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:

These Local Governments Are Using Federal Aid to Cancel Medical Debt

From Oscar Perry Abello / Next City: With funding from city governments, the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt acquires and cancels medical debt by negotiating directly with hospitals. The only requirement is being under 400% of the federal poverty line and...

Conversation with Delana Finlayson

Delana Finlayson leads Urban Think Tank Empower, a South African non-profit dedicated to socio-economic transformation through multidisciplinary projects. Notably, the Empower Khayelitsha project pioneers housing innovation approaches by integrating affordability, sustainability, and community engagement. Delana Finlayson spoke with Ashley Hopkinson...

The Surprising Lives of Germany’s ‘Basic Income’ Raffle Winners

From Marjolein Koster, Ties Gijzel / Reasons to Be Cheerful: A randomly selected group of lucky Germans are reaping the benefits of a guaranteed monthly income. An organization raffles off a year’s worth of guaranteed monthly income, allowing recipients to...

Conversation with Ted Rau

Passionate about transforming how organizations operate, Ted Rau specializes in sociocracy and governance systems that empower collective intelligence and foster meaningful collaboration. As the co-founder of Sociocracy For All and the Governance Lead at Dark Matter Labs, his work focuses...

This is what one of the world’s largest experiments in basic income looks like

From Meaghan Tobin and Márvio Dos Anjos / Rest of World: Mumbuca is a digital currency used in Maricà’s basic income program. Residents, with few eligibility requirements, can qualify for a monthly stipend to purchase goods and services using a...

Emirates Global Aluminium seeks to enhance all-round sustainability

From Gulf Today: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the UAE outside oil and gas, is among the first corporations in the region to open sustainable corporate bank accounts, which ensure cash balances are used to finance or...