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:

The Supermarket Lending Shoppers Money for Groceries

From Katherine Latham / Reasons to Be Cheerful: In the United Kingdom, the supermarket Iceland Foods gives out interest-free microloans on pre-loaded cards during school holidays for families to spread out their grocery bills over time when finances are most...

Conversation with Katja Čič

Katja Čič currently works as the Programme Director at the International Youth Health Organization (YHO). Katja is also a part of the WHO Youth Council where she co-chairs the Working Group on Climate Change and Health, and is a part...

Conversation with Matt Prewitt

Matthew Prewitt is RadicalxChange Foundation’s president, a writer and blockchain industry advisor, and a former plaintiff’s side antitrust and consumer class action litigator and federal law clerk. Prewitt spoke with Ashley Hopkinson on January 25, 2024. Click here to read the...

Conversation with Erinch Sahan

Erinch Sahan is the business and enterprise lead at the Doughnut Economics Action Lab. Recently, he was the chief executive of the World Fair Trade Organization and previously spent 7 years at Oxfam leading campaign initiatives and founded Oxfam’s Future...

How Norway Built an Economy That Puts People First

From Isabella Breda / Yes! Magazine: Despite a nationwide months-long coronavirus lockdown in Norway, the economy was able to remain stable due to a “decades-long effort to create an equitable economy” that helped the government to enact a package that...

Universal basic income eases caregiving after incarceration

From Makaelah Walters / Prism: The Just Income GNV project in Florida provides justice-impacted people with a guaranteed income for a year to help them get on their feet. All they have to do is fill out an application, get...