Empowering Women and Youth Through the Graduation Approach and Financial Inclusion in Mexico: Results, Lessons, and Recommendations

Jo Sanson, Daniel Alfaro, Bethany Ahlenius

ABSTRACT

With the support of the MetLife Foundation, Trickle Up delivered a multidimensional intervention with elements of financial inclusion to economically empower vulnerable and marginalized women in Bangladesh, Mexico, and Vietnam. In Mexico, the project Empowering Women and Youth through the Graduation Approach and Financial Inclusion was contracted in September 2017, but due to operational and contextual challenges was implemented between July 2018 and May 2021 among indigenous communities in the states of Chiapas and Yucatan. This research brief outlines the main results and lessons from this project, emphasizing insights for replication and scaling in the Mexican context. These include targeting and selection methods, coaching models, productive activities, gender issues and empowerment.