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

A dollar sign forms one of the columns of a stately building

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.

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From Candice Helfand-Rogers / The Story Exchange: In Jackson, Mississippi, the nonprofit-run Magnolia Mother’s Trust is a guaranteed income program providing a no-strings-attached monthly stipend of $1,000 to Black mothers living in affordable housing to help them combat poverty. Click...

From Saliem Fakir and Monique Atouguia / Mail & Guardian: An African Climate Summit was held looking at nature/natural resources centered conversations, where protecting the climate was upheld as a central necessity. Read the original story here. Read other stories...

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