Financial Inclusion

Leveraging Edir for Inclusive Insurance Services in Ethiopia

This is Case Study about Leveraging Edir for Inclusive Insurance Services in Ethiopia report examines how Ethiopia's traditional community-based mutual-support institution, Edir, could serve as a distribution channel for inclusive digital insurance and broader DFS. The core argument: Ethiopia's financial inclusion gap is less about demand than about trusted, accessible channels, and Edir, with near-universal household reach, is already exactly that channel. From a financial inclusion angle, Edir matters because it already extends to the vast majority of households, sitting closer to everyday life than any bank branch or agent, and so offers a way to reach the women, rural communities, and low-income households that formal accounts (roughly half of adults) leave disproportionately excluded. The report argues digitization should build on Edir's existing "rails" rather than replace it.

Published By

Team Shega

Published On

08 June 2026