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:

Can Monthly Cash Payments Make Our Economy More Equitable?

From Sonali Kolhatkar / Yes! Magazine: Guaranteed income programs aim to reduce poverty by providing cash to those in need with no strings attached. One of these programs in New York City, The Bridge Project, focuses on helping women of...

Climate disasters hit poor people hardest. There’s an obvious solution to that

From Sigal Samuel / Vox: An effective way to help those most vulnerable to climate disasters is by providing just-in-time cash transfers right before a disaster hits for them to use as they see fit for resilience and climate change...

Portland group works to make wealth redistribution a reality through real estate

From Tiffany Camhi / OPB: Volunteers of the PDX Housing Solidarity Project are working to redistribute generational wealth through homeownership in Portland. The project connects people with ample resources to Black and Indigenous homebuyers and helps facilitate cash gifts, no-interest...

How the Philippines tapped on open-source to implement digital identity and improve services

From Yen Ocampo & Yong Shu Chiang / GovInsider: A national identification system called PhilSys has been rolled out in the Philippines in order to create access to social benefits and digital services. Future services may include but are not...

Conversation with Karina Víquez

Karina Viquez is the Program Director of the Certificate in Regenerative Entrepreneurship at the University for International Cooperation (UCI) in Costa Rica. She has over 10 years of experience playing key roles in impact learning, regenerative program design, development project...

Conversation with Alexandra Goossens-Ishii

Alexandra Goossens-Ishii works as Programme Coordinator for environment, climate change & biodiversity for Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a community-based Buddhist organization that promotes peace, culture and education. Her work focuses on the UN processes related to the environment, climate change...