Our Commitment

At the Global Disability Summit (GDS) 2025, BFFI joined together with five key stakeholders: e-MFP, Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), Humanity & Inclusion (HI), Grameen Foundation and the World Food Programme (WFP) to make a joint commitment to advance financial inclusion of persons with disabilities.

This is the first time a group of inclusive finance stakeholders have made a joint commitment to advance the financial inclusion of persons with disabilities through the global GDS mechanism, making a powerful statement of our intent to create a more inclusive financial ecosystem.

Our commitment outlines specific actions we will take individually and in collaboration over the next three years to embed the inclusion of people with disabilities in our own programs and activities, and to engage with organisations of persons with disabilities and inclusive finance stakeholders to drive systemic change.

About the Global Disasbility Summit

The Global Disability Summit (GDS) was created in 2017 to convene global, regional, and national stakeholders to close the gap between disability inclusion and development cooperation. GDS is an ongoing mechanism for advocacy and mobilization, as well as convening a conference every 3 years.

The GDS commitments Mechanism provides a structured framework to drive action and accountability to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). To see all the GDS Commitments follow this link to register for access to the GDS Commitments portal.

Organisations register their commitment to take concrete actions to advance implementation of the UNCRPD, and provide annual progress reports against their committed actions, which are consolidated by the GDS secretariat and presented at the GDS Summit conferences.

Our Commitment

At the GDS in Berlin on 2nd-3rd April 2025, Barrier-Free Finance Initiative (BFFI) and our partners e-MFP, Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), Humanity and Inclusion (HI), Grameen Foundation and the World Food Programme (WFP) made the following joint commitment to the financial inclusion of persons with disabilities:

We recognize that:

Access to formal financial services is a proven enabler of economic inclusion and financial security, enhancing individual agency and empowerment. Persons with disabilities worldwide nevertheless face barriers to accessing financial services and remain disproportionately excluded from financial services.
Fulfilling the rights of persons with disabilities to equal access to financial services is integral to the goal of financial inclusion and the implementation of the UNCRPD, empowering persons with disabilities to make independent and financial decisions, build security for themselves and their families, and contribute to the economic development of their communities.
Financial inclusion of persons with disabilities remains an under-recognised topic, with limited awareness and engagement from actors in the financial inclusion sector. Enhancing awareness and expanding the knowledge base are crucial steps to ensuring access and effective use of formal financial services by persons with disabilities.
Achieving this goal requires engagement and collaboration between civil society, private and public actors in the inclusive finance and disability inclusion sectors.

We commit to promote and advance equitable access and beneficial use of financial services by persons with disability, individually and in collaboration with other stakeholders, by:

Creating and implementing solutions for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in our related organisational programs in collaboration with financial services providers and regulatory authorities.
Awareness-raising and advocacy alongside organisations of persons with disabilities.
Producing evidence and disaggregated data on access to financial services for persons with disabilities.
Sharing knowledge, experience and lessons learned.

Each party committed to individual actions towards this joint commitment, as follows:

Barrier-Free Finance Initiative (BFFI) will:

Create a Community of Practice and engage inclusive finance and disability inclusion actors to collaborate towards this goal, through awareness building, knowledge sharing and innovation.
Produce and disseminate at least 16 awareness-raising outputs and 12 research or knowledge products, in collaboration with the parties to this commitment and other stakeholders.
Conduct at least 7 disability inclusion implementations in partnership with financial services providers or inclusive finance actors.

e-MFP commits to:

Promote awareness-raising or research/knowledge outputs from commitment partners through the e-MFP network
Publish 2 blogs per year authored either by e-MFP or other partners, including the parties of this commitment
Organise at least one event per year (webinar, dedicated session at EMW or any other financial inclusion conference)
Join the CoP, support its work, and host a meeting of the CoP during e-MFP annual event

Humanity & Inclusion (HI) commits to:

Contribute to the dissemination of learning and good practice though the Community of Practice on financial inclusion of persons with disabilities, and by publishing and disseminating at least 2 reports on inclusive finance (including pilots of innovative digital and fintech solutions).
Provide direct support to eight microfinance institutions (MFIs) to enhance disability inclusion, including conducting diagnostics and delivering tailored technical assistance.
Mobilize and support disability-specialized service providers and representative organizations in six countries to actively advocate for and facilitate access to financial services for persons with disabilities, strengthening collaboration between financial service providers and employment and skills development programs.

The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) network commits to build on the 2019 Kigali Statement as adopted by its membership to accelerate the financial inclusion of disadvantaged groups including persons with disabilities by:

Raising awareness across AFI’s membership - comprising 90 financial institutions from 83 countries – on financial inclusion for persons with disabilities through diverse platforms, including:
- The Global Policy Forum, AFI’s flagship annual event, which brings together over 700 senior financial regulators and policymakers worldwide to connect, exchange insights, and explore impactful policy solutions.
- Regional initiatives spanning Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, South Asia, and the Arab Region.
- Spotlighting disability inclusion as a key theme under the 2025 AFI Inclusive Fintech Showcase, a competition which showcases innovative digital/fintech solutions to enhance financial access for underserved communities.
- AFI’s social media channels, featuring 2 blogs, 2 updates on significant strides by AFI members in this policy area, and 2 highlights of initiatives from other disability inclusion advocates.
Supporting AFI members by enhancing capacity for financial inclusion for persons with disabilities through:
- Webinars accessible to all AFI members.
- In-country implementation and capacity building training programs.
- Participating in knowledge sharing, exchanging best practices, and collaboration with other stakeholders in the Community of Practice.

From 2025-2028, Grameen Foundation commits to:

Work with Organizations of Persons With Disabilities: Work closely with national and international representative organizations of people with disabilities to implement programming that is user-centered and responsive to the aspirations of people with disabilities.
Awareness Raising: Raise awareness of the importance, best practices, and business case for disability-inclusive microfinance through at least six blogs, speaking engagements and learning events, including in partnership with the signatories of this commitment.
Support to FSPs: Enhance the capacity of at least four financial service providers–including banks, microfinance institutions, cooperatives and digital financial service providers–to provide access to finance and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
Enhance Female Agent Networks: Meaningfully incorporate persons with disabilities and/or their families into its global network of female agents in at least two countries.

The World Food Programme (WFP) commits to:

1. Advocate for and actively promote financial inclusion for women with disabilities across various platforms, partnerships and
forums – in partnership with women with disabilities and their representative organizations.
2. Identify barriers and opportunities for women with disabilities to access and use financial products and services within WFP’s
operations, support the implementation in specific countries, and ensure that guidance and tools are adapted accordingly.