Chronicle told IPS while the potential French recognition of Palestine is an interesting development, its significance at this juncture is arguably diminished.

Such a gesture, he said, would have carried considerable weight prior to the devastating Israeli genocide in Gaza. However, after seventeen months of relentless Israeli war crimes against Palestinians, supported by the United States, Western nations, including France, this recognition risks appearing largely symbolic, if not opportunistic.

“We have witnessed similar gestures recently, such as the recognitions by Norway, Spain, and Ireland in 2024. While these undoubtedly offered a morale boost to Palestinians, they did not translate into tangible improvements on the ground, nor did they alter the trajectory of US-Israeli policies impacting the Palestinian people”.

Furthermore, it’s crucial to acknowledge that alongside France’s historical support for Israel and its initial defense of their horrific actions in Gaza, there has been an alarming suppression of French activists within the Palestine solidarity movement.

A genuine shift towards a ‘pro-Palestine’ stance from the French government would necessitate fostering an environment where those advocating for Palestinian freedom and opposing the ongoing crisis can mobilize without fear.

This potential move by France could be interpreted as an attempt to deflect from its past and present positions, including indirectly blaming the Palestinian victims in Gaza for the violence they have endured with Western complicity, declared Dr Baroud, author of six books and a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). www.ramzybaroud.net

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By Daouda Ngom
DAKAR, Senegal, Apr 18 2025 – In my country, Senegal, almost 70 percent of our land is used to graze livestock. Here and across Africa, pastoralists and livestock keepers sustain herding systems which are closely bound up with our landscapes and crucial to nationwide food security, economic growth, and ecological balance.

And yet, I hear it often argued that – if we want a sustainable future – we must choose between hooves and habitats because livestock is an “environmental liability”.

But this point of view is misunderstood. Across Africa, innovative approaches and technologies are being piloted to allow livestock and a healthy environment to coexist. What we need now is more investment and collaboration to scale these breakthroughs.

Despite being home to more than 85 percent of the world’s pastoralists and livestock keepers, sub-Saharan Africa produces just 2.8 percent of global meat and milk. As a result, one in five Africans do not have adequate access to nutritious foods, including animal source foods. Fixing this can be simple: a single egg, a cup of milk, or a small piece of meat can make all the difference to combatting malnutrition.

Meanwhile, populations are growing and urbanising faster here than anywhere else in the world. Demand for meat and dairy products is forecast to rise 300 percent by 2050.

Thankfully, evidence is already out there which proves that we don’t need to sacrifice a healthy environment to meet this rising demand.

Pastoralists in Senegal, for example, move their animals strategically to mimic natural grazing patterns, considering rainfall to prevent overgrazing. This not only improves biodiversity and soil quality, but also reduces dry vegetation and the growing threat of wildfires. To support, the Senegalese government has been providing our pastoralists with detailed weather data and forecasts to help them optimise grazing and manage their livestock more efficiently.

Working with communities in this way has been shown to reduce conflicts for land and water resources and restore landscapes.

Elsewhere in Africa, animal health interventions are demonstrating how better, not necessarily fewer, livestock is the answer to sustainability in the sector. East Coast fever vaccination programmes have reduced calf mortality up to 95 percent in some countries. More than 400,000 cattle have been saved in the past 25 years, reducing emissions up to 40 percent.

Moreover, new thermotolerant vaccines for the highly contagious viral disease peste des petits ruminants (PPR) – as demonstrated already in Mali – offer a promising way to curb the $147 million in annual losses of sheep and goat keepers across Africa. Boosting productivity among these climate-resilient animals will be essential for nourishing Africa’s rapidly growing population as climate change intensifies.

However, despite these successes, an important challenge remains. I have seen firsthand that many pastoralists, smallholders and subsistence farmers lack the knowledge and resources needed to access and implement these innovations. These groups account for the majority of Africa’s livestock keepers and must be reached for these innovations to realise their benefits at scale.

Two things are needed to bridge this gap. First, greater collaboration between policymakers, researchers, farmers and businesses can help us to better understand the challenges that livestock farmers face and help them to produce more, without compromising our environment.

For example, collaborative initiatives like the Livestock and Climate Solutions Hub launched by the International Livestock Research Institute are a way of showcasing practical ways for farmers to reduce their herds’ impact on the environment.

The second element is investment. For decades, despite the clear potential of high returns on investment, the livestock sector has suffered from a vast investment gap, receiving as little as 0.25 percent of overall overseas development assistance as of 2017. It must be made financially viable for livestock keepers to invest in technologies and approaches that raise productivity sustainably, or else this mission will not even get off the ground.

The upcoming World Bank Spring Meetings – where funding for development initiatives will be determined – presents a timely opportunity to kickstart this paradigm shift so that livestock is recognised within green financing frameworks.

African countries, in turn, must do their part by incorporating livestock into their national economic development plans and their climate action plans. This will help encourage funding streams from global investors and climate financing mechanisms, ultimately catalysing a multiplier effect of billions in livestock sustainability investment.

The solutions are within reach. What is needed now is the will to act decisively and unlock the continent’s unparalleled natural resource potential to build a future where prosperity and sustainability go hand in hand.

IPS UN Bureau

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Excerpt:

Pr. Daouda Ngom, Minister of Environment and Ecological Transition for Senegal