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 Alison Guzman

Alison Guzman is the Country Program Co-Director of MAPLE Microdevelopment Chile. As the co-director of a team based in Wallmapu (Mapuche Ancestral lands), they apply decolonizing methodologies, where indigenous local knowledge and local wisdom-based systems are prioritized to enhance an...

A Simple Fix Lifts Single Moms Out of Poverty in India’s Slums

From MaryLou Costa / Reasons to Be Cheerful: Fund a Mom gives 40 single mothers in Jaipur, India, $60 a month with no strings attached. The guaranteed income program helps them cover necessary expenses giving them the breathing room to...

The Women Leading a Social Revolution in Syria’s Rojava

From Lucy Clarke-Billings / Newsweek: The Committee of Diplomacy of Kongreya Star is a women’s organization in Rojava Syria that aims to liberate women in the region by adding women into all sectors of local life including education, the economy,...

Microfinance helps Indian women borrow – with dignity

From Annie Banerji / Christian Science Monitor: Microfinance institutions in India are providing low-cost loans to women in remote areas who typically only have access to loan sharks. The women are using the money to break poverty cycles and start their...

Africa’s natural capital can chart a new development model at Africa Climate Summit

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...

Sweet City’: the Costa Rica suburb that gave citizenship to bees, plants and trees

From Patrick Greenfield / The Guardian: Curridabat, a city in Costa Rica has extended citizenship to the flora and fauna of the city (most notably pollinators) in order to enhance efforts to create more green spaces and healthier local ecosystems....