The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated and transformed the role of community health workers, demonstrating their vital role in public health. But BRAC’s new initiative to digitize payments to its 50,000 community health workers in Bangladesh also underscores their potential as proponents of financial access — with enormous implications for global financial inclusion....

As the COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves around the world, policymakers have been scrambling to adapt responses in a rapidly evolving context. In a country like Bangladesh, for example, where 85 percent of the population earns less than $5.90 a day, government-imposed lockdowns have quickly transformed from public health measures into full-blown...

COVID-19 has accelerated the use of digital financial services around the world. For many low-income households, the ability to tap into financial resources from social networks and receive cash transfers has determined whether there is food on the table. . . .   Bangladesh’s well-developed digital financial services ecosystem, particularly its grassroots...