Women, Monetary Practices, and Technological Innovations

Women, Monetary Practices, and Technological Innovations

2014

West Africa

Cote d'Ivoire

As with the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, the level of financial development in Cote d'Ivoire is very low. In 2012, only 14% of the population had a bank account. This low rate of banking and the absence of a differentiated range of exchange tools explains the fact that transactions take place mainly in cash. The recent arrival of money transfer and savings through mobile phones seems to be a tool for relief and inclusion for a significant proportion of people without access to conventional financial products. Today, payment and savings using mobile phones appear gradually as new monetary practices that fall into the habits of the Ivorian population. To what extent does mobile money affect the existing monetary practices? In the context of poverty reduction, it is important to consider how mobile money can lift the poorest people out of the trap of vulnerability. This study analyses these questions among women at the Gouro provision market in Adjame, Cote d'Ivoire. By combining quantitative methods for data collection and focus groups, we expect that this study will highlight the profile of women who use mobile money services and their reasons for using, and show how public policymakers and the private sector can contribute to strengthen mobile money as a tool for financial inclusion and management of money.

Kone Nara Kanigui Idriss, Wahabou Ibrah Mountaka

Kone Nara Kanigui Idriss holds a B.A. in Political Economics from University of Bouake, Cote d'Ivoire. He is a recent graduate student of ENSEA (National Advanced School of Statistics and Applied Economics) at Abidjan. Kanigui currently works as junior statistician economist in the Population and Development department of ENSEA.

Wahabou Ibrah Mountaka received a M.A. in Engineering in Statistics and Applied Economics from the National Advanced School of Statistics and Applied Economics (ENSEA), Cote d'Ivoire. He also holds a B.A. in Applied Statistics from the Sub regional Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics (ISSEA), Cameroon. Ibrah served as an intern at the National Institute of Statistics of Niger, his native country. Currently, he is a Junior Statistician Economist at ENSEA.