Designing Financial Tools That Fit Women's Lives
Evidence from Burkina Faso and Senegal on risk, seasonality, and financial inclusion
Clara Delavallade
World Bank - Gender Innovation Lab
IFAD webinar – May 2026
Women Manage Multiple Overlapping Risks
The seasonal tradeoff
Harvest prices are lowest when cash needs are highest. Women face additional daily pressures: illness, caregiving, school fees, social obligations.
What products help women manage these overlapping risks?
Two studies
1. Warrantage in Burkina Faso — an inventory credit system that helps farming households manage the timing of crop sales.
2. Risk management preferences in Senegal & Burkina Faso — how women and men value different financial products when facing different types of risk.
~25%
Food Shortages
Households reporting recent food insecurity
>33%
Recent Illness
Households experiencing serious illness in prior months
Warrantage in Burkina Faso
An inventory credit system that helps farming households manage
the timing of crop sales.
Store Harvest
Deposit crops in community warehouse
Borrow Against Grain
Access loan up to 80% of value
Sell Later
Release and sell when prices rise
The system helps households "buy time" — delaying sales until prices improve later in the season.
>90% Storage Take-Up
Near-universal adoption of the storage component
~40% Credit Take-Up
More moderate uptake of the loan component
+1/3 Sales Revenue
Increase from delaying sales to higher-price periods
Livestock & Education
Resources reallocated toward investments
Warrantage is not only solving a credit constraint — it is helping households manage liquidity, self-control, and seasonal pressure. Livestock functions as a buffer asset for future shocks.
Beyond Revenue: Investment Spillovers
Households are not simply consuming more — they are reallocating toward productive and protective investments.
Education
Significant increase in household expenditures on schooling and learning materials for children.
Livestock as Buffer Asset
Growth in livestock holdings — a protective asset households can rely on later when shocks occur.
Agricultural Reinvestment
Increased investment in high-quality agricultural inputs for subsequent growing seasons.
No unintended negative impact on village-level relations or sharing norms within the community
Two Pathways, Similar Results
Both credit and storage-only users benefited from warrantage — but through different mechanisms.
With Credit
Access to liquidity after harvest allowed households to avoid distress sales and store more of their crop until prices increased later in the season.
9×
Cost-effectiveness: Production gains vs. program costs
Relatively simple financial tools, built on existing community structures and basic warehouse infrastructure, can substantially improve rural households’ ability to manage seasonality, liquidity, and investment timing.
Source: Delavallade & Godlonton (Journal of Development Economics, 2023)
Storage Only
The warehouse itself acted as a commitment device: once grain was stored, households were less pressured to sell early — helping them delay sales and benefit from higher prices later.
Do Women and Men Need the Same Tools to
Manage Liquidity and Risk ?
From households to individuals
If timing and liquidity tools are so valuable, the next question is whether women and men value the same kinds of financial products.
The second study — covering Senegal and Burkina Faso — looks directly at financial product preferences when individuals face different types of risk.
Women often face a different combination of risks than men — and are often the ones managing overlapping pressures on a daily basis.
The experiment
A randomized field experiment with 806 farmers and ROSCA members (half women) in rural Burkina Faso and Senegal.
Received a real cash endowment : 6,000 FCFA (~$12)
≈ half a bag of fertilizer
6,000 FCFA (~$12)
≈ half a bag of fertilizer
One of 4 products randomly offered
Kept in cash
T1 — Weather index insurance
T2 – Agricultural savings at home
T3 – Agricultural savings with treasurer
T4 – Emergency savings with treasurer
The Four Financial Products
T1 — Weather Index Insurance
Objective: Protect against drought and rainfall shocks
Design: Insurance payouts triggered by weather index
T2 — Ag Savings at Home
Objective: Facilitate agricultural investment
Design: Soft commitment, money kept at home in labeled envelopes
T3 — Ag Savings with Treasurer
Objective: Facilitate agricultural investment
Design: Hard commitment, savings held by group treasurer
T4 — Emergency Savings with Treasurer
Objective: Help households manage emergencies
Design: Hard commitment + emergency labeling
Hypotheses and Key Finding
Three hypotheses tested across Senegal and Burkina Faso
H1
Insurance vs. Savings Demand
Men show stronger demand for index insurance, while women prefer savings — particularly emergency savings that solve liquidity constraints.
H2
Agricultural Savings and Investment
Agricultural savings products, especially those with hard commitment features, increase input investment and yields — particularly for men.
H3
Gender Disparities in Agricultural Outcomes
Lower take-up of insurance by women contributes to gender disparities in agricultural outcomes.
KEY FINDING
Women and men do indeed value these financial products very differently — product design must reflect the distinct risks and constraints each group faces.
Why Index Insurance Falls Short for Women
The basis risk problem
Index insurance covers weather risk but excludes labor-disrupting health shocks. For women, the uninsured risk is too high.
Insurance stimulates agricultural investment, but savings are essential for smoothing consumption during illness.
What works instead
Emergency savings with light commitment features let women protect resources from social pressure while preserving liquidity.
Agricultural labeling encouraged men to invest but made it harder for women to redirect funds during household crises.
+30pp
Insurance Gap
Men more likely to purchase index insurance than women
95%
Commitment Retention
Hard-commitment participants maintained positive balances throughout
↑ Fertilizer
Insurance Effect
Insurance increased fertilizer spending and agricultural investment
+ Land
Emergency Savings
Women with emergency savings cultivated more land than those with ag savings
↓ Food
Labeling Tradeoff
Women in ag savings consumed non-essential foods less frequently
↑ Yields
Ag Savings for Men
For men, ag savings increased input use, yields, and food security
Four Operational Implications
For IFAD projects working on rural financial inclusion:
1. Hybridity
Financial products need to reflect the full range of risks households — and especially women — are managing, not only agricultural production risk.
2. Flexibility
Women value products that help protect resources while still allowing them to respond to emergencies and day-to-day household shocks.
3. Labeling and design
How savings are labeled, when liquidity becomes available, whether resources are protected from immediate pressure — these details substantially shape women’s ability to invest.
4. Bundling
Combining agricultural risk-management tools with emergency liquidity or health-related protection may better match women’s actual risk environment than standalone agricultural products.
Closing gender gaps in financial inclusion is not only about expanding access to existing products. It is also about designing financial tools that better match the realities of women’s economic lives.
Thank You
Clara Delavallade • World Bank — Gender Innovation Lab
Sources:
Locking Crops to Unlock Investment: Experimental Evidence on Warrantage in Burkina Faso, with S. Godlonton. Journal of Development Economics. 2023. Vol. 160. Policy Brief
Financial Inclusion for Agricultural Investments: Experimental Evidence on Male and Female Farm Managers in the Sahel, with F. Dizon, R. Hill and J.-P. Petraud. Oxford Development Studies. 2026: 1-24.