Fiona Jarden
Profile:
Fiona was formerly Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor - Financial Inclusion for CARE International. She describes her role below:
I support CARE’s work to enable women and girls to have equal and increased control over their financial resources and access to financial services. My role is to ensure institutions like banks and governments adopt policies to bring women living in poverty into the realm of financial inclusion. Since joining CARE I've been leading the development of CARE’s global financial inclusion multiplying impact strategy, and have worked with CARE offices in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa to influence financial inclusion policies and practices in these regions. I'm a member of Women Advancing Microfinance, GADN’s Women’s Economic Justice working group, and SEEP’s Savings Led working group.
I have previously lived and worked in remote Australian aboriginal communities to address the barriers families face through financial exclusion and generational poverty. I've also worked with banks to strengthen their ability to link with poor rural customers and I was an advisor for the Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations. I have an MA in International Development with a specialisation in development economics from the University of Newcastle, Australia, and a journalism qualification from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
One good thing I’ve read
Radical Hope by Noel Pearson. Noel is the chief architect behind a radical new approach for social change and development for disadvantaged indigenous Australians. Having worked with him for years he is equally as brilliant and inspiring as he is controversial. In this book he turns his thinking to education with new ideas for transforming the lives of the disadvantaged to ‘raise up the many’ and ensure ‘no child is left behind’.
Email: Jarden@careinternational.org
Twitter: @FiJarden
Blog posts
Changing social norms to achieve women’s financial inclusion
Monday, 19 November 2018 13:43
Global Findex shows 1.2bn increase in people with bank accounts – but where are the women?
Thursday, 26 April 2018 11:01Last week the World Bank’s much anticipated 2017 Global Findex database and accompanying report was released, revealing who has a bank account with a financial institution or
Empowering women in the economy: Major event for business leaders and global experts, London 6 Sept 2017
Thursday, 17 August 2017 14:59On Wednesday 6 September, business leaders and global experts will convene in London to discuss how the private sector can advance the 2017 recommendations of the UN High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment. Why does it matter, and what
Five ways East Africa is leading the world on financial inclusion through savings groups
Wednesday, 29 March 2017 15:21
UN report on women’s economic empowerment: The right thing – and the smart thing – to do
Tuesday, 04 October 2016 11:37Thursday 22nd September at the United Nations General Assembly was a tremendous moment for the global women’s economic empowerment agenda. Not only did Ban Ki Moon become the first Secretary General to declare himself a feminist (for which he
Global leaders say financial inclusion is key to empowering women
Monday, 03 October 2016 13:15Unless women have more empowerment, autonomy, and access to resources, we are not going to achieve change. Those are the words of Luis Guillermo Solís, President of Costa Rica and women’s economic empowerment advocate, speaking at an event on
UN High-Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment: Don't leave the hardest-to-reach women behind
Friday, 23 September 2016 16:27CARE has welcomed the first report from the
Major opportunities to scale up access to formal finance in Tanzania
Monday, 09 May 2016 14:28Opportunities exist in Tanzania to scale up access to financial services for unbanked groups. The National Forum on Linking Informal Savings Groups to Formal Finance, held last month, revealed the depth in which organisations are supporting this
Those with less who save the most: How savings group members become bank customers in Tanzania
Friday, 29 April 2016 13:10In Tanzania a group has gathered to purchase shares, grow their savings, access loans and do their book-keeping. Regular financial sector activities, but with a difference. These are the activities of the Tushikamane Paris group – an informal
