MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Beneficiaries of Jamaica’s Program of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) to Receive Mobile Money Payments

The Jamaican government reportedly has announced a plan to begin disbursing mobile money payments to beneficiaries of its Program of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program established in partnership with the US-based World Bank Group that provides grants for health and education to qualified need-based applicants. The mobile money system, in which participants receive money electronically through mobile phone, will replace the previous system of disbursing money via checks delivered at post offices, and aims to make cash more accessible to PATH recipients and cut the government’s operational costs. The Bank of Jamaica, the country’s central bank, is responsible for the regulation and supervision of PATH’s mobile money system. Further details about the plan have not been released.

Ninety percent of PATH beneficiaries own a mobile phone. As of July 2013, the Bank of Jamaica reported total assets of USD 3 million.

By Adrija Vaiciulionis, Research Assistant

About Bank of Jamaica:
The Bank of Jamaica was established in 1961 in the city of Kingston, Jamaica and is the country’s central bank. The bank regulates a broad array of financial institutions, including commercial banks and non-bank financial institutions such as, “building societies,” merchant banks and “friendly societies.” As of July 2013, the Bank of Jamaica reported total assets of USD 3 million.

About Program of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH):
The government of Jamaica and the World Bank established the Program of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) in Jamaica in 2002. The program is a “conditional cash transfer” (CCT) program that provides grants to poor people. PATH provides grants to poor pregnant women and mothers, poor people over the age of 65 and disabled people. Approximately 300,000 Jamaicans are on PATH. The World Bank has invested approximately USD 32 million in PATH as of 2013 [1].

Sources and Additional Resources:

Shamille, Scott. “A PATH for Mobile Money,” Jamaica Observer, July, 21 2013, http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/A-PATH-for-mobile-money-_14714002

[1] “A PATH to Prosperity through Partnership in Jamaica” The World Bank, January 22, 2013, http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/01/22/path-programme-advancement-health-education-poverty-jamaica

Ministry of Labor and Social Security:
http://www.mlss.gov.jm/pub/index.php?artid=23

World Bank Social Protection Project, The World Bank. http://www.worldbank.org/projects/P105024/social-protection-project?lang=en

MicroCapital article, March 7, 2013, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Development Bank of Jamaica to Launch Mobile Money Pilot Project in Partnership with Transcel, Alaric, National Commercial Bank,”https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-development-bank-of-jamaica-to-launch-mobile-money-pilot-project-in-partnership-with-transcel-alaric-national-commercial-bank/

MicroCapital article, October 23, 2012, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Council of Credit Unions, Boom Financial to Offer Mobile Banking to Credit Unions Worldwide,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-world-council-of-credit-unions-boom-financial-to-offer-mobile-banking-to-credit-unions-worldwide/

MicroCapital Universe: Bank of Jamaica
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Bank+of+Jamaica

MicroCapital Universe: Program of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH)
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Program+of+Advancement+Through+Health+and+Education+%28PATH%29

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