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| Source: Flickr Creative Commons |
This blog will share some of the insights from James’
experiences having advised companies, governments, startups, and social
enterprises, most recently as the Director for Financial Service Design at the
London office of IDEO, a global innovation consultancy.
First, what is human-centered design (HCD)?
HCD applies the design process to create innovative
solutions based on observations on humans. The HCD process begins by examining
the needs, dreams and behaviours of people relevant to a prospective solution.
A solution can be a product, a service, an environment, an organization or a
mode of interaction. HCD focuses on desirability (what do people desire?),
feasibility (what is technically and organizationally feasible?) and viability
(what is financially possible?). It is an iterative process -- borrowing from
the designer who observes, prototypes, tests and then repeats until an
appropriate solution is reached. James describes the approach as "building to
learn," creating imperfect examples of solutions to be tested by user
experience instead of aiming to launch the perfectly formed solution
straightaway.
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| Original Invitation for the HCD event with WAM UK |
How can HCD help promote women in financial inclusion?
HCD depends on human observation and often women and girls
have been ignored in the design of financial products and services. Even if
they haven’t been explicitly ignored, then perhaps not enough nuance to their
culture could have supported their financial exclusion. Such as failing to pay
attention to what women and girls feel like they can and cannot say in
interviews and surveys. Moreover, there is a big difference between what people
say they will do, and what they actually do -- especially when it comes to
money. HCD promotes user insight, so adopting an approach to always consider
gender in the target user group is vital and can be extremely telling.
Designing solutions with women’s behaviours, aspirations and needs specifically
in mind can lead to women-inclusive financial solutions.
What kind of HCD insights on women do we have?
Investing in women has a multiplier effectOne of the major observations in microfinance -- the provision of financial service to the under and unbanked -- is based on gender. Women’s World Banking found that, "when a woman generates her own income -- and this holds true no matter what the country -- she re-invests her profits in ways that can make long-term, inter-generational change: the education of her children, health care for her family and improving the quality of her family’s housing”. As James highlighted in our conversation, time and time again in his fieldwork, he saw that for women "finances are less about her own interests, but for others." Financial inclusion for women does not only empower the woman user, but often has positive impact on her wider community.
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| Source: Flickr Creative Commons |
Mind boggling at first, especially when we consider the
gender discrimination that has led to three quarters of the world’s women
unbanked, women may actually prefer access to financial services with features
of illiquidity in some circumstances. Liquid cash could be dangerous to a
woman’s wealth if socially she is obligated to financially help out family
members and friends if they ask. It may be hard for a woman to not hand over
her cash to her husband for example or her friend in financial difficulty -- it
could bring stigma, perhaps attack if she says no. However a savings account
with fixed non-withdrawal periods, or other features to lock funds away, could
provide a socially acceptable excuse. In providing illiquidity in formal
financial services, it could attract women who otherwise would prefer to store
their wealth in more illiquid forms such as gold and livestock or hidden away
in difficult to reach places. Illiquidity could not only protect wealth from
the saver’s own impulses, and the demands of those around her.
Women experience high emotional return for good financial
management
A recurring theme in James’ work saw that the rewards for
good financial management were beyond financial for women -- this applies to
women across the economic spectrum. Juntos Finazas, which was borne out of a class project from the Stanford
Design School, helps Spanish speakers save via SMS. The founders saw that SMS
was the right technology to help low-income Latinos as they tend to use mobile
devices more than other groups and are substantial SMS users. Around 72% of successful
Juntos Finazas savers said at sign up that they had never saved successfully
before. Importantly, in feedback, users cite that using the tool to help them
save has made them feel like better mothers, better daughters -- the return is more
than extra money leftover in an account.
In consultation with IDEO, the successful Keep the Change savings program from Bank of America originated from the observation that women
were more satisfied by the act of saving than the interest rates offered on
savings itself. The program was therefore designed to emphasize the action of
saving rather than focusing on the potential reward. Keep the Change
automatically rounds up purchases on the Bank of America debit card and
transfers the difference to a savings account, building up a savings balance
subtly over time. Since its launch in 2005, the program has led to 12 million
new customers building up an additional $3.1 billion of savings.
Financial planning can save lives
Having a financial plan in place affords protection for
life’s shocks, and in some cases can make the difference between life and
death. Although still imperfect, there are now maternity saving programs to
help women save money over time to access skilled maternal care. In Kenya,
where only 43% of births occur in health facilities and many Kenyans still lack
access to basic maternity care and health insurance, medical payment can be a
life-threatening barrier for mother and child. Changamka, established in 2008,
developed a smartcard program which allows women to set saving goals and save
via the mobile payments service, M-PESA. The program is a dedicated maternal
savings program which locks the deposited funds for maternity expenses only.
USAID has written up a case study on this project, which can be accessed here.
With financial technology advancing globally the practice of
HCD, people are placed back in the center of experience to build lasting solutions.
With 75% of women worldwide without access to financial services -- and
importantly, the lack of understanding and emphasis upon their needs as cause
and effect of their exclusion -- HCD can provide an attractive framework to
unlock their considerable potential.
For more information on the topic connect with @jamesmoed, @WAM_UK, and @lisavwong on Twitter. Other interesting links on HCD and financial inclusion include:
- A CGAP video on bringing savings products to market
- The HCD toolkit by IDEO
- Free online course on HCD by +Acumen and IDEO.
