Financial inclusion for displaced people, with Micol (UNHCR) and Ricardo (IFC)

Why is financial inclusion for displaced people a problem? If you are a migrant or a refugee, if you have left your home due to forced reasons, and you arrive in another country, chances are that financial services are not accessible to you. The lack of an ID card or the lack of recognition of the ID card provided to you is a barrier; the lack of your credit history and collateral are additional barriers; language differences and stereotypes; as well as the lack of information from financial service providers will all hold you back from getting access to financial services. And the consequences are that you may not be able to get a job, pay your taxes or set up your own enterprise. And yet, as we will hear in this podcast, improving financial services for displaced people, unlocks a wealth of economic and social growth for this population, as well as benefits and gains for the countries that hosts them. Meet Social Impact Pioneers Micol Pistelli and Ricardo Martin Garcia Tafur who have been working tirelessly to develop better financial service models for forcibly displaced people. Financial services that help migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, as well as internal displaced people to get contributing to their local host communities and economies. Micol is a Senior Financial Inclusion Coordinator at UNHCR, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – which has the mandate to help and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people around the world. Whilst Ricardo is a Senior Operations Officer at the IFC and UNHCR Joint Initiative that fosters private sector engagement into forced displacement contexts at the International Finance Corporation (the IFC) which is part of the World Bank Group. Both are deeply focused on building financial and economic inclusion of forcibly displaced populations. During this podcast conversation Micol and Ricardo roll up the blind on the economic case for having better financially integrated people in host communities. They explain: “If people