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Colombia: Innovations in the delivery of Ingreso Solidario

Learning webinar highlights

In response to COVID-19, the Government of Colombia deployed a comprehensive set of social protection actions, including the unconditional cash transfer program, Ingreso Solidario. Launched in April 2020, the program was designed to provide income to over 3 million vulnerable households, of which over 60% are headed by women.

The Better Than Cash Alliance co-organized, on March 2nd, a learning webinar with the World Bank Group and G2Px to explore the innovative actions taken, the impact of the Ingreso Solidario program on beneficiaries, and the challenges that lay ahead to modernize Government-to-Person (G2P) payments more broadly.

During the session, the panelists highlighted innovation in Ingreso Solidario including the creation of a unified database registry and flexibility in regulation, which made migrants eligible as beneficiaries through a transitory ID document. The transitory permit ID document provided by the government allowed migrants to open a deposit account in 2 minutes. This resulted in a larger number of beneficiaries that were able to receive assistance through digital payments. The challenges during COVID-19 presented an opportunity for collaboration with different stakeholders in delivering responsible digital payments to beneficiaries. This new model provided a more transparent and efficient disbursement of social monetary transfers, while reaching financial inclusion objectives.

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Édgar Picón
National Technical Director for Monetary Transfers, Prosperidad Social Department, Colombia

“The Colombian government led public and private collaboration to urgently identify the most vulnerable households, based on Sisbén (a unified vulnerability assessment and identification system for social assistance). Access to the database assisted the delivery of cash transfers. The government and financial institutions developed, in record time, a banking process to deliver the cash transfers while adhering to social distance protocols.”

first challenges

Ana Maria Príeto
Deputy Director, Unit of Financial Regulation,Ministry of Finance, Colombia

“Ingreso Solidario was an opportunity to serve G2P beneficiaries and promote financial inclusion. Over 900,000 households, 60% of which were led by women, were financially included through Ingreso Solidario. 62% of households use their e-wallets to make online purchases and 45% continued using this service with an additional cash-in after receiving payments. Financial inclusion reached through Ingreso Solidario is encouraging. This is a powerful tool for public policy which the country needs to leverage on to save cost and reach workers in the informal sector where transactions are usually made in cash.”

key achievements

Beatriz Marulanda
Senior Associate, Marulanda & Consultores

“We had the opportunity to work on data from 1.8 million beneficiaries across 5 mobile wallets and found the pattern of usage changing compared to prior subsidy schemes. Firstly, 28% did not cash-out. They continued being in the digital ecosystem and conducted different online transactions. 22% made deposits. We found that beneficiaries were not just doing cash-in, but e-wallets provided livelihoods, such as selling good while receiving payments through e-wallets. Only 4% reported purchases.”

main challenges

Margarita Henao
CEO DaviPlata, Banco Davivienda

“We are truly excited on the recognition of DaviPlata as a tool that is working for the country. 720,000 beneficiaries from Ingreso Solidario were already using DaviPlata. There was a total of 10.3 million number of payments at a total of $1.9 trillion COP (USD$480 million) through 23 payment cycles.”

main challenges

Maryoiry Avila Rubio
General Manager, Movii

“By not being a big bank and starting as an e-wallet, we had to put a lot of focus on core banking. We are constantly working to make the Movii platform more robust to provide services for the population. Before Ingreso Solidario, we had 154,000 clients and today, we have over 2 million clients. The experience of working with Ingreso Solidario allowed us to understand behaviors of beneficiaries and adjust our operations to meet their needs. This has in return allowed us to grow our customer base exponentially.”

main challenges

Webinar Recording