Howard led CFI’s work on climate, developing an understanding of how financial services can help low-income people prepare for and respond to climate-related risks. He specializes in rural financial inclusion and the market systems approach, and has worked on rural and agricultural finance analyses and strategies for clients including IFAD, GIZ, MasterCard Foundation, CGAP, and UNCDF. He has worked extensively with the FSD Network, helping to set up FSD Uganda and FSD Mozambique, as well as establishing FSD Africa’s work on financial inclusion for refugees and forcibly displaced people. He has also carried out significant research into India’s digital finance ecosystem, writing papers for clients including the Center for Global Development, USAID, and FCDO. Prior to CFI, he was the principal consultant for Nathan Associates in Delhi and London, and before that was an ODI fellow working on financial sector policy for Uganda’s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. He has published a number of papers and blogs covering topics including smallholder finance, funding flows to the financial inclusion sector, inclusive fintech, digital finance in agriculture, and alternative data credit scoring. Howard has an master’s in economics from Cambridge University and a bachelor’s in economics and econometrics from Bristol University.
