Being a girl in many parts of the world even in the 21st century is not easy. Many girls in the developing world leave secondary school before completion. Even if they complete school, their opportunities for economic independence are minimal, with options typically limited to working in the informal economy or marrying at an early age. 

Women's World Banking (WWB) decided to take what it had learned over three decades of helping women access financial services and apply it to girls. In partnership with the Nike Foundation, WWB began a pilot program in 2008 to design and deliver savings products and financial education to girls as young as 14 in Mongolia and the Dominican Republic. 

Girls are not simply miniature adults, as WWB and its partners quickly discovered. The pilot involved extensive market research with the girls in order to learn their needs, desires, aspirations, constraints, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, which then informed the design of products, financial education programs and marketing strategies.

WWB's work in Mongolia was featured on the Youth-Inclusive Financial Services portal, YFS-Link, which is dedicated to facilitating ongoing learning and exchange within the youth-inclusive financial services sector. Read more at: http://www.yfslink.org/blog/featured-member