Digital Financial Inclusion for Refugees in Rwanda
A lot of us take things like online banking, PayPal, and Venmo for granted these days. And in many African nations like Rwanda, digital financial activity is even more pervasive—many people pay their electric bills, water, and other utilities straight from their cell phones, using mobile credit and never interacting with a bank at all. Increasingly, digital finance is becoming the way of the future. That’s why it’s vital that refugees and displaced people aren’t left out of it.
The Alight Rwanda team has been thinking toward ways to help include refugees and their surrounding host communities in the digital landscape in the country—there is much work to be done to increase their self-reliance, resilience to financial shock, and ability to access financial services. That work has already begun, with the Alight team taking the charge on projects like training MTN mobile money agents on how to work with refugee communities. But there was so much more they had to learn.
Finding Others
That’s why, in the spirit of finding others, Alight Rwanda co-chaired a consortium of organizations called KUHI, which includes partners GiveDirectly, UNCDF, and World Vision. The aim of the consortium, working very closely with Rwanda’s line ministry MINEMA and UNHCR, is to better understand the barriers and opportunities that refugees face when it comes to accessing and using digital finance. After months of research and analyses, the final report, released through a webinar event on September 24th, takes a closer look at how many refugees are using mobile phones, their ability to interact with digital programs, their financial literacy, the types of services available to them, and whether or not they’re being used.
It’s all about how Alight, the consortium and similar focus organizations, can contribute to an inclusive digital economy that brings refugees into the fold, instead of leaving them behind. And now that the research phase is complete, it’s time to make a change. The consortium’s vision is to design a multi-year plan that incorporates some of the key findings and recommendations of the report, moving forward on programs that actively work to create an environment of digital inclusion.
What the Future Could Look Like
The research completed by KUHI clearly shows that key conditions for digital financial inclusion exist in both refugee camps and host communities. Access to mobile phones is high, as is the number of households registered on mobile wallet services. The question is, what to do next?
Although the consortium is still in the design process, ideas for next steps include increased training on financial management, market-led skills training and coaching, and supporting refugees to develop new business opportunities in appropriate sectors, all while utilizing the digital tools available to them. At the same time as communities learn to use these tools, it will increase their ability to boost digital savings and to pay utilities through mobile phones, bringing them more fully into the digital financial market.
Want to Learn More?
There’s never been a better time to help refugees and displaced people adjust to a digital world. Read more about how team Rwanda is bringing refugees into the country’s future, or get in touch with questions. And, to help refugees in Rwanda and beyond build lives filled with meaning and purpose, you can give here.