The United Nation’s call for accelerated progress towards investment in women this International Women’s Day highlights an important issue: women entrepreneurs in our region continue to be invisible in the formal economy and financial system. If we are to truly ‘count her in’, the first vital step is for investors to see the potential and value of women entrepreneurs,and the financial sector to provide access to fair and safe loans for eligible people.

A field visit report from Maneth Pol shows the real issues farmers face in Cambodia and how financial skill building can be key to building stronger futures.

With the closure of garment factories across Cambodia during the pandemic, garment workers have struggled to maintain and protect their livelihoods. Good Return recently trained representatives from the garment workers trade union in our financial literacy curriculum, so that they can then go on and build savings and finance management skills with their members.

Confidence building and specialist skills training are key to the inclusion of people with a disability into the economy.

We recently met with our Cambodian loan partner, Chamroeun Microfinance, and visited some branch offices and local villages to get a sense of the loan process, from finding out about the financial service to final approval.

Disability is a cause and a consequence of poverty. This means, if you are living with a disability, you are more likely to live in poverty, and if you live in poverty you are more likely to develop a disability. But the cycle between disability and poverty can be broken.

Our newest financial education coaches have learnt how to share skills with their local community - and made sure they had fun along the way.

An accident in the family has not stopped Samai from achieving her financial goals for her family.