The Microfinance Game: Experiencing the dynamics of financial inclusion in developing contexts

Abstract

[EN] Higher education institutions need to play a leading role as drivers of change. In this context, there is a growing trend to develop multidisciplinary approaches to education for sustainable development, and to implement student-centered and problem-based teaching and learning methods to increase student satisfaction and engagement. The method presented here uses an online role-play simulation in which the students represent several stakeholders from the microfinance sector in Uganda, for the overall purpose of increasing financial and social inclusion levels in the country. Several Sustainable Development Goals are addressed from the perspective of interactions between different actors and their specific characteristics, objectives, and interests. This study uses post-simulation data to explore the students’ perceptions about the usefulness of this methodology to foster key cognitive, skill-based, and affective learning outcomes. The implementation of this teaching and learning methodology demonstrated that this active learning method helps students acquire the set of skills and abilities that are expected of graduate students in economics, business, and management, with a special focus on sustainability criteria. Thanks to the methodology in this study, students are able to understand the complexities of the microfinance sector and its potential to tackle poverty and inequality.