Page 320 - The Digital Financial Services (DFS) Ecosystem

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Ecosystem

The technology advances begin with the collection of addressing information. Implementing partners have
begun to make use of digital data collection tools, such as iFormBuilder, RedRose, and Last Mile Mobile
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Solutions. These tools ease the burden on field teams who collect information on potential beneficiaries.
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They also help make the data more usable for paying agencies by storing it in a digital format.
Various payment technologies have come into wider use in the past decade, including prepaid cards, vouchers,
and eMoney. These advances allow cash transfer programs to scale up more quickly and deliver money to
beneficiaries more efficiently.

Players remain the same:
New cash advance programs still require an implementing partner to collect addressing information on
beneficiaries. However, new tools make that process more efficient. Survey building tools can automatically
collect information into databases that are easily accessible by paying agencies. For example, iFormBuilder
can help implementing partners collect information on beneficiaries through survey forms and GPS data. It
can also help scan IDs and barcodes. Similarly, WorldVision International has created a tool called Last Mile
Mobile Solutions to enable NGOs to collect information on vulnerable populations.

Paying agencies have also begun to incorporate different technologies into funds disbursals. The most basic
technological advancement is the introduction of prepaid cards, including smart cards. Paying agencies are
able to distribute cards to beneficiaries, loaded with value, instead of cash in envelopes. Beneficiaries then
use the cards at ATMs or “cash-out” points to collect the money.

There have been some efforts to incorporate these prepaid cards into the merchant payments ecosystem. Red
Rose, for example, offers an “end-to-end payment solution” targeted at helping merchants accept payments
from cash transfer programs. In most countries, however, merchants still prefer cash to card payments.
eMoney:

The popularization of eMoney holds massive potential to make bulk payments more efficient. “Electronic
payment systems involving smart cards or mobile phones can significantly reduce costs and leakage,” according
to the UK development agency, “while promoting financial inclusion of the poor.” 11

In Kenya, where eMoney is now ubiquitous, cash transfer programs are proving effective. Evidence comes
from Give Directly, a nonprofit that specializes in unconditional cash transfers using mobile phone technology.
Innovations for Poverty Action found that Give Directly’s cash transfer program increased consumption, assets,
food security and improved psychological wellbeing.
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Systems integrators:

As cash transfer programs incorporate more technology, systems integrators have begun offering services to
governments and NGOs to make the programs more efficient. These companies help the paying agencies,
implementing partners, and payment providers work together to construct efficient cash transfer programs
and minimize leakage.

Segovia, for example, provides the technology behind many cash transfer programs around the world. The
company was started by the co-founders of Give Directly. In Liberia, Segovia is helping United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) and Save the Children distribute cash transfers to communities affected
by the Ebola crisis. USAID (the paying agency) contracts with Save the Children to act as the implementing
partner, collecting information on beneficiaries. The telecommunications company Lonestar Cell MTN acts as

8 iFormBuilder website: https:// www. iformbuilder. com.
9 Red rose Website: https:// www. redrosecps. com/ .
10 Last mile mobile solutions website: http:// www. lastmilemobilesolutions. com.
11 Arnold, Catherine, Tim Conway, and Matthew Greenslade. Cash transfers evidence paper, department for international develop-
ment. April, 2011.
12 Haushofer, Johannes, and Jeremy Shapiro. Household response to income changes: Evidence from an unconditional cash transfer
program in Kenya. Innovations for poverty action. April, 2015.

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