Saloni Tandon

Senior Manager

Saloni is a Senior Manager in MSC’s Digital Inclusive Development (DID) domain and works in the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) practice.

Saloni works closely on the intersection of gender with other aspects that impact women’s agency and subsequent financial inclusion and social protection levels. She has eight years of experience in social research and development consulting in financial inclusion, social security, gender equality, access to public health systems, sustainable livelihoods, and quality of education. She has worked closely with the Government of India, multi and bilateral donor agencies, financial institutions, not-for-profit institutions, and self-regulatory organizations in India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka through her assignments. Her areas of expertise include developing gender-centric products and processes like the GOOTCHA framework. She also focuses on policy analysis, data analytics, qualitative research, strategic business planning, and program evaluations.

Posts by Saloni Tandon

CICO Agent Lifecycle – Interactive Digital Flipbook

Across the globe, a typical CICO agent goes through a range of experiences across various stages in their journey. MSC has developed the Agent Lifecycle (ALC) a framework to understand the challenges both male and female CICO agents face along their journey and propose targeted interventions to address them.

India’s blanket approach to financial inclusion is leaving women behind: Here are four ways to close the gender gap

India has been at the forefront of digital innovations in financial services, helping millions participate in the financial economy through their mobile phones. However, this progress and innovation are meaningless for the millions of Indian women who remain excluded from basic banking in the first place. The strategies we have discussed in this blog directly impact women’s financial inclusion.

Choice of Channel: Understanding how LMI women select a channel to conduct financial transactions

Individuals choose a channel for financial transactions based on several factors beyond just the economic cost involved. The DEBIT framework is a tool that identifies these factors and helps compute comparative scores for each channel. Comparing DEBIT scores helps us understand which channel someone chooses and why.

Women and DFS

This blog highlights the key drivers of gender gaps in women’s access to digital financial services and their use. It shares how the adoption of DFS among women can catalyze the mitigation of this gender gap. It uses insights from a first-time DFS user’s journey to highlight how to understand and respond better to women’s exclusion.

GOOTCHA—A framework to build gender-sensitive ID systems

The World Bank estimates that around a billion people across the globe lack a “legal identity.” The gender gap in terms of people’s access to official IDs is considerable in low-income countries, where one in two women lack any form of official ID. This limits financial, social, and political participation for women.

Working paper: A framework for building gender-sensitive identity systems

One in two women in low-income countries lack official identification documents, which limits their financial, social, and political participation. This report explores the design and lifecycle of ID systems from gender and behavioral lenses and proposes a framework to make them more gender-sensitive.

What does it take to nudge low- and moderate income(LMI) population segments to adopt DFS

DFS can help increase the use of financial services, catalyze women’s economic empowerment and promote the development of the overall economy. However, the adoption of DFS amongst the LMI, especially women has been limited. Considering the increasing need for digital payments, especially in the wake of restricted mobility that COVID 19 imposes, MSC attempted to understand what it takes to nudge low- and moderate-income (LMI) population segments to adopt DFS.

The need for immediate gender-focused initiatives to promote digital financial services for women amid COVID-19: Insights from India

Through multiple research studies, MSC has assessed the impact of COVID-19 on women and witnessed their survival strategies. This report looks at how women perceive financial services after the pandemic, and what we can do to reduce their vulnerabilities.