This report tracks the UNCDF MAP financial inclusion implementation in the SADC region from 2014 until the conclusion of the programme’s implementation partnership with FMT in 2021, and highlights the activities that have been instrumental in achieving the goals of the regional and national financial inclusion strategies.

The reporting focuses on Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Madagascar and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which are the countries where UNCDF has continued to assist country governments on financial inclusion policy monitoring and implementation after the initial financial inclusion diagnostics. The report also includes a focus on Mozambique, where components of the MAP process were implemented. In Zambia, the MAP methodology was independently implemented by Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Zambia.

Since its inception and piloting in 2012 in its Asia region and then its implementation in SADC from 2014, the MAP programme has evolved and strengthened its conceptual underpinnings; the seven SADC countries’ active participation and contribution have been instrumental in allowing UNCDF, through this practice, to codify effective financial inclusion approaches in developing countries, especially LDCs.

In 2021, the MAP partnership with FMT for regional implementation in SADC came to an end. Although MAP continues its financial inclusion work in the SADC region in a number of countries, the official termination of the implementation partnership, concluding eight years of collaborative financial inclusion implementation (2014 to 2021), provides a good opportunity for reflection on achievements.

Accordingly, this report highlights the activities that have been instrumental in attainment of the national and regional financial inclusion goals, as captured in countries’ NFIS and in the mutually agreed national financial inclusion roadmaps and resulting action plans.