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Program Design and Schedule

Download Conference Schedule  (updated Sept 16)

The Boulder-Bergamo Forum on Access to Financial Services brings together leading academics, researchers, policymakers, funders, and practitioners from around the world who are working on issues affecting the provision of rural financial services.

The primary purpose of this inaugural conference is to shorten the cycle between ideas, research, and the practical application of policies designed to expand the delivery of financial services to poor people. We believe that by facilitating this dialogue the financial sector will be able to:

  • Expand the number of people reached with financial services, especially those at the bottom of the economic ladder.
  • Generate new approaches for reaching the poor with financial services and improve the scale and quality of existing approaches.
  • Assist policy makers in designing and implementing more effective interventions in order to support and promote financial inclusion.
  • Improve the relevance and applicability of research carried out in the field of finance and development in general and rural finance in particular.

The forum involves 5 keynote dialogues and 9 smaller breakout sessions that are led by top academic researchers together with recognized policymakers, funders, and practitioners.

The forum will cover the following topics affecting rural financial access:

  • Food Security
  • Interest Rate Subsidies
  • Value Chain Analysis
  • Technology
  • Index Insurance
  • Credit Bureaus
  • Risk
  • Access to Finance
  • Savings Design
  • Program Impact

Who should attend?

  • Researchers who are conducting or have completed field research on topics related to financial inclusion.
  • Leaders of government institutions charged with developing policies that promote the expansion of financial services to the bottom end of the market.
  • Managers of banks, other financial institutions, and nongovernmental organizations that provide microfinance services.
  • Representatives of international organizations that fund research.

All of the sessions are offered in English.

This program will be held from September 18th - 20th, 2008 and hosted by the University of Bergamo, Italy.