The Better Than Cash Alliance is a partnership of governments, companies, and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to digital payments in order to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
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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.
As mobile-based digital agricultural solutions take hold in Kenya, there is a great opportunity to use data for improving financial inclusion of smallholder farmers.
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.
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.
This GSMA study shares lessons from Orange’s work in West and Central Africa on implementing Person-to-Government (P2G) payment strategies.
Unregistered SMEs account for 65% of Nigeria’s GDP. Most of them often struggle to demonstrate their personal and business credentials to service providers and customers. This GSMA research finds that there is a need for new approaches to identity and mobile-delivered ‘economic ID’ solution holds promise.
Prepared at the request of the G7 French Presidency, this Gates Foundation report aims to be “a blueprint for improving digital financial inclusion in Africa.”
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.
A new Karandaaz study shows that around 95% of merchants in Pakistan do not accept digital payments. To promote adoption, it calls for creating awareness among users, better infrastructure, interoperability and reliability of services.
At a panel discussion during the recently concluded GSMA M360 Africa, Flourish’s Ameya Upadhyay presented on how to harness the power of new technologies to drive access and transparency. Check out his presentation.
This report by GSMA and UNHCR looks at the ways in which refugees are using mobile phones to help guide digital interventions by humanitarian organizations and mobile network operators.
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.
This Brookings policy paper, by Prof. Njuguna Ndung'u, argues that instead of increasing the tax base, taxation on mobile phone transactions may end up reversing the adoption of digital payments in Kenya. It says these lessons are also relevant for other African countries considering similar taxes.
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.
This FSD Kenya analysis demonstrates the utility of social media (Twitter) analytics tools for monitoring discussions around consumer protection.
This study discusses the emergence of bKash as the m-banking pioneer in Bangladesh. It focuses on the services provided by bKash and its current operating scenario in Bangladesh. bKash’s str…
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.
New CGAP focus note explores the core idea behind future-ready G2P payments, lays out its advantages and challenges, and describes how governments can create modern G2P payments systems. It draws heavily from ongoing efforts in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.
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.
The UNDP report analyzes the recent growth across three foundational dimensions of social assistance in the continent - legal frameworks, institutions and financing.