The advent of digital finance has brought with it the opportunity to include those without full access to formal financial services.However, increased access to and use of digital financial services, for all its benefits, does not come without risks, which are crucial to address if financial services are to enhance consumer well-being.Responsible finance is core to the goals of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and contributes to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Francis Meyo, Policy Coordinator for IPA Kenya, will be presenting on the Rural Electric Power Project (REPP) and how that informs the Kenyan Government’s Last Mile Connectivity Project to a gathering of major East African utilities providers and the Kenyan Ministry of Energy and Petroleum.The goal of the event is to hear from industry leaders and decision-makers to source innovative solutions to energy supply problems in Eastern Africa.Attendees will include government representatives, large power users, investors, and regulators.You can view an interview from the event with Francis Meyo here.

Innovations for Poverty Action Zambia (IPA) partnered with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab for Africa (J-PAL) and the University of Zambia (UNZA) to hold a four day impact evaluation course from 24-27 August 2015.The course included two streams: a policymaker stream and a researcher stream.The researcher stream focused on the benefits and methods of randomisation, choosing an appropriate sample size, and common threats and pitfalls to the validity of experiments.