Speeches

The COVID-19 crisis has created an appetite in many countries to invest in key digital public goods. These can provide the infrastructure rails and regulatory enabling environment to reach users and to build financial services which can improve their financial lives. Read more

UNSGSA Queen Máxima highlights the timely opportunity to invest in key digital public goods to empower the poor, close the digital divide and support equality. Read more

Addressing the estimated $42 billion-dollar financing gap for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa will require game-changing solutions. Read more

Our common challenge is to develop a financial and education system that promotes sensible financial behavior and – therefore – contributes to financial resilience. Because we know that financially resilient households are less affected by economic shocks. We’ve seen that in the 2008 crisis and we… Read more

The Special Advocate highlights the importance of access to insurance for COVID-19 response and recovery, and to achieve the SDGs. Read more

The Special Advocate encourages private sector innovators to use fintech as a tool for greater financial inclusion and improving financial health in the UK and advanced economies during a video message keynote at the UK Fintech Week on 19 April 2021. Read more

Policymakers are increasingly taking steps to measure, assess, and address financial health. However, these efforts are insufficient without action from the private sector—primarily, but not exclusively, financial service providers. Read more

Research demonstrates that childhood financial experiences heavily influence adult financial well-being. The financial education of our daughters and sons represents the most effective path to instill and nurture sound financial behavior in future grownups. Read more

Mothers and daughters everywhere continue to shoulder the extra costs of the crisis. Women usually have to assume additional caregiving responsibilities, while struggling to maintain their livelihoods—often in the informal sector. Female-owned businesses tend to be smaller with less access to… Read more

The next steps in designing the appropriate governance structure, scheme rules, forthcoming use cases, and pricing will therefore be critical for the platform to have impact. Read more

The UNSGSA delivered virtual opening remarks at the Conference on Financial Inclusion and Cybersecurity co-hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, IMF, World Bank Group and World Economic Forum. Read more

The Special Advocate delivered virtual remarks on 25 November 2020. The seminar was held under the title “Urgent call for agri-food systems transformation to achieve healthy diets for all”. Read more