Access to appropriate financial services can play a critical role in enabling young people to navigate the challenges and opportunities they face, regardless of their employment or educational status. This paper discusses: 1) the results of a global survey conducted in 2009 by Making Cents International; and 2) findings of leading NGOs and financial institutions which are pioneering youth-inclusive and youth-specific financial products. The outcomes of the survey findings and lessons learned have been synthesized into six 'Emerging Guidelines' for linking young people to financial services. Existing concerns are explained regarding defining and achieving impact, sustainability, scale and a favourable regulatory environment as it relates to youth-inclusive financial services. The paper concludes with practitioners' visions for this nascent field by 2020.The currenT global youTh populaTion is the largest in history. Of the world's 3 billion people estimated to be under the age of 25, approximately 1.3 billion are between the ages of 15 and 24. Just under half of these young people live on less than two dollars a day, as estimated by the UN (YouthSave, 2010).Financial services -whether a safe place to save or an appropriately structured loan for investment in an enterprise or education -play an integral role in building the lives of young people. Providing young clients with financial services at the right times in their lives and with the right support network can help them improve their livelihoods in the short term, and position themselves for more sustainably productive lives in the long term. Moreover, the provision of financial services to young people can help ensure that the vulnerability faced by so many young people today does not turn into a crisis (Making Cents International, 2009). Three specific indicators that children and youth need improved financial services are:
