Insights
Financial access in the time of COVID-19: Self-registration for mobile money accounts in Ghana
The coronavirus pandemic is a tipping point for the digital world. As we navigate uncharted territory and practice social distancing in both the U.S. and with our team members in Ghana, Uganda, and Malawi, our thoughts turn to reaching those people without access to digital financial services.
Protecting women using DFS during the pandemic
The global COVID-19 pandemic is bringing about social changes that will have lasting effects on how we work, socialize, and consume. How can we ensure that while governments are pushing mobile usage to reduce physical contact during the pandemic, women have a safe experience of mobile services?
Realizing we don’t have all the answers: 4 questions on women’s financial inclusion
The numbers on financial inclusion have moved in a positive direction with each release of Findex data, and in some countries, like Indonesia, more women than men have accounts. Progress has been made, but our work is not done — now we are confronting a deeper series of challenges in achieving, and understanding, what we mean by inclusion and economic empowerment for women.
‘I’ll buy eight tomatoes — I’m paying with mobile money’
Convincing agri-enterprises that sell inputs to, or buy crops from, rural communities to embrace digital payments is seen as a potential path to de-throning cash — the undisputed king of commerce in emerging markets.
But I don’t need another SIM card… Interoperability and bulk payments
With funding from USAID’s Global Development Lab, SIA has been supporting the USAID Rwanda mission in helping IPs transition to mobile money for their last mile payment needs.
Blockchain’s impact on development, in the words of the Zen master
We are all familiar with the dramatic impact that mobile communications and the near ubiquitous access to communications technology has had on development. Will blockchain have a similar impact? In the words of the Zen master, “we’ll see.”
Practicing what we preach: Initiating bulk payment disbursements
The Tigo Ghana head office sits on a shady, surprisingly quiet road in central Accra, nestled next to government buildings and museums.
Digital cash transfers in Liberia
As cash transfers become an increasingly respected and relied-upon method of delivering relief to communities affected by conflict and environmental disasters, NGOs working in the humanitarian space will more frequently be required to manage networks of merchants and agents in their roles as disbursers of international funding.