What Kenya can teach its neighbors — and the US — about improving the lives of the “unbanked”

From Kelsey Piper / Vox: Mobile banking in Kenya has increased economic mobility for families living in poverty. The mobile money system is not connected to bank accounts, making it accessible to the overwhelming majority of Kenyans who don’t have bank accounts but do have cell phones. Mobile banking allows deposits and withdrawals as well as transfers, and has allowed families to save money to use when their income, often from farming, takes a hit thus creating a security net for themselves and allowing them to receive funds from friends and family. Savings allow families to meet basic needs and access medical care if necessary.

Read the original story here.

Issue Areas:

Financial Institutions, Poverty Reduction Measures, Public Banking, Technology

Impact Areas:

Equity

Actors:

Lending, Banking, and Financial Institutions, Workers / Labor Unions

Communities Served:

Communities Experiencing Economic Hardship, Rural Communities, Workers

Strategies:

Collective Action, Designing Culturally Specific Solutions

Success Factors:

Building Distribution Systems, Eliminating Barriers, Empowering People, Expanding Access, Leveraging Technology, Meeting People Where They Are At, Overcoming the Big Challenges, Using A Comprehensive Approach

Geographic Region:

Africa

Countries:

Kenya

Date:

September 11, 2020

More Resources:

Conversation with Yara Tarabulsi

Yara Tarabulsi is a social anthropologist with experience in topics of gender justice, care, economic justice, migration and public policy. She has a Master’s degree from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor’s from the American University of Beirut. She...

Conversation with Michael Sani

Michael Sani is the founder of Play Verto, a platform that leverages play and gamification to transform traditional research and foster a sense of belonging among its players. With over 12 years of experience in strategizing and co-creating initiatives for...

Conversation with Dr. Neil Vora

Neil Vora, MD, is the senior advisor for One Health at Conservation International. He has also served for nearly a decade with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer and a...

Universal basic income transfers better than subsidies; Madhya Pradesh model shows improvement in living standards

From Sunil Jain / The Financial Express: SEWA-INBI pilots a basic universal income program for two villages in Madhya Pradesh. These funds enabled residents to pay for facilities and electricity in their homes, buy better cooking fuel, increase the weight...

Pay-What-You-Can Farm Stands Feed Communities Against Tough Odds

From Gabriel Pietrorazio / Civil Eats: Farm stands operating on sliding-scale and pay-what-you-can models are improving access to fresh, healthy food in communities battling poverty and food insecurity. In these models, residents who can afford to pay full price are...

Car Free Day: Global health leaders join Kigali residents in ‘Africa Walks against Malaria’

From Frank Ntarindwa / The New Times: ‘Kigali’s “Car Free Day” not only boasts an increase in residents’ activity levels, it also creates a space for more knowledge and service sharing for health conditions including Malaria.’ Screenings for non-communicable diseases...