The US-based nonprofit Microfinance Opportunities and Canada’s MasterCard Foundation recently announced the launch of a three-year effort to encourage the adoption of branchless banking services by low-income youth and women and by poor people in rural areas. Targeting Africa, Asia and Latin America, the effort will involve the provision of financial education aimed at conveying the value of branchless banking and formal financial services and to build trust in technology-based tools, such as mobile phones, automatic teller machines and smart cards. Microfinance Opportunities will develop a financial education toolkit for distribution via local partners and implement an agenda to encourage large-scale outreach of the program.

Microfinance Opportunities is a microenterprise resource center that seeks to equip poor consumers with the capability to manage their money and to provide research to shape financial products to suit the needs of poor people. Microfinance Opportunities reports reaching nearly 20 million low-income households through curriculum and mass media channels.

Sources and Resources:

Microfinance Opportunities press release
http://www.microfinanceopportunities.org/docs/Branchless_Banking_Announcement.pdf

Microfinance Opportunities
http://www.microfinanceopportunities.org

MasterCard Foundation
http://www.themastercardfoundation.org/