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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Digitizing the delivery of humanitarian aid has so much appeal. By taking cash out of the equation, electronic transfers (often called e-transfers or e-payments) promise a faster, more secure and more transparent (so less corruptible) means of getting help to those who need it, even in the most hard to reach places.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is pleased to join the Better Than Cash Alliance, in support of our commitment to provide essential services within the first 72 hours of crisis.
There is growing consensus in the humanitarian community that cash (digital or physical) – as opposed to delivery of food and materials – is often the best way to help communities bounce back from crisis.
The following is a guest post by Sara Murray, Electronic Payments Program Manager at Mercy Corps, a Better Than Cash Alliance member.
Kenya has been hailed as one of the developing world’s leaders in electronic payments. So it should come as no surprise that a sparsely populated, dusty village 500 kilometres from Nairobi is home to a pilot project testing whether an electronic delivery model for aid can be viable on a larger, commercial scale. Drought prone Merti is a small town in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), of northern Kenya where The World Food Programme, MasterCard and local partner Equity Bank have been running a pilot point-of-sale electronic payments programme. .
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As part of its massive humanitarian response to the Syrian crisis, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is rolling out an innovative electronic voucher programme in Lebanon that will allow hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees to meet their food needs and help boost the local economy.
Around the world, 2.5 billion people lack access to formal financial services.
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