Art Appraisal Blog

Rural agent networks are critical to “last mile” financial inclusion. This reading deck for policy makers does two things: (i) it shows how rural Cash-in/Cash-out (CICO) agent network expansion is key to ensuring poor people can capture the benefits of digital financial ecosystems; and (ii) it presents a set of policies that have been effective in enabling rural CICO in a way that benefits vulnerable segments, like rural women, and...

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in vast numbers of people in need of social assistance, many of whom were not previously covered by social safety nets. To meet this unprecedented level of need, governments quickly scaled social assistance reaching over 1.7 billion people in low- and middle income countries. Scaling up social assistance presented two separate but related challenges: first, adapting targeting and registration to reach individuals not commonly included in...

This policy brief outlines why cross-border interoperability of payment platforms across Africa is important, where the opportunities and challenges lie, and how international partners such as the EU can support African efforts. It traces some of the solutions that are being applied both at the continental and at the regional levels, explores some of the lessons to be learned from these different cases, and proposes initial policy recommendations for the...

Digital technologies are changing how the world interacts and transacts. From opening bank accounts to parents enrolling their children in school and social safety net programs verifying a new beneficiary, to businesses applying for licenses, day-to-day activities are becoming increasingly automated and integrated. Apart from reducing costs and spurring innovation, this creates opportunities to make better services available to more people, such as by removing the need to physically go...

This paper discusses the main opportunities and challenges associated with digital social protection, drawing on trends pre-Covid and since the onset of the pandemic. It offers eight lessons to help social protection actors capitalize on technology’s potential in a risk-sensitive manner.

This policy research brief analyses how digitalisation can facilitate rural populations’ access to effective and adequate social protection and economic inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. It investigates the region’s social protection response to COVID-19 and highlights three good practices in providing digitalised social protection to vulnerable rural populations during the crisis. Based on this analysis and considering the local obstacles to digitalised social protection in rural areas, recommendations...

Investment in the digital infrastructure of the country has been a priority for the Government of Bangladesh in the past decade, ever since the vision for Digital Bangladesh was launched. Digital payments are critical to the government’s vision and ensuring these are scaled responsibly is now critical. The National Digital Payments Roadmap (‘the Roadmap’) provides a high-level plan to expand the adoption of responsible digital payments in a way that...

About 17 percent of the world’s population has received at least one COVID-19-related cash transfer payment since the onset of the pandemic. Many of these transfers have been conducted digitally to efficiently and safely provide economic relief to affected households. Amongst low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that offered cash transfers, 58 disbursed funds directly to a fully functioning bank account, an account only for benefit withdrawal, or a digital non-bank...

The report presents both the opportunities of and the bottlenecks for furthering the digitization of South Asia’s economies. It emphasizes the importance of integrating digital ID, payments, and data sharing systems into “digital stacks,” as well as fostering digital businesses and skills. Within this broader framework, the report discusses the experiences of regional governments with digital g2p payments.

This brief guidance note primarily focuses on social assistance G2P payments and includes some selected tips for policymakers and practitioners to consider when designing and implementing digital social assistance programs that aim to increase financial inclusion and economic empowerment among marginalized groups. The tips are derived from previous work done by ideas42 and its partners on using insights from behavioral science to increase financial inclusion and optimize social assistance programs.