Rural youth in developing countries make up a large and vulnerable group. Globally, three quarters of the poor live in rural areas, and about one-half of this population is young people. This young and growing population confronts a number of challenges, including poor quality of education, lack of basic infrastructure, lack of access to or control of sufficient land for farming, and, for girls in particular, more traditional cultural norms, which severely hinder their ability to build sustainable livelihoods. In addition, accessing the financial services they need to support economic opportunities is more challenging than in urban areas, due to physical distances, the lack of financial products appropriate to rural youth circumstances, limited knowledge and experience with financial services, and poor protection measures. These challenges feed perceptions from rural youth that financial services are not accessible to them, and from providers that rural youth are not bankable.