The BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF) took part in the symposium “Rethinking Resilience: Why Inclusive Finance Can’t Wait”, organized by CGAP. The event brought together CGAP’s members and strategic partners from leading global development institutions to discuss how to build resilience in a world increasingly exposed to interconnected risks and crises.
Sophie Sirtaine, CEO of CGAP, highlighted the importance of low-income populations and microenterprises becoming more resilient to these increasingly intense and more frequent crises and having greater capacity to cope with, manage, and recover from them. Sirtaine presented the publication “Resilience for All: Why Inclusive Finance Can’t Wait,” a roadmap that urges development sector institutions to work to increase resilience and leverage inclusive finance to expand the reach and impact of their work.
Laura Fernández Lord, Head of Sustainability, Equity and Inclusion at BBVAMF, participated in the session “DFI Initiatives to Advance Climate Adaptation, Mitigation and Resilience in Emerging Markets” alongside Terence Gallagher, Director of Financial Inclusion at IDB Invest, who presented the Amazon Finance Network, which mobilizes investment and promotes inclusive financial solutions with a sustainable impact in this region. The BBVAMF, along with its microfinance institutions Bancamía in Colombia and Financiera Confianza in Peru, are founding members.
The network, promoted by IDB Invest and made up currently of 59 financial institutions, aims to foster financial inclusion, reduce inequalities, and generate employment through financing micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the Amazon. All this under a new paradigm: to activate the region’s economic potential as a catalyst for the conservation of the Amazon ecosystem. Fernández Lord highlighted the role of this network and stressed that “there can be no green Amazon without prosperity for its inhabitants, who face high poverty rates, lack of access to basic services such as sanitation, and limited job opportunities for young and indigenous peoples.”
The head of Sustainability, Equity and Inclusion explained that the BBVA Microfinance Foundation promotes green financial solutions such as climate microinsurance, green loans for climate change adaptation or for access to water and sanitation, as well as training programs that have benefited more than 130,000 people. In 2024, BBVAMF microfinance Institutions disbursed €19 million in climate finance.
She also highlighted the importance of integrating a gender perspective, as women are more vulnerable; in fact, according to the United Nations, they are 14 times more likely to die than men in climate disasters and, at the same time, they are key agents of change. For Fernández Lord, it is urgent to bring more green financing to vulnerable entrepreneurs and adopt innovative solutions that integrate climate adaptation, gender equality, and sustainable development. “Climate change hits hardest those who have the least means to protect themselves, impacting their vulnerability and resilience. That is why it is not a question of choosing between the planet and people, but of caring for it with them. Because protecting nature means protecting the lives of those who inhabit and care for it,” she said.
Financial Inclusion 2.0.
In addition, the Head of Sustainability, Equity and Inclusion attended the Champions meeting of Financial Inclusion 2.0, which discussed impact measurement and how to guide the sector towards results that promote greener, more resilient and inclusive development using the impact pathfinder, as well as artificial intelligence and other innovative machine learning methodologies to identify what works, why and in what contexts.
The Foundation’s participation in this prestigious forum reinforces its commitment to improving the living conditions of the vulnerable entrepreneurs it serves, their families, and their communities.
