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.

Cote d'Ivoire: Protection sociale et numérique - Mariatou Koné présente les avancées du pays, en Inde

Véronique Tognifodé conduit la délégation béninoise en Inde

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.

Opportunities for digital in Pakistan 

GSMA report estimates that mobile phone ecosystem contributes around $16.7 billion to the Pakistani economy. To enhance the impact of mobile-enabled digital transformation, it calls for improving digital financial inclusion and taking a whole of government approach to development.

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.

The state of social assistance in Africa

The UNDP report analyzes the recent growth across three foundational dimensions of social assistance in the continent - legal frameworks, institutions and financing.

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.

How to create modern G2P payment systems

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.

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.

bKash: Revolutionizing Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh?

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…

Did you see my tweet?  

This FSD Kenya analysis demonstrates the utility of social media (Twitter) analytics tools for monitoring discussions around consumer protection. 

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.

Lessons on taxing mobile money transactions

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.

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.

The Digital Lives of Refugees

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.

How fintech is driving financial health

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.

Understanding merchant payments landscape 

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.

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.