# **_Expand the opportunities for women to access finance_**

Women working in agriculture face similar constraints as women entrepreneurs in both the private sector and the informal sector. First, access to credit often requires the support of a male guardian. Offering a range of lending opportunities that include, but are not limited to, traditional banks, nonprofit organizations that support microfinance, and informal lending institutions would serve to meet different women’s different needs. For example, the _sandug_ model (an informal lending institution) that, in some regions, has become affiliated with the Agricultural Bank of Sudan’s microfinance program works well for women in more rural areas who aspire to start one-person businesses, but the _sandug_ model would not be appropriate for women in central Khartoum who desire to grow their small-to-medium-size businesses—these women need to be able to take out loans, and possibly more than one, from traditional banks. This is aligned with international evidence which shows that to improve the supply side behind the gender gap in access to finance, offering different services (including microfinance) and introducing operational changes such as the following have proven successful: (a) account opening without a minimum deposit requirement; (b) flexible loan terms, such as smaller amounts with longer-terms and lower-interest rates; (c) banking hours outside of normal business hours; (d) women staff available to assist women borrowers; and (e) services available at closer locations (IFC/GPFI 2011). Encouraging the use of movable collateral can benefit women in particular, empowering them to overcome their lack of titled land, or the limitations on their power to transfer property, enabling them to use the assets they have to gain access to formal credit markets.<sup>31</sup> Ensuring that women have government-issued identification documents is also critical to being able to access formal finance. To address challenges related to the demand side, a study from four North African countries indicates that female firm managers tend to underestimate their creditworthiness based primarily on perceived discriminatory lending practices by banks which ultimately deters them from applying for credit (Morsy, El-Shal, and Woldemichael 2019). While this would not be the only challenge that would need to be addressed on the demand side—other issues include the willingness to take risks and other preferences—investing in women’s financial literacy knowledge and skills would be an effective step toward women’s financial inclusion.

Second, women are much less likely than men to have land titles due to a property rights system that formally excludes them. Female farmers who do not have title to the land they farm are not likely to be able to expand beyond the smaller, rain-fed plots which, as this report has shown, are not nearly as lucrative as the larger agricultural firms. Formalizing land ownership with stronger land rights have shown the potential to increase productivity (World Bank 2020g). At the same time, and as mentioned above, since land titles can be used as collateral for loans, enabling women to acquire land titles would simultaneously make it easier for them to access credit. Where women may not have access to their own titles, small nudges have proven effective in encouraging joint land titling (World Bank 2020g). In sum, different finance models need to be explored to identify what works well—and what does not work well— in different contexts. Rigorous evidence from more than one study in Africa shows the positive effects of savings mechanisms on business investment and performance of female-owned firms (Campos et al.

> 31 See, for example, World Bank (2019d) for specific, actionable suggestions on expanding the use of moveable assets and its benefits for women.

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