About CGAPThe Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) is a global partnership of more than 30 leading development organizations that works to advance the lives of people living in poverty; especially women; through financial inclusion. CGAP is housed in and administered by the World Bank. CGAP works at the frontier of inclusive finance to test solutions; spark innovation; generate evidence; and share insights. CGAP knowledge enables public and private stakeholders to scale solutions that make financial ecosystems meet the needs of poor; vulnerable; and underserved people and of micro and small enterprises (MSEs); including through advancing women’s economic empowerment.CGAP is guided by a five-year strategy and annual workplans. The current CGAP’s five-year strategy covers the period of 2023 to 2028 (CGAP VII Strategy) and will contribute to making financial ecosystems meet the needs of everyone – including those living in poverty and micro and small firms – to enhance their resiliency to shocks and their ability to seize economic opportunities and to participate in a green transition. To achieve this objective; a critical goal of CGAP VII is to go beyond fostering an increase in the breadth and depth of financial inclusion; i.e.; in the access and usage of financial services; to also focus on the utility of financial inclusion. That is; on enhancing the practical benefits and positive outcomes financial inclusion generates.To achieve this; CGAP will focus on contributing to the following outcomes through our work program: High-level outcomes* Mobilizing financial services for climate adaptation; mitigation and a just transition* Mobilizing financial services for building resilience to shocks and managing risks* Mobilizing financial services for women and MSEs to capture economic opportunitiesAnd to enable these outcomes; CGAP will focus on the following intermediary outcome and foundational work:Intermediary outcomes* Increasing the breadth and depth of financial inclusion Foundational Outcomes* Promoting enabling responsible financial ecosystems and enabling financial sector policies and regulations* Enhancing the effectiveness of impact investing in inclusive finance and the inclusiveness of carbon markets* Generating evidence of what works; where; and for whom.Implementing a Responsible Digital Finance Ecosystem in RwandaIn the past decade; technology advances have significantly enhanced access and usage of financial services; helping millions of new consumers build resilience and seize economic opportunities. It is therefore critical to continue to enable innovation to foster financial inclusion. At the same time; the complexity of the digital finance ecosystem; with the emergence of many new types of providers and technology enabled services and regulations; also brings new challenges to consumers; especially those who are less digitally literate; as well as to regulators who are falling behind. All the efforts made thus far in ensuring that consumers are protected from digital finance risks have not been sufficient and we see fast growing risks that could significantly reduce consumers’ trust and financial services utility. CGAP’s 2022 global research on digital financial services (DFS) consumer risks highlights fast growth of fraud and data misuse for example; and recent research in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) shows that close to 90% of DFS consumers have faced some form of risk when using them and close to 40% have lost money doing so. In this increasingly complex environment for consumers; a more ambitious and holistic approach is required to ensure that digital finance ecosystems become more responsible in the face of rapid innovation.The Responsible Digital Finance Ecosystem (RDFE) project aims to influence country-level policy makers and other market actors to take steps to make their digital finance ecosystems more responsible to consumers; especially women; by preventing; assessing; and mitigating consumer risks; and contributing to positive outcomes for them. The project will also seek to help partners in pilot countries; especially policy makers and DFS providers; make their digital finance ecosystem more responsible and ultimately improve customer experience. At the global level; the project will ensure that key actors involved in digital finance understand the RDFE approach and that funders as well as global industry and policy organizations promote the entire approach or part of it.As part of the RDFE project; CGAP has developed a conceptual framework that seeks to encourage financial sector authorities; and other key ecosystem actors; that include other institutions such as telecommunication and data authorities; DFS providers; consumer representatives; and market facilitators to come together to safeguard consumers from potential harm and ensure that digital financial services enrich their lives.