The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the US-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced a two-year cash-in/cash-out (CICO) program intended to increase financial inclusion in Ethiopia via mobile money agents and other means. The program is to include: (1) training for 15 service providers in “digital money distribution aspects such as gender-intentional design and technology provider selection;” (2) a Digital Distributor Incubator that will support projects with resources including awards of USD 50,000 per organization; and (3) assistance in data collection for the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), the country’s central bank.
Endashaw Tesfaye, UNCDF’s Digital Finance Country Lead for Ethiopia, said the program is intended to decrease the gender gap in access to finance via “adequate representation of female participants. We will also highlight the case for sex-disaggregated data to NBE and regulated entities and identify opportunities to disaggregate some data points by gender.”
Launched in 1994, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides grants to organizations with the aim of enhancing health care, reducing poverty, and expanding access to education and information technology. The foundation’s Financial Services for the Poor initiative focuses on providing people with access to “digital financial services so the poorest people around the globe can build security and prosperity for themselves, their families, and their communities.” To support this initiative, the foundation works to forge partnerships among mobile network operators, banks and microfinance institutions and to increase access to technology. During 2022, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation expended USD 7 billion on its charitable activities, which reached 142 countries.
Established in 1966 and headquartered in the US city of New York, UNCDF endeavors to create opportunities for poor people and their businesses by increasing access to microfinance and other forms of investment capital. The organization operates in 46 low-income countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific with a particular focus on countries emerging from crises. For the year ending December 2021, UNCDF reported receiving contributions of USD 138 million.
By Ben Barba, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
UNCDF program description
https://www.uncdf.org/article/8227/strengthening-cash-in/cash-out-networks-in-ethiopia
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation homepage
https://gatesfoundation.org/
National Bank of Ethiopia homepage
https://nbe.gov.et/
UNCDF homepage
https://www.uncdf.org/
Previous MicroCapital story on Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-bill-melinda-gates-foundation-to-invest-80m-in-acquiring-data-on-progress-barriers-to-success-of-women-girls/
Previous MicroCapital story on UNCDF
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-jeevan-bikas-pula-uncdf-partner-on-index-insurance-for-farmers-in-nepal/
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