Blog Guidelines

The  FinDev Gateway Blog features interviews and blog posts from financial inclusion practitioners around the world. In this community space, we share lessons learned, new ideas, and upcoming research from the field.

Interested in writing a blog? Here's how you can do it.

Do you have an idea for a blog post? Have you learned some lessons in your work in the field that you’d like to share with other practitioners? Or maybe you have recently published some new research that could benefit others working on financial inclusion?

FinDev Gateway welcomes original submissions of professionally written, engaging blog posts on topics of interest and relevance for a global audience of microfinance and financial inclusion professionals. Blog posts may present a clear point of view, including critical perspectives, but they should contribute to constructive debate.

FinDev Gateway will not publish content that uses inflammatory, defamatory, deliberately misleading, or unnecessarily adversarial language, or that makes serious claims without appropriate evidence, attribution, or context. FinDev Gateway reserves the right to request revisions or reject submissions that do not meet these editorial standards.

Submission Guidelines for Blogs

CONTENT/MESSAGE:

  • Be original. Blog posts must not have been published elsewhere on the web and should reflect the author’s own thinking, experience and voice. They must not be written by AI.
  • Write for financial inclusion practitioners. Focus on content relevant to an audience of microfinance and financial inclusion professionals around the globe, presenting ideas from one practitioner to another in the spirit of peer-to-peer learning.
  • Stay focused. Make a single point or core argument and substantiate only with the relevant details.
  • Avoid promotional content. Posts about an initiative, program or project should not come across as promotional pieces, but should explore in a thoughtful, conversational way some significant, interesting, or surprising aspect of the work in the context of a bigger conversation in financial inclusion.

 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) USAGE:

  • Use AI as a support, not as the author. AI has become a useful tool which can help writers research and lightly edit their writing. However, to maintain trust within the FinDev community, it is important that blog posts be original, based on authors’ real experiences and reflecting their authentic voice. Blog posts should not be written by AI.
  • Offer original insight. Given that AI can now produce instant summaries of publications, topics and issues, we don’t publish blog posts which read as summaries. We are looking for new, original insights and lessons learned from experience in the field that will be useful and relevant for other financial inclusion practitioners.
  • Disclose substantive AI use. If AI is used for anything more than research and light editing – for example, for shaping arguments, structuring ideas or generating insights – its usage must be disclosed by the author to the editorial team.  
  • Verify AI-assisted research. If using AI for research, authors are expected to verify all sources and make sure they are using the most relevant, up-to-date figures. If fabricated sources or statistics are found in a submitted blog, the editorial team will reject the piece, as well as re-evaluate any future contributions from the author.

 

LENGTH:

  • Keep it short. Aim for about 800 words, with a maximum total word limit of 1000 words. Occasionally a post will merit longer treatment, but generally a tight argument that is well thought through is more effective. You can always link to more detailed resources for anyone who wants to dive deeper.

 

STYLE:

  • Use an informal, chatty style. The best blogs are engaging, conversational and easy to read, not dry or academic. Let your voice shine through.
  • Minimize jargon. Your post should be meaningful to a specialist but easy to read for a generalist. Remember, English is not the first language for many of our readers.
  • Pack a punch with your title. A great title grabs readers’ attention while giving them an accurate sense of what they will get out of your post. Questions, statements, and lists do well.
  • Be constructive and evidence-based. Be constructive and evidence-based. You are welcome to express a clear point of view, including a critical one, but arguments should be fairly framed and focused on the issue rather than singling out individuals or institutions unnecessarily. Avoid inflammatory, defamatory, deliberately misleading or unnecessarily adversarial language, and provide appropriate evidence, attribution and context for substantive claims.

 

FORMAT:

  • Use strong visuals. Charts and graphics can make a post more engaging and help you make your argument. Feel free to send the blog editor suggestions. Just make sure CGAP owns the visual, has the owner’s permission to use it, or that it is in the public domain, and provide the blog editor with proper attribution.
  • Link to sources. There are no footnotes on blogs. Use hyperlinks and anchor them in evocative text that describes what readers can expect if they open a link. Avoid adding text like, “Click here to learn more” and “Available here.”

 

TRANSLATION:

If you wish for your blog post to be published in Spanish, you may provide a translation that our editors will review. Translations must be of good quality with professional writing (not just a Google or other automated translation) and must meet all of our editorial guidelines. The editor will make the final decision as to whether a translation will be published.

To express your interest in publishing a blog on FinDevGteway, please contact Valdete Berisha at: vberisha@worldbank.org.