Financial inclusion - ensuring that the poor have access to financial services that are relevant for their lives - has great potential to alleviate poverty, stimulate economic growth and increase the welfare of the poor.In Ghana and other African countries, a wide group of stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, and financial institutions, is investing considerable resources towards bringing savings and other formal financial services to the poor.

Deworm the World was featured at at a World Economic Forum event in Davos in January 2012.The press conference highlighted key achievements of this Young Global Leader initiative and featured exciting new commitments from partners to improve the lives of millions of children through school-based deworming. We are in a thrilling new era for neglected tropical diseases.

On January 19-21, 2012, Innovations for Poverty Action and Strathmore University hosted a three day workshop for approximately 20 African researchers on experimental research design in savings and payments.Participants traveled from 9 countries across Africa to participate in the Nairobi event, which was the first of a series of workshops to be conducted by IPA over the coming three years as part of the Savings and Payments Research Fund, under the Financial Inclusion Program.The workshop focused on both the conceptual and practical aspects of designing a rigorous field experiment in the area of savings and payments.