The COVID-19 Exclusion Working Group has focused its efforts on improving the design and deployment of emergency social assistance programs to make them work better for women.

Our Working Group’s Report is presented in the form of a user journey (“Leila’s Journey”). Her story reflects that of many cash transfer recipients within the context of COVID-19 across the world. In a separate document, we outline the key enablers for digital payments that can support effective program support for women.

Going beyond COVID-19, we hope these resources will help countries devise better strategies and implement G2P programs that include and expand opportunities for women in lower income countries.

This content is developed as part of the COVID-19 Global Situation Room, convened by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with contributions from the following members of the Exclusion Working Group:

  • Better Than Cash Alliance (Convener): Gisela Davico
  • Center for Global Development: Megan O’Donnell
  • African Development Bank: Khalila Salim
  • GSMA: William Derban and Keeya-Lee Ayre
  • Innovations for Poverty Action: Kathryn Glynn-Broderick
  • Microsave: Saloni Tandon
  • Office of the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development: Peter McConaghy and David Symington
  • World Food Program: Astrid de Valon
  • World Bank G2Px Initiative: Ana Georgina Marin Espinosa (observer)
  • World Bank: Lucia Hanmer
  • Credit Suisse: Andrina Schwartz
  • Universal Postal Union: Saleh Khan
  • Women’s’ World Banking: Andy Woolnough

The goal is to provide a helpful summary of what we knew in 2020. It does not represent the views of any of the organizations on the Working Group.

View more on G2P working groups.