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Ethiopia Maps Out Digital Payment Strategy

News >> Newsletter

Managing Liquidity and Cash-Out for Social Payments During COVID-19

This webinar captured lessons on delivering vital G2P payments in a way that expands choice while managing liquidity and cash-out in innovative ways.

Government launches 3 new policies to speed up digital payments

Government launches new policies to speed up financial inclusion

News >> Newsletter

25 years since Beijing – Spotlight on women!

In this edition of the newsletter, we applaud the leadership of Alliance members in the Philippines, Ghana and India who are ensuring that women can gain economic independence through digitization.

It’s not just about fresh capital for Africa: it is about deployment

Webinar > Digital Payments in Ebola Response: Lessons for the COVID-19 Crisis

The Better Than Cash Alliance will host a webinar to highlight key lessons from Sierra Leone’s use of digital payments in their Ebola response, which shaped the outcome of the crisis in West Africa.

Senegal: tech helps boost access to health to leave poverty behind

This blog post was originally published in the Action 2030 Blog on unsdg.un.org.

Youth, entrepreneurship and digital financial inclusion

New World Bank Findex note discusses the many ways in which young people in Sub-Saharan Africa are using formal financial services for entrepreneurship.

Digital Economy Blueprint: Kenya

Kenya’s “Digital Economy Blueprint” provides a conceptual framework for setting up a successful digital economy in the country. The document identifies and explores five pillars of focus and is relevant for our work not just in Kenya but across Africa.

8 ways to boost Africa's digital ecosystem

The World Economic Forum and International Trade Centre’s “Africa e-commerce agenda” discusses 8 policy areas - including enhancing digital payments - that can help unleash the potential of e-commerce in the continent.

How to consolidate gains in digital payments

This CG Dev paper, by Professor Njuguna Ndung’u, shows how M-Pesa’s success has led to a series of endogenous innovations that have shaped Kenya’s digital space. It outlines several important challenges that Kenya will need to address in order to further consolidate its success, including connectivity issues, digital ID, interoperability and consumer protection.

Bottlenecks for mobile-money adoption

This paper aims at investigating the driving factors for mobile money adoption in the WAEMU region. It identifies literacy rate, mobile infrastructure, and banking infrastructure (ATMs\100,000 people) as the main macroeconomic determinants for adoption.

Extending pension coverage to the informal sector

This World Bank discussion paper argues that digital payments, along with other policies and tools, can help extend pension coverage to the informal sector in Africa. It also features case studies from 5 Alliance members namely Kenya, Rwanda, Benin, Ghana, and Uganda.

Client Voices: Rwandans Speak on Digital Financial Services

Based on a survey of over 1,200 people in three districts of Rwanda, this Smart Campaign report delves into the experiences of users of digital financial services.

The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda

Does access to mobile money help improve livelihood in remote settings? This paper shows that rolling out mobile money agents in Northern Uganda led to cost-savings for remittance transactions. It also shows that access to digital payments doubled the nonfarm self-employment rate and reduced the fraction of households with very low food security.

Distributed Ledger Technology and Digital Identity: Prospects and Pitfalls Ahead

Blockchain Series: Blog 4

Paying Across Borders: Can Distributed Ledgers Bring Us Closer Together?

Blockchain Series: Blog 6

Telecom vs. banking-led models of financial inclusion

Low incomes, costs incurred in account ownership, distance from a bank, financial illiteracy and lack of relevant documentation explain low levels of financial inclusion in both India and Africa. In this brief, experts from the Overseas Development Institute discuss what both regions can learn from each other’s efforts to tackle these issues.