On 18 July, 2014, the National Bank of Rwanda, in collaboration with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), the African Development Bank, and the World Bank, held an international conference on financial inclusion to commemorate the National Bank of Rwanda’s 50th Anniversary. The conference brought together key stakeholders in the region to discuss the importance of financial inclusion to help alleviate poverty and promote healthy financial systems. Aishwarya Ratan, Director of the Financial Inclusion Program, participated in a panel on the “Impact of Financial Inclusion on Poverty Alleviation and Inclusive Development,” in which she discussed recent evidence from randomized evaluations on the impact of improving access to financial services and innovative approaches in designing financial services to better meet the needs and constraints of the poor.