Rural

Colombia’s Coffee Growers’ Smart ID Card: Successfully Reaching Rural Communities with Digital Payments

This case study is the first to examine a shift to electronic payments in a large-scale rural business-to- business context.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development joins Better Than Cash Alliance to bring financial inclusion to rural communities

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is pleased to accept an invitation to join the Better than Cash Alliance (BTCA) in our shared commitment to bringing financial acce…

How Digitizing Agricultural Input Payments in Rural Kenya is Tackling Poverty: The Case of One Acre Fund

This new case study features an examination of the nonprofit organization One Acre Fund (OAF) which teaches better crop management techniques and provides inputs on credit to smallholder farmers throughout East Africa.

Going rural with digital financial services

When a family member first told Mary that she could use her mobile phone to store her money, she felt that she had finally found a safe place to keep the earnings from her vegetable sales….

Mobile Banking Operations and Banking Facilities to Rural People in Bangladesh

The paper estabishes that mobile applications are well positioned in Bangladesh’s m-commerce market and are capable of driving sales of high-end mobile phones while providing better services to the users.

Responsible Digitization of Women Merchants in Rural India for COVID-19 Recovery

10 Recommendations from the Civil Society

A Present Scenario of E-Information Service in Rural India

The paper summarizes existing e-information services in India and discusses some of the main factors limiting access to information services such as irrelevant information, high level of illiteracy, unaffordable etc

Financial technology business model as branchless banking for people in rural areas: Case study: Indonesia

This study designs business models for electronic payment services, utilizing the principle of branchless banking and reviewing relevant aspects of IT risk management, for rural area communities in Indonesia.

One token changing the game for sustainable rural water supply in Tanzania

A water payment’s digitization project resulted in tripling water utility payments and reducing water collection waiting time from 3 hour to 10 minutes on average within a year, benefitting …

Branchless banking: Evaluating the doorstep delivery of financial services in rural India

This paper evaluates the effect on household savings of India’s recent financial inclusion drive, a drive that generated an unprecedented increase in access to financial institutions by usin…

Saving by Default: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural India

Access to banks is rapidly increasing worldwide, and allows account-based instead of cash transfers. We conduct a randomized experiment documenting the impact of the payment method on saving…

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. 

Catalyzing Responsible Digital Payments in the North East Region of India

Taking stock of the digital payments ecosystem with a 7-point action plan to expand the merchant acceptance network

The Fight for Light: Improving Energy Access through Digital Payments

This report examines new business models and government initiatives for energy access that rely upon digital payments.

Stimuler la Numérisation des Paiements Marchands en Côte d’Ivoire: des Clients aux Fournisseurs

90% des marchands ivoiriens estiment que la gestion du cash est une entrave au bon développement de leurs activités et sont favorables aux paiements digitaux

Mobile money

This review provides an overview of the operations and impacts of mobile money in the developing world and discussing what the future of mobile money in developing economies may look like.

Voices to Choices : Bangladesh's Journey in Women's Economic Empowerment

This book analyzes advances in women’s economic engagement and empowerment in rural and urban Bangladesh.

Trust can conquer the final frontier in digitisation where women merchants can lead it

This is the main barrier stopping female merchants from using digital payments

Saving $15.5 million by replacing cash with cards for Colombian coffee farmers

Two case studies from the Better Than Cash Alliance present innovations from Colombia’s digital payments ecosystem