180720 uncdf refugee abridged cn id · 1. all about mobile money: interacting with an agent safely...

UN Capital Development Fund - Tanzania 421 Mahando Drive, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania | Tel: +255 752 315 735 | www.uncdf.org

1

UNCDFTanzaniaAccesstoFinanceforRefugees&HostCommunity

inKigomaSummary

Thematic Areas Refugees, Financial Inclusion, Financial Literacy, Digital Literacy, Livelihoods Development, Women, Youth

Region Nyarugusu, Nduta, and Mtendeli Refugee Camps + Host Communities, Kigoma Region, Tanzania

Timeframe Phase II: July 2018 - June 2019 Program Expansion: 2019-2022

Program Cost Phase II: $965,889 Program Expansion (est): $2.5 million

About Us: The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries (LDCs). UNCDF provides capital and technical support through Inclusive Finance programs to ensure that more people gain access to financial services – both formal and informal - that expand opportunities and reduce vulnerabilities. We have expertise in reaching unbanked populations, particularly women and youth, with a focus on savings, as well as in building financial capability through innovative delivery channels.

In Tanzania, UNCDF is leveraging experience gained through the MicroLead program (2008 – 2018) to form and strengthen savings groups, develop and adapt safe, convenient and affordable formal financial services, and build both financial and digital literacy so that people can make good choices and plan for their families’ futures. We build partnerships with and among community-based organizations, local and international NGOs, UN agencies, financial service providers, and government to ensure that un-served and underserved populations like refugees, asylum-seekers, rural women, youth, and smallholder farmers receive the services they need to become more self-reliant, increase their resilience and improve their economic lives.

Promoting the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

UNCDF’s programs in Tanzania contribute to a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are primarily SDG 1 – No Poverty, SDG 5 – Gender Equality, SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals. Our refugee program will also contribute to SDG 10, aiming to reduce inequalities faced by women and youth in camps and communities, as well as inequalities between displaced persons and citizens, and SDG 16, focusing on peace between refugees and local populations.


2

Strengthening Savings Groups & Building Digital and Financial Literacy in and around Refugee Camps: As part of a United Nations Joint Program in Kigoma, Tanzania under the Youth and Women’s Economic Empowerment outcome, UNCDF Tanzania is championing the formation and strengthening of savings groups complemented with digital and financial literacy for refugees and host communities. With partners such as Good Neighbors Tanzania (GNTZ), more refugees – specifically youth and women – have the opportunity to save, borrow, and invest in microbusiness. UNCDF is also testing mechanisms for delivering financial and digital education using tablets, an SMS platform, and through supplementary face-to-face sessions. Because participation in savings groups and usage of mobile financial services can have a clear and direct impact on livelihoods, economic growth, and inclusive social and economic development, UNCDF supports these interventions, along with the necessary financial and digital literacy to use them, in and around the refugee camps in the Kigoma Region. Our work benefits both the refugee and host communities, with a focus on women and youth. UNCDF is currently scaling a program begun in Nyarugusu refugee camp on refugee financial inclusion through the strengthening and establishment of savings groups complemented by financial education, emphasizing the importance of digital solutions.

Since June 2017, UNCDF and partners have developed, launched, and tested a tablet-based application and SMS-based platform to improve financial and digital literacy among refugees. UNCDF has brought stakeholders working in Nyarugusu together for workshops, facilitated a training of trainers with 22 refugee incentive workers on the SMS and tablet-based financial and digital literacy content they developed, and conducted

sensitization training in ten zones with community zone leaders. These incentive workers, along with UNCDF and implementing agency staff have trained an additional 248 savings group leaders on savings group structure and operation. In addition, they have formed over 100 savings groups, with more than 2,371 beneficiaries, 65% of whom are women. More than half of the groups are Burundian. From the time the baseline survey, conducted in December 2017 and January 2018, to the midline, conducted in March and April 2018, total deposits accumulated in the groups reached 9.3 million TZS ($4,100 USD) and average household savings among those surveyed increased from 14,649 TZS to 40,229 TZS (a 25,580 TZS or 275% increase). 47% had taken loans through the savings group—allowing them to invest in their businesses, homes, and future homes. During this second phase, the expansion to host communities will also include activities to support access to finance and financial and digital literacy for smallholder farmers under the Kigoma Joint Program on

Womentryfinancialeducationtabletappforthefirsttime


3

Agriculture, led by World Food Programme (WFP). Over the long-term, UNCDF will engage in policy advocacy to create a more enabling environment for refugees’ financial inclusion and work to accelerate refugees’ and host community linkage to the formal financial sector.

Targets:

Indicators 2018 2019 2020 2021 # of women or youth new SG members in host community 500 2,000 4,500 6,500 # of refugee women or youth new SG members 1,500 4,500 6,500 9,000

Program Context: Since the early 1970s, the United Republic of Tanzania has hosted refugees fleeing civil strife and ethnic conflict in neighboring countries. Today, Tanzania hosts over 300,000 refugees, and an additional 40,000 asylum seekers. The majority of refugees in Tanzania are Burundian (250,359) Congolese (60,755).

These refugees are settled in three camps – Nyarugusu, Nduta, and Mtendeli – located in the northwest Kigoma region bordering Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Refugees face significant limitations in terms of income-generating activities and opportunities to use and manage money. In Tanzania, refugees are unable to seek formal employment, and often lack the identification necessary to open and operate a bank account. In addition, Tanzania’s withdrawal from UNHCR’s Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) indicates an increasingly tough enabling environment. Nevertheless, UNCDF has identified savings groups and mobile financial services as two tools to improve financial inclusion for refugees.

Savings groups and mobile financial services have been a key driver of financial and digital inclusion in Tanzania, particularly for

women, and have the potential to do the same for Tanzania’s refugee population. The refugees, both Congolese and Burundian, are largely displaced low-income rural populations with similar socio-economic profiles as their host communities. Although not all refugees have (or believe they have) the means to save, many segments of the population do. Some belong to savings groups formed and overseen by NGOs, some to larger cooperatives linked to their economic activities and still others are members of smaller informal groups with family members, neighbors, and colleagues. Low levels of financial and digital literacy are also barriers to the uptake of financial services, despite increased connectivity and mobile phone ownership in camps. Mobile money services can facilitate international remittances, person-to-person payments, and humanitarian/development services. But while connectivity is a top priority for refugees, many lack the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors to use their phones as a tool for more than communication, and would benefit from basic digital and financial literacy curricula. Refugees that do use mobile money services such as M-Pesa could benefit from more advanced financial education on topics such as consumer protection (i.e. understanding financial terms, services, and products), and household/small business money management. These are important barriers to break, as evidence suggests that combining financial and nonfinancial support is particularly effective in promoting economic participation and strengthening refugees’ resilience. This strengthened resilience will increase self-reliance, which then also eases pressure on host communities.


4

Financial Capability Tools: Building financial capability is a core aspect of all UNCDF Tanzania programs, with the goal of ensuring that not only are low-income and underserved Tanzanians given access to financial products and services, but that they will also have the knowledge and skills to make choices about these services. Savings groups serve as an ideal platform for the delivery of financial capability tools as our tools complement the practical experience savings groups offer through active participation. With partners, UNCDF has developed a three-pronged financial capability approach which is set to grow, and currently includes:

Financial education modules via an interactive tablet-based application

Financial education modules via interactive SMS messaging

(offered through Vodacom)

Supplementary financial education for savings group

members

1. All About Mobile Money: Interacting with an agent safely and securely

2. Mobile Money Simulator: Practicing sending money, buying airtime, keeping a password safe, and cashing out

3.-5. Saving, Budgeting, and the Spending Game (under development)

1. Saving

2. Form or join a savings group (how to)

3. How to grow your shares

4. How to use M-Pesa

5. How to use M-Pawa

6. Tell your friends!

Face-to-face modules that fill gaps in implementing partner’s current methodologies for training savings groups on:

• saving • mobile services • consumer protection

Our Current Partners:

Scaling Up Our Work in and around Refugee Camps in Tanzania

Pilot Conclusion (July 2018): Adapt tools and approach using feedback provided from participants and results from data collection Phase II (July 2018 – June 2019): o Scale up program to Nduta and Mtendeli refugee camps as well as surrounding host communities

§ Expand partnerships to include other implementing agencies o Test and develop scalable solutions for financial capability and digital literacy using both traditional and

alternative delivery channels: § Supplementary face-to-face sessions § SMS- and tablet-based applications more widely available in camps and communities (e.g. through IRC’s

Youth Centres and other existing community centres) and used during savings group meetings § Educational videos reinforcing key programming messages in public video houses, the Common Market,

salons, restaurants Long-Term Programming (July 2019 and onwards): o Pair scaled programming with advocacy at the policy level o Build partner institution capacity to better serve savings groups through training and access to new tools o Link savings groups to formal financial institutions through digital and traditional channels o Foster improved relations between refugees and host communities through economic empowerment

180720 uncdf refugee abridged cn id · 1. all about mobile money: interacting with an agent safely...

Documents