RISE at Financial Inclusion Week

Since 2020, RISE has participated in Financial Inclusion Week to advance critical discussions on wage digitization and financial inclusion in global supply chains. Our sessions convene key actors from the garment, footwear, and home textiles sectors alongside funders and financial service providers including Mastercard, The Walt Disney Company, The Children's Place, Dewhirst Cambodia, the ILO and Humanity Insured. Through these gatherings, we contribute to the exchange of ideas, research, and perspectives that drive the industry forward on financial inclusion. Financial Inclusion Week (FIW) is an annual event convened by the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI).

2025: Weaving the Future Together: Building Workers’ Financial Resilience to Climate Shocks

The 2025 session is available on-demand on the Financial Inclusion Week website. Sign up here to be able to access it.

Extreme weather events are increasingly disrupting workers and businesses in global supply chains. For workers, climate shocks lead to rising food prices, lost earnings, and mounting healthcare costs that drain savings or increase debt. For businesses, this translates to higher absenteeism, declining productivity, and increased staff turnover, all of which hurt profits. This session shares findings from RISE's latest research on how climate change impacts the financial health of garment and footwear workers. We'll explore how digital financial inclusion can help workers manage financial shocks and build resilience while delivering business benefits throughout global supply chains. Join us for practical solutions that support both workers and businesses.

Speakers are:

Natasha Jamal, Vice President, Global Programs, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
Sopheak Samrith, Recruitment manager, Dewhirst Cambodia Co Ltd
Neliswa Hare, Head of Projects and Partnerships, Humanity Insured
Subindu Garkhel, Program Director, RISE

2024: Payroll to progress: how wage digitalization boosts garment workers' financial health & security

In discussions with Mastercard and The Children's Place, RISE shares insights on increasing financial inclusion, improving the financial health of women and men workers in global supply chains, and how the garment and financial sectors can scale these efforts.

The global garment industry provides formal employment to millions, especially women. However, many workers are paid in cash, limiting their ability to meet their financial needs, absorb financial shocks and pursue financial goals.

RISE has demonstrated that wage digitalization paired with gender-sensitive financial capability training can be a catalyst to increase workers' financial inclusion and resilience. Benefits for garment businesses include increased payroll efficiency and transparency in global supply chains. Financial service providers can expand to a new active market segment, making it a sustainable and scalable intervention.

Speakers

Christine Svarer, Executive Director, RISE
Adrian J. Sherman, VP, Environment & Social Responsibility, The Children’s Place
Mohammed Rizwanullah, VP, Global Financial Inclusion, Mastercard

2023: How Wage Digitalization Accelerates Financial Inclusion in Global Supply Chains

Wage digitalization is gaining momentum in global supply chains, and leads to increased efficiency and transparency for employers, and a new market segment for financial service providers. However, without the right support, workers, especially women will not benefit, and either withdraw 100% of their wages on payday, or even hand over payroll cards to someone else to withdraw their cash.

RISE: Reimagining Industry to Support Equality, in partnership with Mastercard Center for Inclusive growth and The Walt Disney Company has demonstrated that responsible wage digitalization with financial capability training can lead to benefits for workers as well as business. For example, in Cambodia there was a 54 percentage point increase in workers (men and women) using mobile money accounts including for merchant payments and sending remittances. Women started saving regularly and reported a 25 percentage point increase in their confidence to meet unexpected expenses. During this session RISE will hear from global garment brands on this topic.

Speakers: