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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
All
Project Description
Why a Consumer Finance Research Methods Toolkit? And why now? There has been an unprecedented expansion of financial technology aimed at helping everyday people save, manage and transfer money. There are new insurance, investment and money management products, digital financial education tools and alternative credit scoring and lending services. What started with M-Pesa's mobile phone-based money transfer service in 2007 has blossomed into myriad new technologies and platforms for electronic payment and other digital financial services accessed via phone, computer, tablet, kiosk, ATM, point-of-sale terminal or other device.
We have dubbed this a 'Cambrian explosion': like the Cambrian period in evolutionary history, when on planet Earth biological organisms went through an incredible period of diversification occupying new environmental niches and experimenting with new body forms and types, financial technology is undergoing a period of profound change. Yet what all this means for everyday people remains very much an open question. In some places, we see consumers rapidly adopting a new service; in others, the same service simply does not find appeal. Investors and startups create new products but it is not always clear what problem they are trying to solve. And cash and coin one of the most ancient of human technologies endure, especially among the world's poor.
Since 2008, the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion has been supporting research into the lives of the poor around the world as they are, or are not, impacted by new mobile and digital payment and financial technologies. With a global footprint and researchers from emerging markets sometimes working in remote regions, IMTFI has provided an archive of data on the intersection of money and technology, traditional and modern financial practices, and ground-level insights into how people really deal with their money and what they might do if they had access to a broader range of financial tools.
This how-to, hands-on guide spotlights the research methods our researchers and others have been using successfully to understand people's money worlds. It spotlights ethical and consumer protection issues and offers case studies and examples of successful research and dissemination to show how to turn insight into impact. From qualitative to quantitative, ethnographic to experimental, an expanded portfolio of research methods can grow the conversation on financial inclusion?to make it more broadly inclusive of diverse perspectives, peoples and paradigms.
Researcher(s)
Erin Taylor and Gawain Lynch
About the Researcher(s)
Erin B. Taylor is Project Lead. She is an economic anthropologist and a Research Fellow at the Social Sciences Institute at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Erin is the author of Materializing Poverty: How the Poor Transform Their Lives (2013, AltaMira), a book about how residents of a Dominican squatter settlement invest in their homes and community as part of their socio-economic strategies.
Researcher 2
Gawain Lynch is Project Consultant. He is a Director at Canela Group, a research consultancy specializing in knowledge products. Gawain has an extensive background in technology as an Infrastructure Consultant and is an expert in content management systems. In his spare time he is the brains behind the popular anthropology website PopAnth: Hot Buttered Humanity.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/researchtoolkit.php">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/researchtoolkit.php</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Consumer Finance Research Toolkit
2015
All
Erin Taylor and Gawain Lynch
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Indonesia
Project Description
This project will investigate gendered evaluations of remittance practices between Indonesian transnational labor migrants and their rural non-migrant kin and peers. In 2013, Indonesia received USD 7.4 billion from 6 million migrants abroad. Official remittance numbers underestimate informal physical cash or gift transfers. While migrants contribute to the national economy, they are also vulnerable to financial exploitation and extortion by recruitment and travel agents, insurance companies, local and foreign police, immigration and customs officers. To reduce these risks and potential cyclical poverty, the Indonesian government, alongside international and national financial institutions, funded financial education programs in rural migration-origin villages. These programs encourage villagers to use digital platforms for payment and money storage. However, our preliminary research shows that villagers still evaluate migrants' journeys as "successful" or not based on how much cash they physically carry back to Indonesia. Our study seeks to understand why do migrants and their kin privilege carrying rather than sending money home despite the high risks associated with physical cash transfer, and widespread availability of digital payment services in migrant-origin villages and destination countries. Furthermore, these expectations and evaluations differ according to migrants? gender. Besides mistrust and less familiarity with digital platforms, we hypothesize that key factors include gendered moral evaluations of migrants' "success" and "failure". Gossip and mistrust of female migrants' moral behavior overseas often mean that women strive harder to prove themselves as diligent daughters and faithful wives.The visible and tangible aspect of cash may influence villagers' evaluation of women's migratory success versus men. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two migrant-origin villages in Central Java, and interviews with relevant authorities, this study will contribute to understanding gendered remittance behavior in developing countries. It will highlight obstacles and possibilities for migration as a poverty-alleviating strategy in Indonesia and other developing countries.
Researcher(s)
Carol Chan
About the Researcher(s)
Carol Chan is currently completing her doctoral dissertation project in Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work focuses on the gendered and moral perceptions and experiences of development, failure, and violence in migrant-origin villages of Central Java, Indonesia. She has been a Chancellor's Research Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh, and a visiting scholar of the Center of Asia-Pacific Studies, University of Gadja Mada in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Her journal article "Gendered Morality and Development Narratives: the Case of Female Labor Migration from Indonesia" was recently published in Sustainability 6 (10): 6949-6972.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/chan_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/chan_2015.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
To Send or to Carry? Gendered Evaluations of Formal and Informal Remittance Practices in Migrant-Origin Villages in Central Java, Indonesia
2015
Carol Chan
Indonesia
Southeast Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Colombia
Project Description
This research studies how recent developments in mobile banking are inscribed in and are contributing to the transformation of existing networks, practices and perspectives of social protection (in terms of help in times of need and provision for future scenarios) in two rural areas in Colombia. The question of how have rural families engaged in social protection, what are they doing now and what are their perspectives for the future become important in the context of Colombia where the majority population employed in the informal economy particularly in rural areas rely heavily on family networks. Two processes have particularly affected the dynamics of social protection in the areas (Montes de Maria and Putumayo) this research focuses on: the armed conflict with its impact on local economies and the displacement of families forced to reconfigure across different territories, and government programs such as conditional cash transfers that have brought these populations into the realms of formal banking, first through banking correspondents and now through mobile banking. Inspired by Dorothy Smith's conception of the sociological endeavor, the aim of this research is to construct a map that would help different actors locate themselves in an actual context. The first stage of this research consists in a series of interviews and informal conversations with local functionaries and recipients of government transfers in which both their experiences with mobile banking and social protection will be discussed. In the second state, three families in each locale will be selected for more in-depth study where the researcher and family members will collectively reconstruct, with the help of social network methodologies, their practices of social protection and the role mobile banking is playing and can play in these evolving arrangements.
Researcher(s)
Maria Elisa Balen, Andrea Beltran, Rosa Guerrero Zambrano, Sonia Laguna
About the Researcher(s)
Maria Elisa Balen is interested in the sociology of money, critical accounting, perspectives of governance and the sociology of knowledge. In the past she has worked in various social programs with an emphasis in education including a transition program for youths to go back into school, a rural libraries network, and a program to promote the engagement of students with public policy. In her PhD she researched the implications of a conditional cash transfer program in Colombia, analyzing techniques and experiences surrounding information production, money/finance, women's empowerment and changing modes of politics. She has been active in discussions around the role of conditional cash transfer programs in changing social protection systems in various scenarios including the Second ISA Forum of Sociology in Buenos Aires (2012) and the Colombian XI National Sociology Congress in Medellin (2014), having recently co-authored an article on the subject entitled "Policy Transfer: an invitation to revisit the work of Latour, Star and Marres" (2015). She holds a bachelor degree in History from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and an MSc and PhD in Sociology from the University of Bristol. In her present capacity as an associate researcher of the Grupo de Proteccion Social at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, she is carrying out a comparative study of mobile banking regulation in Bolivia and Colombia.
Researcher 2
Andrea Beltrn is interested in the sociology of public action. She has experience in methodological design and the implementation of studies for alliances between the public and civil sectors. Currently, she teaches political sociology and qualitative research methods at Universidad Externado de Colombia. She also works as a researcher of the Grupo de Proteccion Social at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, where she is carrying out research on the role of the state in the production and reproduction of territorial inequalities. She holds a masters degree in Sociology from Paris 8, in France, and a BA in Government and International Relations from the Universidad Externado de Colombia.
Researcher 3
Rosa Guerrero Zambranohas experience with rights work related to the environment and the human rights of women, particularly those who are victims and in a situation of forced displacement. She is a Technician in Sanitation from the Instituto Tecnologico de Putumayo, has worked with various organizations including the Red Cross and MINGA, and is co-founder of Fundacion ARCA which works for the promotion of animal rights. She has abilities in new technologies and the production of different communication media (newsletters, blogs, etc).
Researcher 4
Sonia Laguna is a community leader in the municipality of El Carmen de Bolivar in Montes de Maria, Colombia. A former schoolteacher, she has been involved in local women's groups including the citizen's oversight for the conditional cash transfer program called Familias en Accion and the mutual health organization Mutual Ser. Sonia combines her community engagement with her work as a seamstress.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/balen_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/balen_2015.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
The role of mobile money in social protection networks in two rural areas of Colombia
2015
Andrea Beltran
Colombia
Latin America and the Caribbean
Maria Elisa Balen
Rosa Guerrero Zambrano
Sonia Laguna
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
South Africa
Country
South Africa
Project Description
The objective of this research project is to study the impact of mobile payment platforms and other digital technologies that facilitate the design and distribution of microinsurance products in South Africa. While a growing body of research on ?m-insurance? has focused on how to leverage technological advances to build efficiency into the micro-insurance value chain for scaling-up operations, relatively little is known about how low-income clients experience these digital mediums as they struggle against a variety of risk factors. Furthermore, the framing of m-insurance as a tool for financial inclusion obscures important issues about new formations of power, exclusions and other unanticipated consequences that may arise as a consequence of the penetration of corporatist strategies and techniques into low-income spaces. The proposed research project will take a case study approach to understand how poor people respond to and experience a funeral insurance scheme offered by a leading South African insurance company through an innovative mobile-based interface. This qualitative study aims to shed light on the potential trade-offs of a microinsurance agenda enabled and mediated by new mobile/digital technologies and driven predominantly by efficiency and scale concerns. Among the core questions this research seeks to address are : what are the terms by which the poor are included ? and who might be excluded ? by insurance schemes mediated by mobile technology driven by corporate partnerships?
Researcher(s)
Christopher Paek
About the Researcher(s)
Christopher Paek is a Phd candidate at the International Development Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in London, UK. His research interests broadly encompass the evolving role of the private sector, particularly large corporations in processes of socio-economic development and poverty alleviation. His thesis project, due for completion in the fall of 2017, focuses on the politics behind the emerging microinsurance markets in South Africa and the growing influence of insurance companies on risk management strategies of low-income citizens. Christopher has been a practitioner in the development field for the past 6 years as a project management consultant for the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, housed in the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/paek_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/paek_2015.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
The Curious Case of Mobile Micro-insurance in South Africa: A View from Above and Below
2015
Christopher Paek
South Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
South Asia
Country
Nepal (Himalayan Region)
Project Description
This project addresses the material, technical and financial modalities related to social practices in the Himalayan valley of Manang, Nepal. The borderland nature of Manang and its complex involvement with international trading, tourism and development economies pulls the trajectory of this study away from more static, small-scale, ethnographic models traditionally applied to remote regions. The primary question of my research asks how these various networks, discourses and priorities overlap, diverge, or intersect through the geographic place of Manang? The devastating earthquake of April 2015 and associated relief efforts adds another layer of historical conditionality to this already complex meshwork of socio-economic systems. Using the recent earthquake as a touchstone, I explore the relationships between a so-called natural landscape and the subjective cultural systems that manifest through it. My conceptual approach is heavily influenced by Tim Ingold's phenomenological elaborations, and my methodology is based on participant observation as well as formal interviews.
Researcher(s)
Kabir Mansingh
About the Researcher(s)
Kabir Mansingh Heimsath is an anthropologist working on urban space, landscape and contemporary art in Tibet and the general Himalayan region. He has a background in comparative religion and visual anthropology. D.Phil research (University of Oxford 2011) focussed on the urban transformation of Lhasa, Tibet. Since 1996 Kabir has lived and worked between Kathmandu, Lhasa and Beijing as a guide, independent consultant and faculty for various US university study-abroad programs. From 2013, Kabir has been teaching at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/mansingh_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/mansingh_2015.php#</a>
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Strange Intersections: Humans, Technology and Disaster in a Himalayan Valley
2015
Kabir Mansingh
Nepal (Himalayan Region)
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
East Africa
Country
Uganda
Project Description
The extensive growth of sports betting in sub-Saharan Africa has been enabled by technological innovations and permitted or encouraged by local governments that are eager for new sources of tax revenue. Given the large population of participants as well as the intensity of bettors' involvement sports betting has considerable economic significance on both national and household levels. Even as the first wave of betting expansion through betting shops and consoles are taking place, another wave is already building momentum through mobile phone based betting applications. As of now, there exist no rigorous empirical analyses of the causes of high intensity betting and the implications for financial management decisions of the poor in developing countries. This project is an effort to fill in this gap in the empirical economics literature with a study based in Kampala, Uganda. The study will center on creation of a nine-week panel data set capturing weekly variation in betting participation, micro-enterprise production, mobile betting expansion, and household consumption. The study also aims to examine the daily money management challenges of micro-enterprise owners in Kampala and to observe the distortionary impact that betting has on both the productive and consumptive decisions of its participants. Focus group discussions and observation of betting locations will be used to complement the quantitative analysis. Finally, the project will look closely at the concurrent expansions of mobile based financial services alongside mobile based betting platforms to examine their interaction and impact.
Researcher(s)
Sylvan Herskowitz
About the Researcher(s)
Sylvan Herskowitz is a PhD candidate in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has lived and worked extensively in Africa including time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger from '06-'08. Sylvan's research projects span a range of topics and settings including marriage market reactions to weather shocks in Indonesia, firm response to violence in Afghanistan, and statistical discrimination in the textiles industry in Kenya.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/magruder_herskowitz_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/magruder_herskowitz_2015.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
Sports Betting in Uganda: Causes and Consequences
2015
East Africa
Sylvan Herskowitz
Uganda
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
South Asia
Country
India (South)
Project Description
In rural southern India, the financial landscape has seen tremendous change over recent years. Social benefits, which are widespread, are now paid into bank accounts. Ten years back, most poor rural households had never had contact with a bank (this was especially the case for Dalits, women and some workers, such as bonded laborers). Today, however, they don?t have a choice. Most now have bank accounts and ATM cards. What difference will this make? This research project will look at this through two complementary sets of questions. The first set of questions deals with changes in financial behaviors and will draw on a longitudinal household survey (the same households surveyed in 2010 will be surveyed again). Are bank accounts only used to receive social benefits or are they also used to save and manage daily transactions? The use of banking financial transactions will be quantified, compared to 2010 data and disaggregated by caste, gender, occupation, location and upward mobilities of the respondents. The second set of questions deals with the consequences on social relations and "world views". Bank accounts and ATM cards are not only technical tools, but also convey a particular vision of the world, based on a specific accounting system in the service of separate individuals. This vision of the world goes against the customary financial practices of constantly juggling with money and social relationships, where money (including quasi money such as gold), debt and saving are the expression of relations of interdependency (whether based on hierarchy and exploitation, or on solidarity and reciprocity). To what extent does the introduction of new financial technologies impact pre-existing visions of the world, and how do these two regimes of value interact and coexist? Here too, particular attention will be given to Dalits, women and bonded laborers.
Researcher(s)
Venkatasubramanian Govindan, Isabelle Guerin
About the Researcher(s)
Venkatasubramanian Govindan is a Permanent Research Engineer at the Department of Social Sciences, French Institute of Pondicherry. He received his PhD in Sociology from Pondicherry University, India. He has been involved as a research associate in various research projects on issues related to rural employment and micro-finance in India with the Agence Nationale de la Recherche and the International labor Organization. He has had extensive fieldwork experience that spans more than 15 years and has conducted in-depth qualitative and quantitative survey in rural and semi urban areas of India on migration, household indebtedness. His research interests and involvements encompass household circumstances with reference to work opportunities, income, health, savings and borrowing practices, sources of lending, employee-employer relationship, rural financiers and chit funds and mobilization of financial resources.
Researcher 2
Isabelle Guerin is a Senior research fellow at the Institute of Research for Development/ Centre d'etudes en sciences sociales sur les mondes americains africains et asiatiques (Cessma), and an associate researcher at the French Institute of Pondicherry (India) and at the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi, Belgium). She specializes in the political and moral economics of money, debt and finance. Her current work focuses on the financialisation of domestic economies, looking at how financialisation produces both new forms of inequalities and domination, but also alternative and solidarity-based initiatives. She has published two monographs (La microfinance et ses derives. Emanciper, discipliner ou exploiter Paris, Demopolis, 2015 ; and Femmes et economie solidaire, Paris: La Decouverte, 2003). She has jointly edited a number of books and special issues of journals. She also regularly publishes in development studies journals such as World Development, Journal of Development Studies, Development and Change among others.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/govindan_guerin_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/govindan_guerin_2015.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
Separate self, interdependent self and new financial technologies - Lessons from rural southern India
2015
India (South)
Isabelle Guerin
South Asia
Venkatasubramanian Govindan
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
South Africa
Country
Zimbabwe
Project Description
At the peak of the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy in the year 2008, inflation levels reached a world record of 250 million percent. This led to the total collapse of the Zimbabwean currency and the whole of the formal money market and the rise of the informal money changing systems. The adoption of the multi-currency system in the year 2009 following the budget announcement by the then Minister of Finance was defined as a watershed period in terms of monetary policies not only for the country but the whole of Southern Africa. Multicurrency was defined as an adoption of foreign currencies that included the United States dollar, British pound, South African rand and Botswana Pula as official currencies of Zimbabwe operating in the same economy. The Zimbabwean dollar was abolished through the adoption of this system. In this study, we ask the following questions: What were the new socio-economic dynamics that emerged in balancing and negotiating these currencies? What new configurations were created by people in order to make sense of the prevailing system money ecosystem? What new narratives were formed in the monetary interaction between rural and the urban population in Zimbabwe, and how does mobile money interface and influence traditional perceptions on money and the value it has? The study will make use of detailed comparative ethnographic engagements between Harare (Urban setting) and Chivi (Rural Setting). The study will facilitate an understanding of the Zimbabwean multi currency money ecosystem through situating the explosion of mobile money and how it has shaped and reshaped perceptions of people around money and its value.
Researcher(s)
Innocent Tonderai Mahiya, Simbarashe Gukurume
About the Researcher(s)
Innocent Tonderai Mahiya is a final year PhD student at Rhodes University studying food security among the small scale farmers in Hwedza. Innocent holds a Masters in Sociology and Social Anthropology both from University of Zimbabwe. He is currently the Departmental Chairperson at Women?s University in Africa where he also teaches Introduction to Sociology, Qualitative Research Methods among other courses. He has been a lecturer in Sociology Department since 2010 to date. Innocent is well grounded in livelihoods of the poor and social dynamics created by uncertainties in both rural areas and urban areas having spent the last three years preparing for a PhD in the same area. His research interests include social dynamics, money and livelihoods of the poor and qualitative research among other areas.
Researcher 2
Simbarashe Gukurume is a doctoral fellow at the Institute for the study of Humanities in Africa (HUMA), University of Cape Town. He holds a BSc degree in Sociology and an M.Sc in Sociology and Social Anthropology from the University of Zimbabwe. From 2010 -2014, he worked as a lecturer at Great Zimbabwe University in the department of Sociology and Social Anthropology. He has been a Graduate Teaching Assistant at University of Zimbabwe (2008-2010). His research interests focus more broadly on money and its intersections with prosperity gospel, consumerism and livelihoods. His current research project focuses on mobile money transactions in a multi-currency environment in Zimbabwe.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/mahiya_gukurume_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/mahiya_gukurume_2015.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
Managing, negotiating, and converting "currency" in daily life in a multicurrency environment of Zimbabwe
2015
Innocent Tonderai Mahiya
Simbarashe Gukurume
South Africa
Zimbabwe
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Myanmar and India
Project Description
Why do people continue to use intermediaries such as mobile money agents, when they could carry out the same operations in a cheaper and faster manner without them? Research on mobile money has largely focused on end-users of mobile financial services, and does not explain the resilience of intermediaries that should have been eliminated by technology. In this project, we explore the roles played by financial intermediaries in agricultural markets in Myanmar and India, in order to understand their practices, their position in the community, and the social relations they maintain with their clients. What value do intermediaries bring to monetary and financial transactions? What value do these transactions bring to the lives of intermediaries? Which of the many functions embodied by intermediaries can be replaced or supported by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and which ones are beyond their reach? We use these questions to frame our qualitative and comparative research in a wet market in the town of Hsipaw, in Myanmar, and in the fish auction markets of South Kerala, in India. The differing trajectories of mobile phone and mobile money adoption of the two countries will enable us to understand the process and value of mediation in communities where the devices of mediation are more and less familiar to intermediaries and end users. Our research aims at mapping out the financial and mobile phone practices of different market actors, of end-users and intermediaries, in order to uncover their differing needs and expectations. Identifying the role of intermediaries in fulfilling these needs and expectations, we argue, can help explain why promises of disintermediation languish and financial intermediaries persist in the digital age.
Researcher(s)
Janaki Srinivasan and Elisa Oreglia
About the Researcher(s)
Janaki Srinivasan (PhD, UC Berkeley School of Information) is an Assistant Professor at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB). She studies the political economy of information and ICT-focused development initiatives. Janaki is currently working on the role of intermediaries in ICT-based transactions among agricultural actors in India, and the role of information determinism in ICT-based initiatives.
Researcher 2
Elisa Oreglia (PhD, UC Berkeley School of Information) is a lecturer at SOAS, University of London. She studies the appropriation and circulation of new media among marginal users in China and Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on local knowledge production and information sharing practices. She is currently researching the self-invention of new media users in rural China, and the "digital imagination" in Myanmar.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/srinivasan_oreglia_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/srinivasan_oreglia_2015.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
Intermediaries, Cash Economies, and Technological Change in Myanmar and India
2015
Janaki Srinivasan and Elisa Oreglia
Myanmar and India
Southeast Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Philippines
Project Description
Ambulant street vendors abound in Tacloban City, Philippines. In this study, we focus on a total of one hundred respondents (mostly women) who sell their wares in the open thoroughfares for basic subsistence. This sector is one of the most disadvantaged segment in the Philippine society who are unable to obtain loans from the Philippine banks due to their lack of tangible assets. This situation often forces them to borrow loans from informal lenders called Bombay 5-6, a group of enterprising Indian nationals who lend money to Filipinos at 20% interest. The Bombay 5-6 offers a loan amount of Php 1,000 - 5, 000 ($22.00 - 111.00) payable within 1-3 months in a daily basis of collection, collected either in the beginning or at the end of the business day. With an average monthly income of Php 1500-2000 ($33.00 - 45.00) these vendors depend on their day-to-day capitalization from this Bombay 5-6. The borrower?s business and loan repayment history are the considerations of the Bombay 5-6 to grant loans to these vendors. In this study we will use purposive sampling and interview questionnaires to find out about the demographics, reason for loan preference and focus on the effects on clients especially with regards to whether loans enhance or worsen their economic conditions. Respondents will be assured of total confidentiality of their answers, and the data will be used solely for this study. The lender common to 10 ? 20 street vendor respondents will be interviewed on their practices on default, repayment and collection scheme to triangulate the data collection through a Focused-Group Discussion (FGD). According to Madestam?s Theory, formal and informal credit can be either complements or substitutes in an economy; the objective of this research is to ascertain the possibilities of institutionalizing lending activity that might benefit the vendors, the lenders, and the local economy of Tacloban City.
Researcher(s)
Rosalita Morillio Dula and Marilou Pelenio Grego
About the Researcher(s)
Rosalita Morillio Dula is as a social instructor at the Eastern Visayas State University, Philippines. She got her master?s degree in Teaching Social Sciences from the University of Eastern Philippines Catarman N. Samar, Philippines and her doctorate in Educational Administration from Northwest Samar State University Calbayog City, Philippines. She has held faculty positions in Philippine Association for Graduate Education , Eastern Visayas State University Faculty Association, and PSU Balanga Campus, Bataan City, Philippines. Her research interest revolves around migrants, micro-entrepreneurs and informal loan practices in the Philippines.
Researcher 2
Marilou Pelenio Grego is a full time instructor at the Eastern Yisayas State University, Philippines. She is also an Adviser of the AB Economics graduating students at the Eastern Visayas State University since 2012 up to present. She serves as enumerators in some regional research projects in Eastern Visayas. She has a bachelors degree of arts from the Eastern Visayas State University, Tacloban City Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Eastern Philippines, Catarman, Northern Samar, Philippines. She is the Associate Member of Council of Region VIII, Philippines, Incorporator Corporate Secretary at the Strategic Research and Policy Study Group Inc. Tacloban City, Philippines, Associate Member of Council of Deans and Educators in Business - Region 8, Eastern Visayas Chapter.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/dula_grego_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/dula_grego_2015.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Informal Loan Trap: Bombay 5-6 and its Effect to Tacloban Micro-entrepreneurs
2015
Philippines
Rosalita Morillio Dula and Marilou Pelenio Grego
Southeast Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
Mobile money has experienced exponential growth in developing nations, influencing activities in all sectors of the economy. It is a technology that has contributed immensely in the financial inclusion of the unbanked that include majority of women micro entrepreneurs participating in table banking. Table banking is a variant of village banking that involves saving and borrowing all the money immediately leaving a small percentage for administration and insurance. Members of table banking groups are usually low-income farmers and self-employed persons, majority of whom are women. As in many developing nations, women in Kenya have limited control of productive resources, a situation that limits the productivity of women-owned micro enterprises. Although mobile money has the capability of empowering these women, how it interacts with participation in table banking to influence control of productive resources among women has not yet been an area of study. Guided by the empowerment theory, this study aims at determining the influence of mobile money on the control of productive resources among women micro entrepreneurs participating in table banking. The study will use both qualitative and quantitative research methods and will take into consideration all 374 members of women-only table banking groups registered with the Nakuru Gender Office and operating within the Nakuru Municipality will be studied.
Researcher(s)
Milcah Mulu-Mutuku and Castro Ngumbu Gichuki
About the Researcher(s)
Milcah Mulu-Mutuku is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Applied Community Development Studies, Egerton University, Kenya. She holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship from Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, Kenya. Her research interests encompass entrepreneurship and sustainable livelihoods with focus on rural, youth and female entrepreneurism. She has been involved in projects designed to enhance management and technical skills among women micro entrepreneurs as well as enhancement of food safety through reduced pesticide residues on vegetables using a market chain approach. Milcah has also been involved in promotion of cassava production and utilisation through commercialisation; and empowering youth with agri-entrepreneurial knowledge and skills.
Researcher 2
Castro Ngumbu Gichuki holds a M.Sc. in Community Studies and Extension from Egerton University Kenya and is pursuing a PhD programme in Agricultural Economics and Management at Nanjing Agricultural University. He is also a part time lecturer at Maasai Mara University Kenya. His areas of expertise are social entrepreneurship, community development and extension. His field of research related to community banking groups and women's entrepreneurship. He is currently undertaking research on informal groups' synergy focusing on performance of village savings and credit associations in Kenya.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/mulu-mutuku_gichuki_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/mulu-mutuku_gichuki_2015.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Influence of Mobile Money on Control of Productive Resources Among Women Micro Entrepreneurs Participating Table Banking in Nakuru, Kenya
2015
East Africa
Kenya
Milcah Mulu-Mutuku and Castro Ngumbu Gichuki
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
Money transfer systems have been extremely popular in Kenya. In Western Kenya, digital money is circulated in social networks based on money sharing that foster emotional closeness and relationships of closeness and allow women some form of social empowerment. However, social empowerment may not translate into economic empowerment -- the ability to store, build, and make decisions about value. Discourses of financial inclusion often privilege money storage over money transfer, even as empirical study of how individual and group strategies are produced in women's financial lives is largely absent. This project will examine how 20 unbanked women of diverse backgrounds use group (reciprocal money sharing) and independent (payment, earmarking, or value storage) strategies with digital financial tools over the course of one year. We want to explore if independent strategies give women more economic and social empowerment than using group strategies alone. We will use Social Network Analysis (SNA) to map each participant's network and record her monthly financial activities in order to create a dynamic social network that demonstrates change over time. Ethnographic data will provide context for the SNA patterns and elucidate women's definitions and experiences of economic security, decision-making, and social empowerment. Combined SNA and ethnographic data will document the effects of group and independent digital financial tools on value storage and transfer patterns. This study, in modeling women at the center of changing social networks of mobile money relationships, will understand how women negotiate the trade-offs between economic and social dimensions of empowerment, and contribute to defining more holistic visions of financial inclusion.
Researcher(s)
Sibel Kusimba and Yang Yang
About the Researcher(s)
Dr Sibel Kusimba is presently the Anthropologist in Residence, American University. She has more than 20 years of experience conducting anthropological research in Kenya and has garnered numerous grants, including three National Science Foundation Grants, one of which was an REU grant in 2007-2008 to support an NSF undergraduate research site in Kenya; three grants through The Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion (IMTFI) to study mobile money in Kenya in 2012, 2014, and 2015; and two year-long Fulbright appointments through the US Department of State to Kenya in 1993-1994 and 2009-2010, along with numerous faculty research grants from Northern Illinois University and American University. She has published numerous book chapters and articles. Her 2003 book, African Foragers, was named an outstanding academic book by the American Library Association. Her research conducted with funding from IMTFI is being published in the peer-reviewed journals Information Technology in International Development and Economic Anthropology. Dr. Kusimba?s work is featured in an IMTFI video and webinar she co-presented with founders of the m-PESA crowdfunding platform M-Changa. She also presented a webinar on the use of Social Network Analysis in mobile money research through the American Anthropological Association. She is currently working on a book tentatively entitled Mobile Economies: A New Kind of Currency in Kenya.
Researcher 2
Yang Yang received his B.Sc. degree in Software Engineering from the Nanjing University, China, and his Ph.D from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He is presently a Postdoctoral Scholar at Northwestern University. he has been a member of iCeNSA lab and Data Inference Analysis and Learning (DIAL) Research Laboratory since 2010. His current research interests include developing scalable algorithms and methods for link prediction problems, social network evolution analysis, social influence analysis and human mobility network analysis. His work has focussed on extending time series studies to modeling temporal information in the link prediction problem and using influence analysis in estimating link likelihood in multi-relational and heterogeneous networks.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/kusimba_yang_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/kusimba_yang_2015.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Group versus Individual Strategies: Dynamic Social Networks of Mobile Money among Unbanked Women in Western Kenya
2015
East Africa
Kenya
Sibel Kusimba and Yang Yang
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
West Africa
Country
Nigeria
Project Description
In market parlance women and girls are often lumped together as a unit. In Nigeria, adolescent girls have 25% lower adoption rate of mobile based digital financial services in comparison to older women. This shows that their needs and aspirations towards this innovation are poorly met. The argument of whether and how adolescent girls should use DFS have generated tensions between traditional and modern way of living, and between the younger and the older generations. Understanding how these girls? logic around this innovation was formed will be useful in shaping the future and longevity of this innovation and in minimizing roadblocks to adoption because they are the adults of tomorrow. The behavior adolescent girls exhibit when they interface with DFS show more evolving capabilities and openness to technological innovations and greater flexibility towards cultural rigidities.This objective of this study is analyze the different perceptions held by the adults towards adolescent girls? uptake of digital financial services (DFS), the tension that results as result of the interface between the perception of older and younger generations, and the new social dynamics that emerges as a result of the 'escapees' uptake. For the purpose of the study, 2 communities that are located in urban slums and 2 from rural areas will be selected from northern and southern Nigeria (Christian and Islamic backgrounds). The study design shall be exploratory with rich participatory elements and its quantitative and qualitative data will be attuned to enable effective comparison from Christian-Muslim perspectives, traditional-modern culture perspectives, and rural-urban poor perspectives.
Researcher(s)
Dr Jude Kenechi Onyima and Chinedu Francis Egbunike
About the Researcher(s)
Dr Jude Kenechi Onyima is a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. He has served as a consultant to the Nigerian Government and development agencies on a number of entrepreneurship and rural development programs in Nigeria. He was the principal investigator in the 2014 IMTFI research project: Mobile Money, Social Capital and Financial Behavior of women Cooperatives in Rural Nigeria. Jude holds a Bachelor of Science degree (First Class Honors), a Master?s degree in Economics and a PhD in Rural Finance. He is a recipient of the Harry Frank Guggenheim research grant for Young African Scholars and an awardee of the IL0-ICA Young scholars program in 2015. Jude is a World Bank certified trainer of micro-finance program and possess over 8 years consulting experience in both public and private sector. Jude has published extensively on rural finance, gender poverty, small and rural entrepreneurship and cooperative organizations. His research interests include rural livelihood, economics of conflicts, immigrant entrepreneurship and financial inclusion.
Researcher 2
Chinedu Francis Egbunike is a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. He has assisted many researchers and institutions in Nigeria to manage and analyze data on finance. He has facilitated a number of workshops on financial inclusion and management information system. Chinedu holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master?s degree in Accounting. He is presently a doctoral student in Accountancy at Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Chinedu is a professional data analyst with over 7 years experience in academics and professional practice both in the public and in the private sector. He has conducted research that has been published in reputable journals within and outside Nigeria. His research interests include fraud and disclosures, sustainable information system and rural entrepreneurship.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/onyima_egbunike_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/onyima_egbunike_2015.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Generational Tensions in the Uptake of Digital Financial Services: Adolescent Girls and Adults in Nigeria
2015
Dr Jude Kenechi Onyima and Chinedu Francis Egbunike
Nigeria
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
South Asia
Country
Pakistan
Project Description
Since the early 1990s, Pakistan's economic policies have been geared towards integrating unregulated money circulation with global financial networks by privatizing banks, developing capital markets, micro-credit lending, and branchless banking. Post 9/11, under the rubric of security and counter-terrorism, the Pakistani state has further intensified its efforts to discipline vernacular financial practices, particularly the informal money transfer system known as hawala, generating tensions among local merchants and impacting laborers sending remittances to their homes. Against this backdrop, this project seeks to investigate how the state?s regulations and emerging corporate finance shapes laborers? perceptions and practices of value transfer system. Narrowing the ethnographic gaze on ethnic Pakhtun laborers in Pakistan?s largest wholesale market, Bolton Market, in Karachi, this research shows how laborers? engagement with new financial instruments such as branchless banking, perceived as secure and reliable, converges and diverges with the conventional modes of value transfer methods. This research is hopes to bring new insights into laborers? financial sensibility crafted at the interstices of emerging forms of digital transactions and the embedded social networks. Although grounded in Pakistan, my research speaks to a growing body of literature on branchless banking and financial security as they relate to market forces, globalization, and neoliberalism.
Researcher(s)
Noman Baig
About the Researcher(s)
Noman Baig is an Assistant Professor in the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Habib University, Karachi. He completed his Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Texas (Austin). His doctoral research investigated subject formation at the interstices of economy and religion in contemporary Pakistan with a focus on the shaping of merchants? subjectivity in Karachi?s contemporary marketplace. The study also examined how the socio-political response to the ?War on Terror? involve fundamental questions of financial autonomy and independence as reflected in the monetary struggles of merchants. His current research interests include self and subjectivity, economic anthropology, religion, cities, money and markets.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/baig_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/baig_2015.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Financial Security: Laborers? Transfer of Value from Karachi's Marketplaces to Tribal War Zones in Pakistan
2015
Noman Baig
Pakistan
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Cambodia
Project Description
The concept of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (Roscas) has fascinated economists and anthropologists for many years. The altruistic dynamic of social capital involved in these tight knit groups has provided an interesting comparison to credit markets. An example of one variation, the bidding Rosca adds another element with the pool of funds provided to the participant with the highest interest rate bid. These bidding Roscas are common among Cambodian garment factory workers where they are known as Tong Tin groups (from the French "Tontine" group conceived in the 18th and 19th centuries). In this project a Tong Tin Rosca game is being developed where players take the role of a garment factory worker and decide whether to borrow from the Rosca each month or continue saving and how to spend their money on outstanding needs with consideration of their other limited assets. The game could be comparable to the Monopoly board game and its portrayal of the property market. Once developed the game should be playable as a tablet app and in physical card form. Notably, the tablet app is being developed via a competition for computer science students at UC Irvine.The Rosca simulation can then be played firstly by Cambodian garment factory workers to gather data and explore the dynamics of their financial decision making including its relation to their demographics, incomes and other characteristics. Understanding these dynamics could lead to innovation in microfinance product design that can provide the benefits of Roscas without the high level of risk. Additionally, wider release of the game online may provide an educational benefit to those wanting to learn the concept of Roscas plus gather behavioral data generally to understand how financial group decision making may differ cross-culturally.
Researcher(s)
Pushkar Maitra, Andrew Crawford, Professor Paul Lajbcygier
About the Researcher(s)
Professor Pushkar Maitra is presently a faculty at the Department of Economics, Monash University, Australia. His research interests include development economics, applied econometrics and field experiments. His specific research interests include microfinance, human capital and skill accumulation, relationships between groups in segmented societies and behavior change. He has published extensively in refereed international journals like Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Applied Econometrics and Economics Letters. He has successfully obtained research grants from the Australian Research Council, AusAID, International Growth Centre and USAID. He has extensive experience in designing and conducting field experiments and RCTs in developing countries.
Researcher 2
Andrew Crawford is an Adjunct Research Associate in the Department of Banking and Finance at Monash University, Australia. He began research in microfinance at Monash and moved to Cambodia in 2010 as an AusAid Youth Ambassador based at the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA). Over two years he assisted CMA developing their technology capacity including a website and microfinance data exchange. Simultaneously he conducted research into the profitability and outreach of Cambodian microfinance while also studying the Cambodian language. Since 2012 he has continued microfinance research work and presented conference papers at the University of Agder, Norway, the University of Surrey and the University of California, Irvine. Previously he also worked as a Research Assistant at the Australian Centre for Financial Studies to help develop the historical Australian Equity Database. He managed a previous Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion project in 2014/2015 on Financial Education via Television Comedy. Currently, Andrew is studying for a Masters of Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Hamburg.
Researcher 3
Professor Paul Lajbcygier holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Banking and Finance and the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University, Australia. Paul has conducted research in investments, asset pricing and retirement systems at amongst the best Universities and Business Schools in the world such as The University of Oxford, London Business School and the Stern School of Business, and New York University where he has held senior visiting research, visiting scholar and paid research positions. Since 1995, Paul has authored over 80 academic papers and obtained over $12 million in government grants, industry linkage grants and corporate payments in-kind. His published work has hundreds of citations, many in prestigious academic journals. He has sat on over 10 journal editorial boards and conference program committees and has reviewed papers for many prestigious journals. He has supervised over 20 Honours, Masters and PhD students. He has won awards both for his research and teaching.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/%20maitra_crawford_lajbcygier_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/ maitra_crawford_lajbcygier_2015.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Exploring Rosca Dynamics with a Cambodian Factory Worker Board Game
2015
Andrew Crawford
Cambodia
Professor Paul Lajbcygier
Pushkar Maitra
Southeast Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
West Africa
Country
Nigeria
Project Description
A major downside of the cashless policy introduced in Nigeria since 2014 has been pervasive electronic frauds (e-frauds). Consequently, this has lead to a growing fear of victimization among bank customers that influence their decision to utilize electronic banking. This raises the importance of trust governance and its centrality to the transition to a non-cash economy in Nigeria. This study investigates the dimensions of e-fraud and the role that trust governance plays in the adoption of and resistance to the use of electronic banking in Nigeria. The main field sites for the study will be Lagos, Oyo and Ogun States. The study will make use of both qualitative (in depth and key informants interviews) and quantitative methods and draw from space transition theory, victim precipitation theory, and deterrence theory to understand the experience and dimensions of fraud, customer complaints and fraud mitigation mechanisms in Nigeria.
Researcher(s)
Dr Oludayo Tade and Dr Oluwatosin Adeniyi
About the Researcher(s)
Dr Oludayo Tade received his Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology University of Ibadan and he specializes in issues related to social problems and criminology. He has also done extensive work in the media on reporting on the happenings in the southwestern part of Nigeria for over more than a decade. A number of his scholarly publications on cybercrime, piracy, child trafficking, family issues, financial fraud, transactional sex/prostitution, and juvenile delinquency, among others have appeared in reputed international journals. Dr. Tade has won several travel and research grants for his research work and is an Associate member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and member of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Association (NASA). He is a member of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Dakar.
Researcher 2
Dr Oluwatosin Adeniyi received his PhD and teaches at the Department of Economics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His research interests include development issues, international macroeconomics, socio-economics and mobile money. His publications in these areas have appeared in reputed journals.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/tade_adeniyi_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/tade_adeniyi_2015.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Dimensions of Electronic fraud and Governance of Trust in Nigeria's Cashless Ecosystem
2015
Dr Oludayo Tade and Dr Oluwatosin Adeniyi
Nigeria
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
West Africa
Country
Burkino Faso, Côte d'Ivoire
Project Description
The recent launch of mobile money services are acknowledged to facilitate cross-border remittances and to foster mobile banking development in several West African countries. The Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso are among the few countries where such services have recently been implemented target one of the largest diaspora in Sub-Saharan Africa (1.3 million people). The main objective of this project is to capture the impact of such services on remittances practices by focussing on their uptake by both Burkinabe migrants settled in Ivory Coast who send remittances, and their family members in Burkina Faso who receive these remittances. The project will rely on a multi-sited socioeconomic approach and a matched samples survey conducted with both migrants workers and farmers in Ivory Coast and with migrants' family fellows in rural areas of Burkina Faso. In addition, this quantitative analysis will be complemented by a geo-mapping of mobile banking services and a set of qualitative in-depth interviews with an extensive range of key actors and intermediaries.The objective of the study is to throw light on the broader question of the role played by diasporas in the adoption of new information technology solutions among rural populations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Researcher(s)
Solene Morvant Roux, Simon Barussaud, Dr. Dieudonne Ilboudo
About the Researcher(s)
Soline Morvant-Roux is lecturer and researcher at the University of Geneva, Switzerland and research associate at the Cermi, Belgium. She holds a Masters degree from La Sorbonne (Paris, France) and a PhD in economics from Lyon Univeristy, France. As a PhD candidate she was research fellow at the Centre d Etudes mexicaines et centroam?ricaines, Mexico, (CEMCA). Since then she has been involved in several research projects on microfinance in Morocco, Mexico and in the Dominican Republic. Her current research themes include: financial inclusion and social policies, financial practices, over indebtedness, rural credit markets.
Researcher 2
Simon Barussaud is a teaching assistant in French and Burkinabe at the Global Studies Institute at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He holds a Master's Degree in Socioeconomics and a Bachelor Degree in International Relations. He is presently completing his Phd on Entrepreneurship Policies and SME development in Burkina Faso. His research interests include Entrepreneurship Promotion, SME Development, Financial Innovation and Mobile Money diffusion. He has collaborated with different organisations both in Europe (Global Studies Institute, International labor Office) and in West Africa (CAPES and MEBF) in the areas of his interest. He has also conducted geo-marketing studies and socioeconomic surveys on Mobile Banking adoption for Airtel Burkina (TELCO's).
Researcher 3
Dr Dieudonne Ilboudo is a Burkinabe researcher at the National Centre of Scientific and Technological Research in Ouagadougou (CNRST/INERA). He has a PhD in Sociology and Migration Studies from the Houphouet Boigny University in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). He got his Master's Degree at the Science and Technic University of Lille (France). He is deeply engaged with issues related to land and property institution (ONF) and has collaborated in many strategic land reforms at different levels both regional and national (RAF and SNAT). He is also actively involved in issues related to social change and diffusion of technological innovation in rural areas. The socioeconomic impact of mobile money diffusion in rural areas is among his recent research interests and endeavours.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/morvant-roux_barussuad_ilboudo_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/morvant-roux_barussuad_ilboudo_2015.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Cross-border Transfers as a Strategic Tool to Promote the Diffusion of Mobile Money in Rural Areas. The Case of Burkinabe Diaspora Living in Ivory Coast
2015
Burkino Faso
Cote d'Ivoire
Dr. Dieudonne Ilboudo
Simon Barussaud
Solene Morvant Roux
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
West Africa
Country
Ghana
Project Description
This study investigates unmet needs of small merchants in rural and urban Ghana regarding adoption and utilization of digital payment systems. The primary research questions are: what are the most salient unmet needs of small merchants in adopting digital payment platforms for businesses? What value added services are required by small merchants to encourage adoption and utilization of digital payment platforms for daily business transactions? How are the needs of both rural and urban small merchants appropriately addressed by financial regulatory policies to boost adoption and utilization of digital payment systems for their business transactions and other financial needs? To answer these questions, the study triangulates the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Diffusion of Innovation (DI) theory to undertake the study. TAM is based on two main assumptions: Perceived usefulness (PU) and Perceived ease of use (PEOU). TAM does not only attempt to explain the use of an innovation but it also offers explanations to help researchers and practitioners identify why a particular system may be unacceptable so as to enable appropriate steps to be pursued. TAM is consistent with the theory of DI where technology adoption is a function of a variety of factors including relative advantage and ease of use. A mixed method research design is adopted for this study. The essence of this research is to inform stakeholders in the digital payment platform about the needs of neglected majority of SMEs in adopting and utilizing the system for financial business transactions in this digital age.
Researcher(s)
Clement Adamba, Onallia Esther Osei, Rebecca Sarku
About the Researcher(s)
Clement Adamba (Ph D) is a Project Coordinator at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana, Legon. Clement received his Doctorate and Master of Philosophy (PhD and MPhil) degree in Development Studies from the University of Ghana and a degree in Bachelor of Education in Economics from the University of Education, Winneba. Clement has over 15 years? experience as a professional teacher; working in both rural deprived and urban areas. He also has extensive training and experience in research, project development and management, monitoring and evaluation, partnership development and advocacy. Clement has vast research experience in Ghana and has published extensively in reputable international journals.
Researcher 2
Onallia Esther Osei holds BA in Geography and Resource Development from the University of Ghana. She is a postgraduate student MPhil [to be confirmed] of the University of Ghana. Her MPhil thesis focused on studying Gender Dynamics of E-waste Management Practice(s) in Accra and Kumasi (Ghana). Onallia has a 5 years? experience in developmental project organization and management including a strong background in data collection, processing and analysis. She has worked with a team of researchers at ISSER collaborating with GTZ, World Bank, UN agencies and GoG on several development agenda. She also has wide experience in monitoring and evaluation of projects.Onallia has a strong passion and commitment for advocacy and capacity building within the civil society circles. She is currently the lead person on the CSO front in Ghana assisting the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resource implement Voluntary Principle on Security and Human Rights in Ghana?s Extractive Sector.
Researcher 3
Rebecca Sarku currently works with University of Ghana as teaching assistant with the Department of Geography and Resource Development. She had her first and second degree in Geography, Rural and Resource Development programs at Kwame University of Science and Technology and University of Ghana respectively. She Prior to second degree, Rebecca taught at two different second cycle institutions for 3 years. She has worked on several projects as a principal research assistant within the university and with other state institutions in both rural and urban Ghana. She is currently working on two publications related to value chain in the oil palm industry with her principal supervisor (Prof. Edwin A. Gyasi).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/adamba_osei_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/adamba_osei_2015.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Assessing Unmet Needs of Small Merchants in Adopting Digital Payment System in Southern Ghana
2015
Clement Adamba
Ghana
Onallia Esther Osei
Rebecca Sarku
West Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2015
Region
South Asia
Country
India (Uttar Pradesh)
Project Description
The overarching objective of the present study is to assess the need for using pre paid card technology for delivering added financial services like insurance claim settlements including death claim benefits in a transparent manner to the customers of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in selected regions of the state of Uttar Pradesh of India. We try to elicit the factors determining such need, not met at present, by surveying potential beneficiaries of different microfinance institutions and the providers including insurers, prepaid card providers, and MFIs. The issues revolve around ease, access, trust, and transparent settlements being aimed in such added services with potential to scale up.
Researcher(s)
Debashis Acharya and Tapas Kumar Parida
About the Researcher(s)
Debashis Acharya has a PhD in Economics. He is currently a faculty member of School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, India. His research interests are in the areas of macro-monetary economics, financial economics, and inclusive finance. He has published papers in these areas in international and national journals. Debashis has recently completed projects relating to financial inclusion funded by Indian Institute of Banking and Finance as part of its annual Macro Research Award, UGC-UPE-2 program of University of Hyderabad, and the Shastri Indo Canadian Institute.
Researcher 2
Tapas Kumar Parida is a professional with 6 years of work experience in macro-economic research and planning in banks and research organizations, with diversified academic achievements. Presently, he is working as an economist at Economic Research Department of State Bank of India, Corporate Centre, Mumbai. Prior to joining State Bank of India, he has worked with organizations like Indian Bank, Axis Bank, Planning Commission New Delhi, He is an alumni of the Higher Education Department of Government of Odisha and Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB). He has completed his M.A. in Economics from University of Hyderabad and recently submitted his PhD thesis to the same University.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/acharya_parida_2015.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2015/acharya_parida_2015.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Assessing the Need and Feasibility for Using Pre-Paid Card Technology in Delivering Added Services to Microfinance Customers in selected regions of Uttar Pradesh
2015
Debashis Acharya and Tapas Kumar Parida
India (Uttar Pradesh)
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Myanmar
Project Description
Our research team has set out to explore how such influences are driving decisions about money in Myanmar, one of Asia's poorest countries that, until recently, was relatively closed to the outside world. Even today, as Myanmar's economy steadily opens up, many people still struggle to access the formal financial instruments like bank loans and credit cards that many of us take for granted.
Afford Two, Eat One aims to explain how Myanmar's poor are formally and informally transacting, saving and investing and to identify some of the vast opportunities for stimulating local financial activity. Our findings reveal both traditional practices and new trends shaping Myanmar's changing financial landscape, and they offer insights critical for developing future services that address the needs of the poor.
Funded by the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion at the University of California, Irvine, the team includes designers, analysts, strategists and researchers from Yangon-based Proximity Designs, design strategy consultancy frog, and Studio D Radiodurans.
Over the course of two months, the project team traversed Myanmar, visiting villages, using financial services and interviewing dozens of farmers, traders, and day-labourers' the people who are often excluded from traditional financial markets. By collecting evidence, stories, photographs and other data, we aimed in particular to:
- Build a comprehensive understanding of poor people's formal and informal transaction practices..
- Establish a baseline of findings, insights, and frameworks that will guide and inspire future developments in transformational services and concepts.
- Identify opportunities for expanding use of and access to financial services and products in under-served and newly opportune areas.
As our report shows in depth in the following section (Background & Context), Myanmar is at a defining moment in its history: The economy is expanding, international sanctions are easing, significant investments are pouring in, and land values are increasing dramatically. In some areas, property is more expensive than it is in nearby Singapore.
Technology adoption is also sky-rocketing as Myanmar previously on par with North Korea in terms of mobile adoption ranks aims to catch up to its neighbours. The cell phone penetration rate is expected to increase by 50 per cent over the next three years, up from just 12 per cent today (Deloitte/Ericsson 2012). High-speed 3G wireless networks now being built will enable access to mobile computing for the first time in Myanmar. The country will have unprecedented choices, options and opportunities around money.
This report presents a snapshot of Myanmar's local economic landscape from a qualitative, behavioural and cultural perspective. It profiles a subset of individuals for whom the appropriate formal financial services have not yet materialised, and offers clues about how that might soon change.
Researcher(s)
Aung Ko Ko, Su Mon, Venetia Tay and Jan Chipchase
About the Researcher(s)
Aung Ko Ko is a co-leader of the product design team at Proximity Designs in Yangon. Educated in Myanmar, he has over a decade of technical and management experience working in Singapore and Malaysia. In 2008, Aung moved back to Myanmar and joined Proximity Designs as a senior product designer. For the past five years he has learned, implemented and taught design thinking and built a world-class design team working in challenging contexts. His primary roles include managing the design lab space, prototyping, vendor relations, and communication between other teams in the Proximity supply chain. He has played a critical role in launching three unique agricultural products across Myanmar.
Researcher 2
Su Mon is a researcher based in Yangon. As the Social Impact Manager of Proximity Designs, she leads a dedicated team of researchers that conducts comprehensive assessments of Proximity's work on rural household incomes, as well as the socio economic impact of its activities. She holds a master's degree in international development from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C., and a bachelor's degree in economics and finance from the College of Saint Elizabeth. Su Mon grew up in a small town in the Ayerwaddy Delta, where her family still lives and operates an ice business.
Researcher 3
Venetia Tay is a Senior Srategist at frog and conducts research on user needs and market opportunities to envision new solutions with strong business sensibilities. She thrives on working with multi-disciplinary teams to create experiences that resonate with people and challenge businesses to think ahead. She has spent the last decade developing brands and experiences across Asia Pacific and the United States in various industries and is passionate about the financial inclusion space.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/koko%20etal.php">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/koko%20etal.php</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Money Practices & Services Myanmar
2014
Aung Ko Ko
Myanmar
Southeast Asia
Su Mon
Venetia Tay and Jan Chipchase
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Ecuador
Project Description
A proposal for a 'New Financial Architecture' has emerged in Ecuador as a response to the previous neoliberal financial model, to reclaim the role of the state in financial regulation. It aims to strengthen the state's monitoring system and its institutions and build a financial safety net to avoid catastrophic events in a crisis, like the one experienced in Ecuador at the end of the 1990s, which resulted in the adoption of the U.S. dollar as Ecuador's official currency. Furthermore, this proposal seeks to adjust the monetary and financial framework of the Central Bank to the country's system of dollarization. An additional and equally important component, which reflects a political economic strategy, is the inclusion of the so-called 'popular and solidarity financial sector' (sector financiero popular y solidario)'which includes credit unions, savings and credit cooperatives, community banks, and so on, as a focus of this new domestic financial architecture. The proposal thus seeks to expand financial services, in particular, to the rural sector.
Current Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's broader political program called the 'Citizens' Revolution, has prompted a restructuring process of its domestic financial architecture through a combination of legal reforms, new public policies, and the transformation of the national payments system. As part of this endeavor, a new mobile money system is being introduced to diversify the available forms of payment.The mobile money system will be executed and administered by the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE), making it the first ever publicly mandated and Central Bank-administrated mobile payments scheme to be implemented in the world.
Researcher(s)
Javier Felix and Monica Pozo
About the Researcher(s)
Javier Felix is a consultant with extensive experience working with non-government organizations, credit cooperatives, and private and public institutions. Javier studied Business Administration with a specialization in finance at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. He has a further specialization in Development Projects and received a Masters in Development Management from the Andean University, Simon Bolivar. He has experience working with NGOs in the implementation of development projects. Javier has also worked with financial institutions that are part of the "Social and Solidarity Economy." He researches complementary, alternative and local monetary systems.
Researcher 2
Monica Pozo is an economist and a graduate from the Catholic University of Ecuador. She is currently working in the National Secretary of Planning and Development office (SENPLADES), the institution in charge of designing and evaluating the implementation of the National Plan of the current government. She has also worked in several consulting projects for the Ministries of Education and Health, and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/felix%20etal.php">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/felix%20etal.php</a>
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A name given to the resource
The New Financial Architecture of Ecuador: Public Regulatory and Sociopolitical Contexts for Payment Systems
2014
Ecuador
Javier Felix and Monica Pozo
Latin America and the Caribbean
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
West Africa
Country
Cote d'Ivoire
Project Description
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.
Researcher(s)
Kone Nara Kanigui Idriss, Wahabou Ibrah Mountaka
About the Researcher(s)
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.
Researcher 2
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.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/idriss_mountaka.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/idriss_mountaka.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Women, Monetary Practices, and Technological Innovations
2014
Cote d'Ivoire
Kone Nara Kanigui Idriss
Wahabou Ibrah Mountaka
West Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
West Africa
Country
Ghana
Project Description
Though the proliferation of mobile technology is enabling more and more people to have access to a variety of services, uptake of these services is still low in rural communities. Various reasons account for this but the role of the ancestors has not been taken into consideration. Research studies have described the socio-demographic profile of mobile technology users and established the factors that limit the widespread utilization of mobile technology. These include cost of mobile phone handsets, poor network coverage, cost of recharge cards, low literacy, and high cost of maintenance. Little work has been directed at researching the implications of ancestral worship in mobile technology programmes. The focus of this study therefore is to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of influence that the ancestors exert in the decision to use or not to use mobile technology in an isolated community in northern Ghana. Through divination a cross section of the ancestors will be interviewed using lineage heads who are well versed in the art of soothsaying. Questions will be addressed to the spiritual object operated by the diviner through the lineage head who will then interpret the signs made by the spiritual object to the client. Pairs of lineage heads and ancestral interviews will then be triangulated with the key informant interviews to determine the role of ancestral worship in community decision making. Like any tool, the success of an ICT-based solution is dependent on the people and processes that support its use. Individuals employ soothsayers for contacting ancestral spirits to explain the past, interpret the present, and forecast future events. Considering, therefore, that mobile technology has a great potential to help communities address specific communication challenges and reduce poverty, it is important to know if the ancestors support the use of mobile technology. This information will support evidence-based marketing strategies that will enable communities have easy access to mobile technology and foster its widespread utilisation.
Researcher(s)
Francis Niagia Santuah, Dennis Chirawurah, Martin Alichimah
About the Researcher(s)
Francis Niagia Santuah is a Communication Scientist with 20 years of experience in implementation research and social mobilization for behaviour change. He has conducted multi-country research studies in sub-Saharan Africa, and has led the start-up and scale-up of innovative programmes in health, education, and governance in the West Africa subregion. He is currently the Deputy Regional Director for the West Africa Resilience Innovation Lab (RILab) at the University for Development Studies in Tamale, Ghana. He manages a multi-disciplinary faculty team in Ghana, Mali, and Senegal and leads internal and external stakeholder engagements to facilitate the operationalization of the program?s resilience and innovations strategies. He is adept at writing, editing, reviewing, and translating journalistic, technical, and scientific documents, and has published widely in local and international scientific and development journals. His most recent research study was in February 2014 where he led a team of consultants to conduct an assessment of the impact of HIV/AIDS in the ports of Cotonou in Benin and Douala in Cameroon.
Researcher 2
Dennis Chirawurah is a Community Development and Training specialist with an over twenty year career in education, first teaching at the basic level and over the past ten years at the University for Development Studies where he teaches courses in Community Development and Change and Health and Development in addition to preparing both undergraduate and graduate students for community-based immersion and field practical training. He is a Fellow of the Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy at Tulane University and leveraged his new knowledge in the field of disaster resilience leadership to engage in a broader national and regional effort towards building resilient communities. He currently directs the West Africa Resilience Innovation Lab located at UDS, Tamale, as part of the Higher Education Solutions Network.
Researcher 3
Martin Alichimah is an Assistant Director of Education with a MPhil in Applied Linguistics at the St. John Bosco's College of Education in Navrongo. He has a teaching career spanning almost two decades at various levels within the Ghana education system. He is a curriculum development, linguistics, and local language translation expert with specialization in the Kasem language and a working knowledge of Buli. He has led many community mobilization efforts and has been instrumental in the conception and implementation of complementary basic education initiatives in the Navrongo Municipality and the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper-East region. He is currently the Executive Director of Roots and Futures, a community-based development organisation collaborating to conduct this study.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/santuah.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/santuah.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
When the Dead Decide: An Investigation into the Influence of the Ancestors in the Decision to Use Mobile Technology in a Rural Community in Northern Ghana
2014
Dennis Chirawurah
Francis Niagia Santuah
Ghana
Martin Alichimah
West Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
This study will investigate the use and impact of M-Shwari among the informal sector, Jua Kali, in rural and urban settings of Kenya. Additionally, based on initial findings, the link between practice and policy development will be established. Multiple methods of data collection will be employed using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This will include survey, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations and review of secondary data. This process will also entail profiling the users based on the location, demographic/background, gender, size and type of business, access to financial services, and other relevant indicators.
Researcher(s)
Ndunge Kitii and Jane Mutinda
About the Researcher(s)
Ndunge Kiiti is a Professor of International Development at Houghton College, in Houghton, NY and Adjunct Faculty at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, Department of Global Health, in Atlanta, GA. Currently, Dr. Kiiti is a Visiting Professor at the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD). With a key focus on Africa and Latin America, Dr. Kiiti's work involves research, teaching, and publishing in the areas of communication, education, health and development. Her collaborative research projects, supported by IMTFI, highlight the use of mobile money technology by women's micro-credit groups and the 'Jua Kali' or informal business sector in Kenya. This year, in partnership with Cornell's Institute for African Development (IAD), Dr. Kiiti will be doing research on the use and impact of mobile money technology among smallholder farmers in Rwanda and Ethiopia. She serves on the boards of MAP International, a global health organization, and Jericho Road Community Health Center, both based in the U.S. Dr. Kiiti has a PhD in Communication from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, which included a one-year study in International Health at the John's Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
Researcher 2
Jane Wanza Mutinda has a PhD in Environment and Community Development from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya, where she currently serves as the Chairperson. Dr. Mutinda?s research focuses on Gender and Environment, Community Resource Management, Poverty Alleviation and Microfinance among Women?s Groups in Kenya. In addition to her work in academia, from 2007-2010 she served as the Project Director for a NEPAD supported program to train women in Eastern Kenya on resource mobilization and investment. She has served as a consultant for numerous organizations such as UNICEF, the Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD), and the African Women?s Development Fund (AWDF). Dr. Mutinda also obtained a Master?s in Education and Environmental Studies from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, and a Bachelor?s in Education (Honors) from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/kiiti.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/kiiti.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Use and Impact of M-Shwari as a Financial Banking Product in Urban and Rural Areas of Kenya
2014
East Africa
Kenya
Ndunge Kitii and Jane Mutinda
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
East Africa
Country
Uganda
Project Description
The use of electronic payment methods in exchange for goods and services is a new venture in Uganda, a country that is traditionally cash based. The delay in the adoption of the e-payment system in Uganda can be associated with the fact that the traditional banking services that have been in place for many years have mainly favored the elite, big companies, salary earners, urban dwellers, and the rich. However, the introduction of mobile banking in 2008 has seen tremendous changes in the money landscape and business industry. Unlike banks, mobile money services can be used by everyone as long as they have access to a phone. With over 12 million registered mobile money users, it is no wonder that the adoption of e-payment methods is growing in the country. Big service companies like the National Water and Sewerage Cooperation (NWSC) have embraced the e-payment system alongside cash based payment methods with the hope of improving service delivery. Central to these interventions is the consumer?s choice of what payment method to use. By applying a Nested Multinomial Logit Model, this study seeks to examine the factors that drive people?s choice of a payment method (disaggregated by gender, social class, geographical location, and physical capacity, among other factors). The study will also apply statistical analysis methods to evaluate the impact that the e-payment system has on the informal and fraudulent practices that have been experienced in a physical payment system, and to determine whether new forms of fraud have emerged.
Researcher(s)
Howard Tugume, Justine Kobusinge, Justine Nanteza
About the Researcher(s)
Howard Tugume is an economist with expertise in business management, business start-ups, market analysis, and economic modeling. He holds a M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Copenhagen and a B.A. in Economics from Makerere University, Uganda. He is a former recipient of the DANIDA Emerging Leaders Fellowship Programme. He has worked on different projects as a PI as well as a Co-PI. His master?s research (funded by DANIDA) aimed at understanding the drivers of new technology adoption among pastoral farmers in Uganda. One of the key findings in this study was that the elderly, the poor, and the landless do not adopt modern technologies easily, and that modern technologies on feed and breed are likely to improve the lives of pastoralists. In collaboration with other researchers, Howard was part of a study to assess the capacity of church dioceses in general organizational, programmatic, and transformational development capacities for good partnership in cross-cutting areas such as disaster management, conflict, gender, and the environment for the Church of Uganda. He is also a Co-PI on an ongoing CODESRIA funded project (in partnership with Makerere University) entitled ?Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Adaptive Capacity to Climatic Risks among Spatially Heterogeneous Households in Fragile Landscapes in Uganda: The Case of Lake Kyoga Basin.? His main contribution to this project lies in the application of economic concepts to food security analysis. Besides research, Howard is an experienced consultant for business start-ups and market analysis. One of his recently completed consultancy works involved the market assessment of Concern World Wide?s improved livelihood security through provision of vocational skills in Karamoja Programme. He also heads the Business Incubation Project (BIP) at Benda Associates Limited. The aim of the BIP project is to develop service oriented business ideas into real executable and running businesses.
Researcher 2
Justine Kobusinge graduated in 2011 with a B.A. in Economics from Kyambogo University, Uganda. She is a former recipient of the Uganda Government Merit Scholarship for University undergraduate studies. During her undergraduate studies, she held a part time job as a research assistant at ARISE development consultants (2010-2011). Upon graduation, she secured a job as a research officer at the Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) lab in Uganda. She has great experience in field research gained from her employment at IPA. She has skills in questionnaire designing, research respondents identification and recruitment, research interviews, data entry and analysis, as well as research ethics. The IPA projects she has worked on include the network effect on SMEs, and baseline and midline surveys. Justine is currently enrolled in a M.A. in Economic Policy Management at Makerere University.
Researcher 3
Justine Nanteza graduated in 2011 from Makerere University Business School with a B.A. in Entrepreneurship and Business Management. Her great performance in undergraduate studies secured her a teaching assistant academic job at Makerere University Business School. She won a graduate assistant fellowship to undertake a M.B.A. in 2013. Her current job involves teaching undergraduate courses during different periods of the academic year as well as guiding students in their undergraduate research works for the programmes of Business Administration, Entrepreneurship and Business Management Procurement, and Supply Chain Management. She also carries out research for the Department of Business Administration and some of her research works include: ?An Evaluation of Entrepreneurship as a Mechanism for Wealth Creation with an Objective of Establishing the Relationship that Exists Between Entrepreneurship and Wealth Creation with the Case Study of Techno Serve, Uganda.?
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/tugume.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/tugume.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
The Physical and Electronic Payment Interface and its Influence on Consumer Payment Choices and Informal/Fraudulent Practices: A Case Study of the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NSWC) Uganda
2014
East Africa
Howard Tugume
Justine Kobusinge
Justine Nanteza
Uganda
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Colombia
Project Description
There is a growing amount of workers that despite having an employment contract still lack social protection and benefits in Medellin, Colombia. This is one of the consequences derived from structural changes in the job market and inadequate use of labor law, which the International Labor Office (ILO) also pointed out in its 2003 conference. This research project explores and analyzes the different practices and strategies that flexible workers and the self-employed are using to mitigate risk and compensate the lack of social protection. The study begins by understanding, from the users' standpoint, what 'social protection' and 'risk' mean to them. It documents how they perceive the services and coverage that they currently use, as well as the different ways flexible workers solve their needs when lacking coverage provided be the state. Within these overarching concepts of social protection and risk, this study covers services and topics such as health, on-the-job risks, financial stability, and retirement. Using human-centered research techniques like in-context interviews recorded on video, the study will document the resources, practices, and decision-making processes that workers use to manage and solve their needs. At the same time, this documentation allows to contrast workers' current practices against services available through government services, insurance companies, alternative providers and informal networks. This knowledge will help the team to identify opportunities for developing new services that take advantage of digital technologies (like mobile phones, game-lottery kiosks and small retailers), to reach an increasingly disperse population of flexible workers who currently lack or have limited access to health, risk management and financial stability coverage.
Researcher(s)
Ana Echeverry, Coppelia Herran, Felipe Arboleda
About the Researcher(s)
Ana Echeverry has a M.A. in Design Planning from the Institute of Design, Illinois Intitute of Technology, in Chicago. She is also an industrial designer from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), where she previously worked as coordinator and professor of postgraduate studies in innovation planning. She previously worked as a strategist for Razorfish and Ernst and Young in New York, and also as a new product designer at Muma, a furniture company in Colombia.
Researcher 2
Coppelia Herran is an industrial designer from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), where she also works as a researcher and professor. Currently, she is also a M.A. candidate in Anthropology from Universidad of Antioquia. She leads a research line focusing on 'material culture' within the Group of Design Studies at UPB. Coppelia has worked in multiple research projects involving poor and vulnerable communities in Colombia.
Researcher 3
Felipe Arboleda holds a B.A. in Advertisement and a M.A. in Anthropology from Universidad de Antioquia, and complementary studies in brand management. His experience includes doing corporate marketing for Owens Illinois, working as creative director and planner for Rapp Colombia part of DDB group--as well as being creative director of FeelingCompany. He currently works as research and innovation director at Inspira Lab in Medellin, a consulting firm that specializes in product design, branding, marketing, and communications.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/echeverry.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/echeverry.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Formal Disguise: Financial Inclusion Among Flexible Workers and the Self-Employed
2014
Ana Echeverry
Colombia
Coppelia Herran
Felipe Arboleda
Latin America and the Caribbean
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Philippines
Project Description
The Bicol Region is among the poorest of the 17 regions in the Philippines. It was ranked fourth poorest in the first semesters of 2006 and 2009. With a poverty incidence of 34.1% during the first six months of 2012, the Bicol Region has become the seventh poorest region in the country. Camarines Sur is among the poorest of the six provinces of the Bicol Region. The author hopes to examine the conditions and processes of storing and transferring money among rural poor fishers in the poorest town of the Bicol Region in the Philippines, considering that they live on less than USD $1 a day. The project specifically aims to: (1) describe the socio-economic profile of the rural poor fishers; (2) explore how the fishers store and transfer money in their daily household and livelihood activities; (3) determine the factors that help or hinder the engagement of the fishers in transferring and storing money; and (4) identify possible interventions for local policy makers and industry developers in expanding the potential of mobile money as a tool for financial inclusion of rural poor fishers. The research will try to answer these questions with the end goal of identifying the types of value storage and exchange media that have the potential to be transformative in the lives of the rural poor fishers of the town of Garchitorena. The study will utilize key informant interviews with Barangay officials and a survey of selected respondents engaged in small-scale fishing.
Researcher(s)
Bernadette Gavino-Gumba
About the Researcher(s)
Gavino GumbaBernadette Gavino-Gumba is a Professor of the Department of Social Sciences and Head of the Economics Cluster of the Ateneo de Naga University in the Philippines. She holds a B.A. in Economics (magna cum laude and class valedictorian) and Accounting (magna cum laude and class valedictorian) from the Ateneo de Naga University, a M.S. in Economics from the Asian Social Institute, and a Ph.D. in Development Management from the Bicol University. All these schools are located in the Philippines. She likewise passed the licensure examinations for becoming a certified public accountant in 1993. She has worked as Director of the Office of Gender and Development, Chairperson of the Department of Social Sciences, Program Director of the Institute of Politics, and Executive Director of the Social Integration Office at Ateneo de Naga University. She was a reviewer for the licensure examinations for teachers and the board examinations for certified public accountants. She also served as consultant to civil society organizations such as the Coalition for Development NGOs and Coalition for Bicol Development. Her published works include ?Fiscal Management and the Bicol Autonomous Region? published by the Research and Applications in Economics, 2014; ?Women?s Control of the Means of Production and Economic Output in a Poor Municipality in the Philippines? and ?Human Capital and Poverty in the Poorest Province of the Philippines? both published by the Humanities and Social Sciences Review in 2012 and 2013 respectively; ?Gender Equality in a Higher Educational Institution: A Case in the Philippines? by the Journal of Education, Arts and Humanities, 2013; and ?Decision-Making and Division of Labor in Selected Rural Households of a Poor Province in the Philippines? by Wudpecker Research Journals, Educational Research and Essays, 2012. Dr. Gumba is a member of the Philippine Economic Society (PES) which is part of the Federation of ASEAN Economic Associations (FAEA). She is a member of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) which is part of the International Association of Certified Public Accountants (IACPA). She is a member of the Association of Social Science Educators, Researchers and Trainers (ASSERT) which is a part of the International Federation of Social Science Organizations (IFSSO). In 2012 she was awarded the Outstanding Filipino Researcher award by the International Association of Multidisciplinary Research (IAMURE). She is likewise a regular evaluator and discussant of research outputs presented by the National Statistics Office, the research and statistics arm of the Philippine government.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/gavinogumba.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/gavinogumba.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Storing and Transferring Money in a Cash-Strapped Fishing Municipality in the Bicol Region
2014
Bernadette Gavino-Gumba
Philippines
Southeast Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
South Asia
Country
Bangladesh
Project Description
Mobile-based wallets and money transfer services have the potential to transform the economic lives of the poor in the developing world. Recent and relatively high-profile research on risk-sharing among mobile money users in Kenya argues that users are better insured against adverse events due to risk-sharing over mobile networks (Jack and Suri, forthcoming). The technology, however, is a new one, and perceptions of mobile money among users are not well understood, with possible consequences for the medium- and long-run uses and effects of mobile money on the financial lives of the poor. Motivated by similar experiments in the United States examining credit cards and perceptions of credit card liquidity, we propose to conduct a series of laboratory-style experiments in which risk preferences, time preferences, and willingness-to-pay are elicited both in the presence and absence of the logo of a mobile money provider to see if these preferences may differ when mobile money is perceived to be at stake rather than cash. We anticipate that priming individuals to think of mobile money, with its possibly different meaning as a store of value, will lead to different elicitations of risk preferences, time preferences, and willingness-to-pay among individuals, and that these effects will depend on education, age, gender, and other demographic characteristics, as well as prior exposure to the technology.
Researcher(s)
Jonathan Morduch, Abu Shonchoy, Jean Lee
About the Researcher(s)
Jonathan Morduch is Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. His research centers on microfinance, social investment, and the economics of poverty. Morduch is co-author of Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day (Princeton 2009) and The Economics of Microfinance (MIT Press, 2nd edition 2010), and he is co-editor of Banking the World: Empricial Foundations of Financial Inclusion (MIT Press 2012). He has taught on the Economics faculty at Harvard University, and has held visiting positions at Stanford, Princeton, the University of Tokyo, and Hitotsubashi University. Morduch has worked with the United Nations and World Bank, and advises global NGOs. He holds a B.A. from Brown and Ph.D. from Harvard, both in Economics. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Universit? Libre de Bruxelles in December 2008 in recognition of his work on microfinance.
Researcher 2
Abu Shonchoy is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo. His research centers on seasonal migration and microfinance in Bangladesh, and includes a field experiment evaluating the effects of microfinance loan repayment flexibility. He has taught at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), the School of Economics of the University of New South Wales, the University of Technology Sydney, and BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, and his Ph.D. from the University of New South Wales in Australia.
Researcher 3
Jean Lee is an Associate Research Scientist/Post-doctoral Research Fellow with the Financial Access Initiative at the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. Prior to joining the Financial Access Initiative, she was a consultant at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where she worked on issues primarily around growth and labor markets in developing countries. Her prior research in development economics includes a field study of small businesses and entrepreneurial decision-making in rural Kenya and an impact evaluation in urban Zambia. She received a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 2010.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/moduch.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/moduch.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Risk Preferences, Time Preference, and Willingness-to-Pay with Mobile Money versus Cash in Bangladesh
2014
Abu Shonchoy
Bangladesh
Jean Lee
Jonathan Morduch
South Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
East Africa
Country
Uganda
Project Description
In recent years there has been a lot of interest in the state of digital innovations in the global South. As work in this area has progressed, commentators have moved beyond studying the uptake of such innovations toward exploring their contributions, setbacks, and ability to overrun structural conditions of the South. Less attention, however, has been paid to their impact on rurality and rural life, identity, and community. In this project, I seek to show how with the emergence and dispersion of mobile money services 'the rural' has attained a certain kind of dynamism and fluidity, and a whole new identity through varied features of lifestyle, community, traditions, and landscapes. I ask: [1] how (and what) are the emergent mobile finance options shaping social life of groups and communities most at risk of rural poverty and social exclusion; and, [2] what forms of identity, community, and lifestyle are emerging around mobile money products and services in geographically remote territories in Southern Uganda? To answer these questions, I seek to adopt a small-scale and brief fieldwork approach, deploying multi-sited ethnographic cum interpretive research methods. Together, these methods will make an important methodological and substantive contribution toward facilitating observations as well as verbatim accounts of the poorest of the poor in remote settlements who are not 'automatically' reached by government and community financing initiatives. The project hopes to invite further debate on this important phenomena.
Researcher(s)
Prince Karakire Guma
About the Researcher(s)
Prince Guma is a scholar-activist. He possess an M.B.A. (International Business), M.A. (Public Administration), and B.A. (Sociology/Social Sciences). He has also participated in other academic training programs as a Laureate in the 6th South-South Institute [CLACSO]; Gender Institute on African Sexualities (CODESRIA); and the SOAS Mo Ibrahim Residential School, to mention but a few. He has membership in reputable professional associations and research institutions such as the Peter Drucker Society in Vienna; the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) in Dakar; the Center for Basic Research (CBR) in Kampala; and the Social Economic Research and Development (SERD). Moreover, he is an independent researcher, consultant, and recognized philanthropist. He has independently engaged in ethnographic surveys and authored peer reviewed articles with reputable journals. Outside of academia, Prince has worked as a chairperson and volunteer for local and regional organizations in Uganda and East Africa respectively. He is the author of two books and numerous articles. Major research projects have looked at e-government projects, administrative and institutional reforms, social movements, and urban infrastructure systems. He is a HF Guggenheim Foundation 'Young African Scholar' for 2013/2014.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/guma.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/guma.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Reimagining Rurality in Mobile Money Times: Life, Identity, and Community
2014
East Africa
Prince Karakire Guma
Uganda
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Mexico
Project Description
Only a small number of households in developing countries have savings accounts or credit from formal financial institutions. Likely reasons for low use of formal financial services in the developing world include not only supply constraints (e.g. few bank branches in rural localities), but also weak demand arising from low trust, lack of information, and inflexible and expensive products. In 2008, the renowned Mexican Cash Transfer Program, Oportunidades (formerly Progresa), started distributing ATM cards to a high proportion of their 6.5 million beneficiaries for cash disbursements. By 2011, more than 1 million beneficiaries started using ATM cards. This project will contribute to the current literature by analyzing the massive and high quality administrative data coming from these savings accounts. The analysis will be complemented with self-reported cash management and financial product practices from two recently released surveys: ?2012 Oportunidades Means of Payment Survey? and ?2012 Mexican National Survey of Financial Inclusion,? which are representative at the national level. Analysis of those data sources will allow us to shed light on the determinants and use of financial products for the whole Mexican population and low-income households from Oportunidades. We will also estimate the impact of the introduction of ATM technologies on the savings patterns of the beneficiaries of the program. By focusing on a program that is scaling up to millions of households across the country and that has been taken up as a model for other developing countries' replications, we ensure external validity, policy relevance, and scale-up potential.
Researcher(s)
Enrique Seira and Arturo Aguilar
About the Researcher(s)
Enrique Seira is Professor of Economics at Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de M?xico (ITAM). He finished his Ph.D. in Economics at Stanford University in 2007 and has since worked in the Mexican Treasury, the Ministry of Economics, and the Mexican Central Bank. He has experience implementing large surveys in Mexico and designing impact evaluations. His areas of expertise are Economic Development and Industrial Organization.
Researcher 2
Arturo Aguilar is Assistant Professor of Economics at Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM). His research interests lie mainly in development, public policy, applied econometrics, labor economics, immigration, and education. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Harvard University and he is also a research affiliate at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/seira_aguilar.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/seira_aguilar.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Paying Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Bank Accounts
2014
Enrique Seira and Arturo Aguilar
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mexico
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
East Africa
Country
Ethiopia
Project Description
The Pastoralist Afar Community is nowadays locked in downward spirals of ecological and livelihood crises. Decades of state-led alienation have left the Afar with limited choices but considerable structural and institutional constraints to the access, use, and management of capital, technology, and institutional opportunities. However, recently, bottom-up, informal but market-centered stress-coping mechanisms have been employed by enterprising Afar women. They engage in trade with their own initiatives and enterprises, and their income has increased alongside their expenditures on a variety of goods ranging from foodstuffs to furniture, housing, schools, clinics, and wholesale marketing. Their market-oriented production and commerce could become the next generation of pastoral food security and sustainable development. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to explore and explain the strain between established pastoral traditions and modern development policies, and the recent trends of commercial activities. Specifically, it will explore and explain the urban context of formal-structural and institutional pressures as well as informal-institutional opportunities facilitating predictable and enforceable exchange relationships. It will look into the aspects, trends and prospects of grass-root market-oriented activities (access, use and management of capital, technology and technical capabilities) together with the emerging channels and norms of social mobility. To ensure validity and reliability, the study will employ multiple data sources and multiple methods of data collection including document reviews, interviews, FGDs and life histories. The research findings will stimulate thinking with regard to a number of practical and theoretical issues of pastoral development in Ethiopia. More specifically, it will help policymakers and development specialists better understand historical and contemporary distortions in structuring market opportunities and management practices of pastoral economies.
Researcher(s)
Uthman Hassen and Dawit Yekoyesew Kassa
About the Researcher(s)
Uthman Hassen is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Social Work in the School of Humanities and Law, Adama Science and Technology University. Besides academic and research duties, he has been involved in the Research and Publication Committee, Chairmanship of the Department, the School Academic Council, and as a Member for Curriculum Development. He has published two books and eight articles. His research interests are on Comparative and Historical Sociology, Political Sociology, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Social Class and Ethnicity, and Sociology of Development. He had also been the Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Columnist on an Amharic Philosophical Magazine Mezegebegnoch (The Illuminators). Uthman is a graduate of Addis Ababa University in Sociology, Philosophy and Political Science, and Social Work. He is a member of the Ethiopian Society of Sociologists, Social Workers, and Anthropologists. He was also a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at Addis Ababa University but has presently withdrawn for personal reasons.
Researcher 2
Dawit Yekoyesew Kassa is a Lecturer at Adama Science and Technology University where he has also been serving as the Head of the Department and Chairperson of the Research and Publication Committee. In 2007 he received a B.A. degree in Sociology and in 2010 he received a M.A. degree in Sociology from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. His main research interests include Health and Development Studies. His research experience includes: Poverty as Cause of Limited Adoption to Crops Extension Package in Ethiopia: A Farmers' Perspective (2011), Urban Agriculture: A Tool to Reduce Urban Poverty (2007), Causes and Consequences of lndustrial Conflicts (2009), Vocational Bias in Education: The Influence of Industry on Education in Ethiopia (2012), Close to the People: Conceptualizing Poverty in Rural Ethiopia (2010), and Inside the Crowd: Social Adjustment Problems and Coping Strategies of Female Students in Higher Education in Ethiopia (2012). He is professionally affiliated with ESSSWA (Ethiopian Society of Sociologists, Social Workers, and Anthropologists).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/kassa_hassen.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/kassa_hassen.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Pastoral Adaptation to Market Opportunities and Changing Gender Roles Among Afar in Ethiopia: Aspects, Trends, and Prospects
2014
East Africa
Ethiopia
Uthman Hassen and Dawit Yekoyesew Kassa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
West Africa
Country
Nigeria
Project Description
The objective of this study is to determine what happens to social-driven structures like cooperatives when they interface with mobile money technologies. Although mobile money holds a number of promises for financial inclusion and rural development, its adoption in rural areas could upset existing habits, group dynamics and non-cash/traditional modes of storing, saving, and transferring value in informal markets. In the cooperative context, mobile money adoption could alter the trust and group bonding process upon which group lending schemes are built. It could change meeting procedures, methods of receiving and recording, as well as the framework for monitoring members? financial habits, rendering joint liability schemes in cooperatives ineffective. The researchers intend to study a number of women's thrift and credit cooperatives (loan groups) in rural villages of Southeastern Nigeria whose members have commenced using mobile money services in order to understand the changes in the financial behavior of these members and in their cooperatives. There are over 700,000 rural women in the area of study who live on less than $2 per day. They are subsistence farmers, hawkers, and mobile workers who go around the village looking for works to do each day. They do not have accounts in any bank except in a cooperative. The majority store and transfer value by keeping ruminants, apprenticeship, and membership of groups, especially cooperatives. 32 women's thrift and credit cooperatives will be selected for the study. A judgmental sampling technique will be applied in order to get respondents with rich cases. Questionnaires and focus group discussions will be used to generate responses. This study is significant because it will ensure that mobile money does not work against other financial inclusion schemes and also that policymakers and industry developers can learn the nature of interventions needed when there is conflict between mobile money and joint liability schemes.
Researcher(s)
Onyima Jude Kenechi and Onugu Charles Uchenna
About the Researcher(s)
Onyima Jude Kenechi is a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. He has served as a consultant to government and development agencies as well as to a number of entrepreneurship and rural development programmes in Nigeria. Jude holds a B.S. (First Class Honours) and a M.A. in Economics. He is a doctoral student in Cooperative Economics and Management at Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Jude is a World Bank certified trainer of Microfinance Programme and posseses over 7 years of consulting experience both in the public and private sectors. Jude's research has been published in reputable journals within and outside Nigeria. His research interests include cooperative organizations, immigrant entrepreneurship, and microfinance.
Researcher 2
Onugu Charles Uchenna is a Professor of Agricultural Extension at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria. Presently, he is the Head of Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension. Prior to joining academia, he served as a training manager in the defunct National Board of Community Banks in Nigeria. Charles is a certified Microfinance trainer by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the World Bank. With over 20 years of experience in microfinance, he is one of the pioneers of microfinance in Nigeria having been a Director and Chairman of two successful microfinance banks in Nigeria. He is currently a Microfinance Training Service Provider (MTSP) for the Central Bank of Nigeria. He is a member of several professional bodies notably, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Cooperative Professionals of Nigeria (COPRON), and Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria (AESON). He has published extensively on agricultural issues, rural finance, gender, poverty, and development. His current research interests span financial inclusion, youth empowerment, rural livelihood, and food security.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/kenachi_uchenna.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/kenachi_uchenna.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money, Social Capital and Financial Behavior of Women's Cooperatives in Rural Nigeria
2014
Nigeria
Onyima Jude Kenechi and Onugu Charles Uchenna
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Cambodia
Project Description
In most developing countries financial literacy amongst the poor is low. Many poor households often do not use nor understand rudimentary financial products such as bank accounts or housing loans that those in the developed world take for granted. Poor households' access to the right financial products can affect their ability to move out of poverty. How best to increase financial literacy and consequently foster financial inclusion is unclear. One promising mechanism is broadcast television. Television may be able to deliver rudimentary financial literacy to those most disadvantaged in a cost effective manner. We will embed rudimentary financial education (relating to mobile money, savings accounts, and budgeting) in a long running and extremely popular (reaching approximately a fifth of the total population of the country) comedy show in Cambodia. To test the efficacy of the approach the research target sample will be randomly allocated into three groups prior to the actual TV broadcast: the first will be provided the opportunity to watch these episodes on video; the second will be offered financial literacy training through traditional workshops; and the third group will be the control. The program's effects will be estimated using pre- and post-intervention data and using a difference-in-difference estimation technique. Ultimately all households in the sample will be able to watch the episodes on television, should they choose to. Aggregate effects on the entire Cambodian population will be estimated by examining macro data on savings deposit rates. The development of financial education entertainment could have implications for policy decisions relating to the implementation of financial education programs. If shown to be successful, broadcasts of financial education entertainment such as the comedy show could be an engaging and cost effective way to educate a large number and broad range of the poor.
Researcher(s)
Pushkar Maitra, Paul Lajbcygier, Jeff Fang, Andrew Crawford
About the Researcher(s)
Pushkar Maitra?s research interests are in Development Economics, Applied Econometrics, and Field Experiments. His specific research interests include microfinance, human capital and skill accumulation, relationships between groups in segmented societies, and behavior change. He has published extensively in refereed international journals like Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Applied Econometrics, and Economics Letters. He has successfully obtained research grants from the Australian Research Council, AusAID, International Growth Centre, and USAID. He has extensive experience in designing and conducting field experiments and RCTs in developing countries.
Researcher 2
Paul Lajbcygier holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Banking and Finance and the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at Monash University, Clayton campus. Paul has conducted research in investments, asset pricing, and retirement systems at amongst the best universities and business schools in the world such as The University of Oxford, London Business School, and the Stern School of Business, New York University, where he has held senior visiting research, visiting scholar, and paid research positions. Since 1995, Paul has authored over 80 academic papers and obtained over $12 million in government grants, industry linkage grants, and corporate payments in-kind. His published work has hundreds of citations, many in prestigious academic journals. He has sat on over 10 journal editorial boards and conference program committees and has reviewed papers for many prestigious journals. He has supervised over 20 Honours, Masters, and Ph.D. students. He has won awards both for his research and teaching.
Researcher 3
Jeff Fang is currently a research associate in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University. With about 10 years of industry experience in Cambodia, Australia, Singapore, and Vietnam, he has worked on various business strategy, operations and technology projects for governments, universities, banks, microfinance institutions, and financial service providers in the ASEAN and Australia region. Jeff has also undertaken consulting and project analyst roles for senior advisers and team leaders in World Bank, IFC, and UNDP projects. Jeff is currently involved in industry evaluation projects relating to financial behaviour and access to financial services. In the last 5 years, Jeff undertook a research study to evaluate how financial service offerings using mobile phones in rural Cambodia impact customer well-being, micro-enterprises, and customer financial behaviours. Jeff has also presented his research findings in peer-reviewed high quality conferences locally and internationally. Jeff has also authored research papers and industry research reports. His most recent publication is ?Exploring The Impact of Mobile Money Services on Marketing Interactions in Relation to Consumer Well-Being in Subsistence Marketplaces ? Lessons from Rural Cambodia? in the Journal of Marketing Management. He has also co-authored a high quality industry research report on financial literacy for the Australian financial services sector entitled ?Moneyminded Summary Report - The Reach and Impact of Moneyminded in Asia Pacific 2010-2011?.
Researcher 4
Andrew Crawford is an Adjunct Research Associate in the Department of Banking and Finance at Monash University, Caulfield campus. He worked in Cambodia for two years as a part of an AusAid sponsored project to assist technology and web development at the Cambodia Microfinance Association. He co-authored the paper "Are Profitable Microfinance Programs Less Efficient at Reaching the Poor? A Case Study in Cambodia", which he presented at the European Research Conference on Microfinance in Norway. Previously he worked as a Research Assistant at the Australian Centre for Financial Studies to help develop the historical Australian Equity Database. Currently Andrew is conducting Cambodian economic research at the University of Hamburg.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/maitra.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/maitra.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money Financial Literacy via Television Comedy
2014
Andrew Crawford
Cambodia
Jeff Fang
Paul Lajbcygier
Pushkar Maitra
Southeast Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
Bonds of reciprocity formed around family, friendship, and community provide economic security to people in developing economies. In Kenya, groups of people use mobile money technologies to pool resources for kin, friends, and co-workers. Groups of many kinds include savings groups, family groups, and entire communities. In Western Kenya the coming of age ceremony for adolescent boys continues to be a fundamental rite of personhood. It formalizes the transfer of wealth across generations and brings together families and communities in the exchange of gifts, which are displayed and distributed with heightened social and symbolic meaning. ICTs are now an important part of these ceremonies as sources of economic and symbolic value. For decades, local leaders and faith-based NGOs have discouraged this ceremony because of the time and resources it requires. But at the same time, it provides fundamental economic, social, and cultural value to its participants. Through an ethnographic study of the role of mobile money and mobile communication in coming of age ceremonies in Bungoma County, Kenya, in August of 2014 we will examine how participants use ICTs to amass, distribute, and access this ceremony's economic, social, and cultural benefits. Working with 20 families of varying income and education levels, the team will use semi-structured interviews, financial diaries, structured observations, and social network analysis to examine for each ceremony phase: (1) the economic costs and benefits for hosts and guests; (2) the use of ICTs to publicize, plan, and share; (3) mobile money as part of a diverse "monetary ecology," which includes cash, livestock, services, labor, and other gifts; and how mobile money may allow men, women, and youth to accumulate, divert, partition, convert, or hide value; (4) the social and symbolic capital of ICTs; and (5) the effects of mobile money and mobile communication on the participation of women and youth.
Researcher(s)
Sibel Kusimba, Harpieth Chaggar, Gabriel Kunyu, Yang Yang, Steve McCord
About the Researcher(s)
Sibel Kusimba spent 16 years as an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University and is currently an Anthropologist in Residence at American University. Her fieldwork in East Africa has examined land use patterns, kinship and leadership, and technological change.
Researcher 2
Harpieth Chaggar is a recent graduate of Maseno University in Kisumu, Kenya with a degree in Finance. She is interested in economic development and informal savings mechanisms in poverty alleviation. Her previous research funded by IMTFI examined the role of mobile phones by savings groups in Kenya.
Researcher 3
Gabriel Kunyu is a Honors graduate of Egerton University in Njoro, Kenya. A historian by training, his Honors thesis examined the role of ethnicity in the development of trading networks in Western Kenya during the 19th and 20th centuries. His previous research funded by IMTFI traced social networks formed by mobile money remittances among families in Western Kenya.
Researcher 4
Yang Yang received a B.S. in Software Engineering from Nanjing University, China. He is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Since 2010, he has been a member of the iCeNSA lab and Data Inference Analysis and Learning (DIAL) Research Laboratory. His current research interests include developing scalable algorithms and methods for link prediction problems, social network evolution analysis, social influence analysis, and human mobility network analysis.
Researcher 5
Steve McCord seeks to communicate the realities and challenges of individuals and communities primarily through the use of film in order to create capacity and influence policy. He lived in East Africa for 18 years and uses this experience to give his videos a unique technical and ideological perspective. He was awarded first place in a NAE national video contest in 2012 in addition to Best Editing, Narrative, and Global Awareness in the 2013 Houghton College Film Festival. McCord has a degree in Media Arts and Visual Communications from Houghton College.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/kusimba.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/kusimba.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money and the Coming of Age in Western Kenya
2014
East Africa
Gabriel Kunyu
Harpieth Chaggar
Kenya
Sibel Kusimba
Steve McCord
Yang Yang
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
West Africa
Country
Mali
Project Description
This research project aims to assess the potential of mobile banking in favor of financial inclusion with particular consideration of its impact on users? saving practices in a Malian context where access to formal finance is limited. Saving as a focus stems from the results of the researcher's doctoral thesis, which applied field research on microfinance in Mali to highlight surveyed clients? preferences for savings services. Access to mobile phones has been increasing in Mali since the Orange-Mali network entered the market in 2006. In 2010, the operator set up Orange Money, a mobile banking service. In order to further previous findings on the importance of saving in Mali, the research assesses whether this mobile money service is in a position to meet people's saving needs. For instance, is it a strong alternative for rural people who are further away from formal financial services? Does mobile money meet people?s saving needs or offer an additional means of securing their savings? For which forms of savings is it used (consumption, precautionary, or investment saving)? What are the differences between agricultural areas and Sahelian zones dependent on remittances from migrants? For an optimal investigation of these issues, the field research focused on clients' needs in three different areas of Mali: the urban area of Bamako, the Sahelian and emigration region of Kayes, and the agricultural region of Sikasso.
Researcher(s)
Isabelle Guerin and Mariam Sangar
About the Researcher(s)
Isabelle Guerin is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Research for Development/Cessma (Centre d'tudes en sciences sociales sur les mondes americains africains et asiatiques) in Paris. Her academic interests span from the political and moral economy of money, debt and labour to social economy, NGO interventions, empowerment programs, and linkages with public policies. She has jointly edited a number of books and special issues of journals recently: Microfinance, Debt and Over-Indebtedness: Juggling With Money, (London: Routledge, 2013, co-edited with Solene Morvant-Roux and Magdalena Villarreal); Labour Standards in India (Global Labour Journal Special Issue, 2012, co-edited with Jens Lerche and Ravi Srivastava); India's Unfree Workforce: Old and New Practices of Labour Bondage (New-Delhi, 2009, co-edited with Jan Breman and Aseem Prakash). She also regularly publishes in development studies journals such as World Development, Journal of Development Studies, and Development and Change.
Researcher 2
Mariam Sangar? is a research associate at CESSMA (Paris 7 Diderot University/Institute for Research for Development-IRD) in France. She defended her Ph.D. on Microfinance with a focus on the relationships between institutions funding and services quality for customers (University of Toulouse). Her research interests cover low-income people's demand for financial services, governance of microfinance institutions, and questions around financial services supply and demand matching. Her latest publications focus on a case study from Mali and include "Social Responsibility of Microfinance institutions: an analysis in terms of services quality" (forthcoming in Revue Tiers Monde); and "Financing Microfinance institutions: Relationships between financial constrains and services quality" (2011, Revue des Sciences de Gestion, no249-250).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/guerin_sangare.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/guerin_sangare.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion in Mali: What has Been the Impact on Saving Practices?
2014
Isabelle Guerin and Mariam Sangar
Mali
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean South Asia
Country
Mexico/US
Project Description
The project seeks to document the ways in which Mexican or bi-national families residing and/or working (within the same time-frames) on both sides of the Mexican-American border experience and manage different monetary and social currencies. This, we expect, will shed light on the complex nature of money and currencies, helping us tease out different forms of signification and valuation. The 12 month ethnographic study will be carried out in two dissimilar localities: One involves commuters between Calexico in the US and Mexicali in Mexico. The other is the rural community of Sabinilla, in Jalisco, Mexico, which is closely linked to its diaspora in Hawaii.
Researcher(s)
Magdalena Villareal, Joshua Greene, Lya Nino
About the Researcher(s)
Magdalena Villarreal is senior researcher and professor at the Mexican Center for Advanced Research and Postgraduate Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS Occidente) and member of the National Research System and the National Academy of Science. In 1994 she graduated Cum Laude at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. She has been visiting professor at the Centre for Development Research in Copenhaguen, at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Texas at Austin. Her research projects have focused on issues of social policy, gender, migration, finance and money from an anthropological perspective, within diverse scenarios, including California, Western and Southeastern Mexico and Honduras. Her most recent publications include: Antropologia de la Deuda: Cr?dito, Ahorro, Fiado y Prestado en las Finanzas Cotidianas; 'Eratic hopes and inconsistent expectations: A critique of economic thinking on alternatives to poverty'. Mujeres, Finanzas Sociales y Violencia Economica en Zonas Marginadas de Guadalajara, Microfinance, Debt and Overindebtedness (with Guerin and Morvant-Roux), Las microfinanzas en los intersticios del desarrollo: CËœlculos, Normatividades y Malabarismos (with Angulo), Las deudas de los oprimidos en el imperio de la liquidez. Revista Desacatos. (coord), and Los Retos de la Politica Pablica ante el Envejecimiento en Mexico (with Enriquez).
Researcher 2
Joshua Greene moved to Mexico in 2007 to engage in anthropological research after 10 years working as an investigative journalist in West Virginia and Cleveland, Ohio. From 2010-2012 Greene completed a 5-generational migration history in a small community in Jalisco, Mexico, where residents have migrated to Hawaii for 50 years. From 2012 to 2014 Greene completed a Masters in Global Policy at the LBJ School of Public Policy at The University of Texas. This year he has returned to the rural community in Mexico for a close examination of how residents navigate between the local economies of Hawaii and their village as well as how these interface with other circuits of value.
Researcher 3
Lya Nino is a Mexican sociologist and completed PhD at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa in Mexico in 2005. She is currently professor and senior researcher at the Institute of Social Research in UABC. Her main areas of interest are the use and different uses of money, debt, social differentiation (in particular gender, nationality, race and generation), transmigration between Mexicali/Calexico, and national migration.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/villareal.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/villareal.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Juggling Currencies in Trans-Border Contexts: Mexico/US
2014
Joshua Greene
Latin America and the Caribbean South Asia
Lya Nino
Magdalena Villareal
Mexico/US
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Bolivia
Project Description
Because the knowledge we have on the effects of mobile money platforms in the Andean region of rural Bolivia is still very limited, there is yet a lot of information to be collected on this topic that could make a valuable contribution to our understanding of the way new technologies shape the choices people make, not only in regards to money, but also in their social interactions and relationships. For this reason, the purpose of this research is to study the effects of the newly introduced mobile money platform Tigo Money on the development of rural areas in the Department of Potosi. More specifically, this research explores the role that this new platform plays in the productivity and implementation of new technologies for food production among the segment of the population that lives in extreme poverty in the Urmiri and Chayanta Municipalities of Northern Potosi.
Researcher(s)
Maria Isabel Balderrama and Oscar Gerdy Rocabado
About the Researcher(s)
Maria Isabel Balderrama is a Development Project Consultant currently based in La Paz, Bolivia. She earned her M.Sc. in International Development from the University of Utrecht and has ample experience in development project monitoring and evaluation, as well as in conducting quantitative and qualitative research in the area of international development.
Researcher 2
Oscar Rocabado currently works as a Development Project Consultant in La Paz, Bolivia. He earned his M.Sc. from Bolivia?s Universidad Mayor de San Andres, where he has also conducted research under the University?s Development Research Arm, CIDES (Postgrado en Ciencias del Desarrollo). In addition, Rocabado has conducted qualitative and quantitative research with local and international NGOs throughout Bolivia.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/balderrama_rocabado.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/balderrama_rocabado.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Hand Held Wealth? Mobile Money & Food Production in Rural Potosi
2014
Bolivia
Latin America and the Caribbean
Maria Isabel Balderrama and Oscar Gerdy Rocabado
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
East Africa
Country
Uganda
Project Description
The use of mobile money in Uganda is a stellar achievement in the communication industry utilized by individuals, groups, and governmental and non-governmental organizations in different ways. The Ugandan government, in implementing the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) programme, opted to use MTN mobile money service to remit money to poor and elderly households. However, there are reports by media regarding MTN mobile money services in the implementation of SAGE programme that say that ?SAGE beneficiaries in various districts have gone for months without pay after the MTN van was intercepted" (The New Vision, 2013). There has been no study to substantiate media reports, hence the need for this study. Overall, the study seeks to assess the effectiveness and challenges of using mobile money service in the implementation of the SAGE program in Uganda. Specifically the project will: (i) Identify SAGE beneficiaries in selected districts using mobile money services; (ii) Establish symbiotic relationships between government and MTN mobile money service providers in improving SAGE beneficiaries? ability to handle the setbacks and structural conditions that pull them into vulnerability; (iii) Examine the infrastructure, capacity, and challenges encountered by SAGE beneficiaries in accessing money through mobile money services; and (iv) Analyze regulatory frameworks governing mobile money services and usage to map a way forward for policymakers and service providers in expanding the potentials of mobile money as a tool for service delivery. It is expected that findings of this study will attract several empirical research questions to the benefit of the government, policy makers, the academia and mobile money service providers. Specifically, the project will contribute to the formulation of the mobile money policy which is currently lacking.
Researcher(s)
Julius Okello
About the Researcher(s)
Julius Okello has self-esteem for hard work, determination, a resourceful mind with ambitious interests, and a desire to achieve high quality results in academic and policy research engagements. He is currently writing his PhD thesis entitled ?The Role of Social Protection in Addressing Household Vulnerability to Poverty: the case of Teso Districts in Eastern Uganda? at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Julius is also currently working on three projects that are funded by Canadian Government International Development Research Centre (IDRC) on ?Innovative Approaches to Creating Opportunities and Incorporating Young Youth into East Africa?s Labour Markets?, in four East African countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda); ?The Private Security Companies and Urban Insecurity in Uganda?, also funded by IDRC as the Principle Investigator; "Governance of Non-State Social Protection Initiatives: Implications for Addressing Gendered Vulnerability to Poverty in Uganda", funded by the British government through PASGR; "Analysis of the relationship between climate change, population and Development at National level"; and an ?Assessment of implications of population dynamics for urban development in Uganda?. His research interests are in Development Economics, focusing on micro economic social protection policies for poverty reduction and vulnerability, gender, conflict and peace dynamics, socio-economic recovery and development with respect to human development, and delivery and access to social protection services, among others.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/okello_muhumuza.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/okello_muhumuza.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Effectiveness and Challenges of Mobile Money Services in the Implementation of the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment Programme: A Case of Kiboga District in Uganda
2014
East Africa
Julius Okello
Uganda
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Philippines
Project Description
Overseas remittances are a major source of income for developing countries and for families who have embraced overseas migration as a livelihood strategy. Overseas migrants' origin countries like the Philippines have seen their overseas migrants send voluminous remittances to their birthplaces, especially rural hometowns. But have rural hometowns been a conducive place to invest in? Meanwhile, financial inclusion?the access to financial services and products?comes into the picture for moneyed overseas migrants and their families, especially since remittances can easily be a push for remittance senders and recipients to relate with financial institutions. However, even with remittances from abroad, there are still a visible number of Filipino families (migrants and non-migrants) who are unbanked. For the migrant sending--and the family receiving--remittances, financial inclusion can be a gentle push for using their incomes for savings, business, and investment. For the birthplace, vibrant socio-economic activity becomes relevant for migrants and non-migrants?including the presence of financial institutions.Through a mixed methods research tool called the Remittance Investment Climate Analysis in Rural Hometowns (RICART) that the proponents pioneered and implemented in three municipalities in the Philippines, this proposed research project aims to determine if financial inclusion is a factor for remittance recipients? investing in their rural hometowns. A survey of migrant remitters, families of overseas migrants, and non-migrant families, a rapid rural appraisal of a municipality's socio-economic and investment conditions, and a phenomenological method will be implemented. This proposed research will be done in the municipality of Guiguinto in Bulacan (north of Manila) that is said to be successful in getting local revenues. Guiguinto also has an active cooperative sector and six banks.
Researcher(s)
Jeremaiah Opiniano and Alvin Ang
About the Researcher(s)
Jeremaiah M. Opiniano is coordinator and Assistant Professor of Journalism at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He has 14 years of experience as a nonprofit worker in the Philippines? international migration sector, especially as Executive Director of the Institute for Migration and Development Issues (IMDI). Mr. Opiniano has done research and consulting work on international migration and development on behalf of the Institute. He had also published papers and some books/monographs on international migration and development in areas such as: migration-and-development policy, migration management policy, overseas remittances for development (e.g. migrant philanthropy, migrant investment), migration-and-development statistics, and migration-and-development processes such as agriculture and rural development, domestic employment, social protection, local governance, entrepreneurship, and population-and-development (PopDev). On behalf of the Institute, Mr. Opiniano had done consulting projects for the German International Development Cooperation (GIZ) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Together with economist Dr. Alvin Ang of UST, Mr. Opiniano developed a research tool called the Remittance Investment Climate Analysis in Rural Hometowns (RICART) that aims to assess the conduciveness of rural birthplaces for overseas remittances? investment and entrepreneurial potentials. RICART won for Dr. Ang and Asst. Prof. Opiniano the grand prize (Japanese Award for Most Outstanding Research in Development) in the 2011 Global Development Awards and Medals Competition, organized by the Global Development Network (GDN, www.gdn.int). He has a M.A. in Professional Studies (MPS) in Development Communication from the University of the Philippines.
Researcher 2
Alvin P. Ang is an economist with teaching experience at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He is currently treasurer of the Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC), the country?s largest network of social science organizations. Dr. Ang?s ascension into the board of PSSC is largely due to his being immediate past president of the Philippine Economic Society (PES) in 2013. At UST, he is Full Professor of Economics and was a former director of the Research Center on Culture, Education, and Social Issues (RCCESI). Dr. Ang has done research and consulting work for Philippine government agencies (e.g. Departments of Social Welfare and Development, Labor and Employment, Trade and Industry) and for multilateral organizations? Philippine offices (e.g. Asian Development Bank, European Union, International Labor Organization, United Nations Development Programme). He specializes in the economics of international migration. His studies cover overseas remittances and rural development, migration policy, migration and human development indicators (e.g. education), and migration statistics. Together with IMDI executive director and UST Journalism Instructor Jeremaiah Opiniano, Dr. Ang has developed a research tool called the Remittance Investment Climate Analysis in Rural Hometowns (RICART) that aims to assess the conduciveness of rural birthplaces to overseas remittances? investment and entrepreneurial potentials. RICART won for Dr. Ang and Prof. Opiniano the grand prize (Japanese Award for Most Outstanding Research in Development) in the 2011 Global Development Awards and Medals Competition, organized by the Global Development Network (GDN, www.gdn.int). He has a Master?s in Public Policy (MPP) from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from Osaka University.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/opiniano_ang.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/opiniano_ang.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Does Financial Inclusion Spur Overseas Filipinos to Invest? A Remittance Investment Climate (ReIC) Study in a Rural Hometown
2014
Jeremaiah Opiniano and Alvin Ang
Philippines
Southeast Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Mexico
Project Description
Our study aims to test whether and how mental accounting and default mechanisms improve the ability of poor households to save in the formal financial system, cope with negative shocks, and invest in health and education. We are also interested in testing whether making the financial lives of the poor easier has an effect on their cognitive system, and if this, in turn, affects their welfare. Designing savings tools that help the poor to save is a global challenge that could benefit many. The Mexican antipoverty program Oportunidades delivers conditional cash transfers to its beneficiaries via direct deposits into savings accounts. We plan to exploit this key feature of the program to evaluate the potential of default and mental accounting mechanisms for a vulnerable population. We will conduct a randomized controlled trial at the local level with three treatment arms. Households living in control localities (C) will keep receiving their cash transfers via their savings accounts. Households living in our mental accounting localities (T1) will be offered access to an account for "emergencies." They will be able to voluntarily deposit any amount into this account. Finally, households living in our mental accounting + default localities (T2) will also be offered access to an account for emergencies and will be given the chance to have 10% of their Oportunidades transfers automatically deposited into their account for emergencies. Comparison of C vs. T1 + T2 will identify the effect of mental accounting. Comparison of T1 vs. T2 will identify the effect of savings by default. Our results will help design better development policies associated with the delivery of conditional cash transfers programs or other government programs that make regular transfer payments to individuals.
Researcher(s)
Manuela Angelucci, Carlos Chiapa, Silva Prina
About the Researcher(s)
Manuela Angelucci holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University College London. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. Her field of research is development economics. She is currently conducting research on migration, household behavior, and the effect of acute stress on productivity and decision making.
Researcher 2
Carlos Chiapa holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University. He is an Assistant Professor of Economics at El Colegio de Mexico. His areas of expertise are applied microeconomics, economic development and program evaluation. His current research focuses on the effects of financial inclusion through savings accounts, on behavior, aspirations and cognitive abilities of individuals.
Researcher 3
Silvia Prina holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University. She is Assistant Professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Her fields of research are applied microeconomics and development economics. She is currently conducting research aimed at studying whether access to formal savings accounts improves the lives of poor households in Mexico, Nepal and Tanzania.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/angelucci.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/angelucci.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Delivering Conditional Cash Transfers Via Savings Accounts: Default and Mental Accounting Mechanisms
2014
Carlos Chiapa
Latin America and the Caribbean
Manuela Angelucci
Mexico
Silva Prina
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2014
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
Findings from our current IMTFI study in Dharavi indicate that cash is culturally accepted for both business and personal transactions despite respondents having bank accounts and mobile phones. The primary reasons for low uptake of mobile banking services was respondents' apprehension about banking systems and a limited understanding about the financial system. Our study recognized two groups: migrant employees and women entrepreneurs. Both have potential to take up the mobile banking services if they are provided with adequate information. During our extensive pilots, we found that providing generalized financial literacy content without customization for the target population could not generate sufficient motivation amongst the group to adopt the mobile banking systems. Thus, we are currently designing context-specific financial literacy modules using real life stories from our respondents. These materials not only aim to address the knowledge gap about financial products and services, but also the underlying behavioral biases impacting financial decisions. Our current budget did not permit us to assess the impact of these modules on financial behavior and take-up of mobile banking services. Through additional funding, we would like to test if providing the respondents knowledge about new technological innovations using behavioral messaging increase the uptake of mobile banking services. We will also asses the challenges or dilemmas our target audiences face after we introduce them to cashless options, and record changes in their social infrastructure when they try to get out of cash-only worlds. We will approach mobile banking service providers with our financial literacy tools, and understand the willingness of service providers to collaboratively offer financial literacy tools for their clients. The research also seeks to assess the roles of gender (in the case of women entrepreneurs), and socio-economic status (in the case of migrant employees) in payment choices.
Researcher(s)
Mudita Tiwari and Deepti KC
About the Researcher(s)
Mudita Tiwari holds a M.A. in Public Policy and a M.A. in Public Health (Epidemiology/Biostatics) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.B.A in Information Technology from Cleveland State University. At CMF she is working on research evaluating the impact of microfinance, financial inclusion, financial literacy programs, and agricultural financing programs in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
Researcher 2
Deepti KC has a B.A. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jaipur, and a M.A. in Environmental and Public Health Engineering. She also has a M.A. in Fundraising Management and Nonprofit Administration from Columbia University. Deepti currently works as a Senior Manager and is involved in carrying out several research projects relating to financial inclusion.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/tiwari_kc.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2014/tiwari_kc.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Assessing the Impact of Financial Knowledge on Adoption of Mobile Payment Systems among Enterprise Owners in Dharavi, Mumbai
2014
India
Mudita Tiwari and Deepti KC
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
Central Asia
Country
Afghanistan
Project Description
With funding from the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion, a small team from frog, a design and innovation consultancy, travelled to Afghanistan in December 2012 to conduct research into attitudes and practices around savings and people's perceptions of risk and reward. We explored the financial relationships among a wide variety of individuals and organizations, ranging from employers to formal institutions, neighborhood credit lines to extended family. It is sometimes easy for us in the banked world to forget the value of taking money out of circulation and placing it somewhere safe, because it is a practice so very common in many areas of the world. But the concept of saving, and in particular saving regularly though a salary plan, could have a big impact on individual and family welfare in a country like Afghanistan, where there are few formal alterna-tives to having cash with you at all times. It is in such fragile and conflict-affected states, where concerns of corruption and physical insecurity are rife, that secure and regular savings are likely to have the most profound impact. Over the last few decades, social scientists have shown that a strong relationship exists between access to financial services and other measures of individual and family welfare.
Our research and those of others have revealed that the idea of 'saving' in Afghanistan comes in many forms, whether that be in property, livestock, grain, or gold, and that saving occurs in households from a range of financial standings, both rich and poor. frog's research focused on the underlying mental models that drive saving behaviors, rather than the nuts and bolts of how a particular group of Afghans save. At first glance, Afghanistan might seem an unlikely place to explore how the future of savings will play out in the world, including the U.S., europe, Japan, and the rest of the so-called developed markets, as it is a nation with minimal formal banking infrastructure, a fragile economy, and a turbulent geopolitical backdrop. But in our experience, it is precisely these conditions that can trigger innovative practices to overcome limitations in the status quo and make the most of the frugal resources that are available. We believe that such innovative practices in Afghanistan are clearer to spot because there are greater barriers to overcome, and the consequences of failure are arguably higher than in most other places. And while many factors in Afghanistan can impede such innovation, the mobile phone may provide a potential shortcut to delivering effective financial services: although only 9% of the population uses financial institutions, approximately 65% own a mobile phone.
This project builds on prior research conducted in 2010 hat looked at the introduction of Mobile Money services in Afghanistan, and lays the groundwork for a larger impact evaluation, planned for late 2013, that will pilot a new mobile phone-based savings account that builds on the insights from our investigation. references and contact information appear at the end of this publication.
Researcher(s)
Joshua Blumenstock and Jan Chipchase
About the Researcher(s)
Joshua Blumenstock is Assistant Professor, School of Information at University of California, Berkeley; Co-Director, Data Science and Analytics Lab
Researcher 2
Jan Chipchase is founder of Studio D Radiodurans, a research, design and innovation consultancy specializing in identifying nuanced patterns of human behavior. Jan was previously Executive Creative Director of Global Insights at frog, a global design and innovation consultancy, where he headed up the global research practice. Prior to that he was Principal Scientist at Nokia where he specialized in entry level products. He has worked on products that have collectivity sold over a billion units. His first book Hidden in Plain Sight was published in English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Russian and became a best-seller in South Korea of all places. He is currently working on The Field Study Handbook.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/blumentstock.php">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/blumentstock.php</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile-lizing Savings
2013
Afghanistan
Central Asia
Joshua Blumenstock and Jan Chipchase
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
Mass urbanization across the globe is bringing fresh waves of migrants into urban slums 220 million people moving from the Indian countryside to cities in the next twenty years alone and many of these are resettling in poorer communities. With this migration comes swollen demand on utilities including, of course the need for clean drinking water. A failure to meet these needs creates significant upheaval from social interaction to healthcare, to business, spanning every aspect of city life.
When people think of the places that represent our global future their minds turn to modern metropolises like Seoul, Tokyo, or San Francisco. But over the last decade I've seen globally cutting edge thinking and services shifting to include places like Manila, Nairobi, and Mumbai. This innovation is often driven by widespread, affordable connectivity and is increasingly supplemented by new ways to sense and interpret the world around us.
Recently a venture funded by the Piramal Foundation introduced a for-profit pilot to sell clean drinking water in slums through a novel water ATM, supplying water at a fraction of the current market costs. It has great potential to be a force for good not least through providing a consistent service at a far more affordable price; located in proximity to the people it serves; remote monitoring of water quality and usage, and considered use of mobile technology.
At the same time there is significant social, economic and political capital invested in current water practices from: the nuanced give-and-take of neighbors looking out for each other in a tight-knit community; the promise of water-for-votes; through to bribes paid to have water delivered. For a slum-dweller putting faith in a technology, regardless of the benefits over existing practices can be daunting not least because it requires trust that the underlying system will permanently change. It also requires trust in technology: that it is prudent to store something of monetary value in a pre-paid smart card, and that value will be released when required.
Journeys for Water explores the strategies adopted by slum dwellers to ensure that their households have the water they need not just to survive, but thrive. In doing so, it provides a small, but important contribution in addition to Piramal Foundation's vision of bringing "water for all."
Researcher(s)
Jan Chipchase, Nitin Gupta, Gaurav Bhushan and Jennifer Fuqua
About the Researcher(s)
Jan Chipchase is founder of Studio D Radiodurans, a research, design and innovation consultancy specializing in identifying nuanced patterns of human behaviour. Jan was previously Executive Creative Director of Global Insights at frog, a global design and innovation consultancy, where he headed up the global research practice. Prior to that he was Principal Scientist at Nokia where he specialised in entry level products. He has worked on products that have collectivity sold over a billion units. His first book Hidden in Plain Sight was published in English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Russian and became a best-seller in South Korea of all places. He is currently working on The Field Study Handbook.
Researcher 2
Nitin Gupta is Managing Direcotr and cofounder at carbon12 creative; Nitin was previously Creative Director at Frog Design. He graduated with a Masters in Human Factors from the State University of New?York at Buffalo, NY. He has previously been a researcher at Motorola Inc, conducting Human Behavioral Research in various countries including India and USA.
Researcher 3
Gaurav Bhushan is Design Reearcher with frog; he is a graduate in Information Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. While at frog, Gaurav has been a project lead and key team member for engagements with clients in the US, India and Japan.
Researcher 4
Jennifer Fuqua is an Associate Director, Program Management at frog's Shanghai Studio. With extensive experience in design research, communication design, and business strategy,
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/chipchase%20etal.php">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/chipchase%20etal.php</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Sarvajal
2013
Gaurav Bhushan and Jennifer Fuqua
India
Jan Chipchase
Nitin Gupta
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
Australia/Oceania
Country
Tonga
Project Description
Over the last five decades, the exchange of private remittances from the overseas Tongan community have been critical to Tonga's local income and consumption. However, as Governor of Tonga's Reserve Bank Hon. Siosi C. Mafi explains, since the 2007 global financial crisis, private remittances from the Tongan diaspora have declined, reinforcing the notion that remittances are not a sustainable form of investment. The Tongan government needs to consider alternatives to generate local income and consumption. This research project defines 'transformative value' as the potential to abandon uncontrollable financial situations for more manageable alternatives. In seeking to understand the transformative value of kau tou lalanga- a collective weaving enterprise in Tonga-the research asks: How does kau tou lalanga enhance Tongan weavers' ability to financially support themselves and dependents through weaver's wages and business profits? Furthermore, how do mobile phones, money transfer mediums, and microfinance contribute to the transformative value of kau tou lalanga? Ethnographic fieldwork will be conducted in two remote villages in Tonga. This will entail the accumulation of an assortment of surveys of weaving collectives from each village. Using observational anthropological methods to document participant and site observations, the research records the progress of each kau tou lalanga and the usage of exchange mediums, mobile phones, and associated events. Archival research at Tongan financial institutions coupled with literature analysis will continue to inform the ethnography as well.
Researcher(s)
Charmaine Ilaiu Talei
About the Researcher(s)
Charmaine Ilaiu Talei is working on her Ph.D. in Architecture at the Aboriginal Environment Research Centre, School of Architecture, University of Queensland. Her research contributes to the understanding of historical and contemporary Pacific architectures and material cultures in island and urban Pacific Rim contexts. She holds a Master's of Architecture - Research (Honours), Bachelor's of Architecture (First Class Honours), and a Bachelor's of Architectural Studies from the University of Auckland.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/talei.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/talei.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Understanding the transformative value of Tongan women's kau tou lalanga: mobile mats, mobile phones, and money transfer agents
2013
Australia/Oceania
Charmaine Ilaiu Talei
Tonga
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
Dharavi, Asia's largest slum located in Mumbai, India, is home to a large number of thriving small-scale industries. Given the high volume of unrecorded transactions in such enterprises, the digitization of transactions is essential to achieving inclusive financial growth in India. Despite attempted efforts to readjust the system of financial transaction towards a more digitized form, cash still remains the predominant mode of transaction among Dharavi's enterprises. Before introducing future innovations it is crucial to recognize which systems would be best suited by understanding targeted users' perceptions about electronic transactions as complementary tools in terms of speed, convenience, and reliability; what the level of acceptability and trust is amongst users; and if regulatory innovations and existing infrastructures for electronic transactions support the needs of the clients. Our proposed study utilizes an ethnographic and experimental approach to find answers to these concerns by understanding the movement of cash transactions in detail, for three types of industries (small, medium and large) in Dharavi. Our study will observe behaviors that influence business financial transactions, interview different stakeholders to understand their knowledge and perception of electronic transaction, and facilitate respondents opening mobile money bank accounts to understand their willingness to adopt e-payment systems. Through this process we aim to determine the social, cultural, and commercial factors that influence the decision of using cash versus electronic transaction systems, and to understand the totality of the mobile money paradigm.
Researcher(s)
Deepti KC, Mudita Tiwari
About the Researcher(s)
Deepti KC has a Bachelor?s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) ? Jaipur and has a Master?s degree in Environmental and Public Health Engineering. She also has a Master?s degree in Fundraising Management and Nonprofit Administration from Columbia University. Deepti currently works as a Senior Manager and is involved in carrying out several research projects relating to financial inclusion.
Researcher 2
Mudita Tiwari holds a Master's in Public Policy and a Master's in Public Health (Epidemiology/Biostatics) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.B.A in Information Technology from Cleveland State University. At CMF, she is working on research evaluating the impact of microfinance, financial inclusion, financial literacy programs, and agricultural financing programs in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/deepti_tiwari.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/deepti_tiwari.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Understanding the movement of cash of the privately led enterprises in Dharavi and scope for electronic or mobile payments
2013
Deepti KC
India
Mudita Tiwari
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Philippines
Project Description
This study provides an independent assessment on the use of GCash as an alternative way of delivering the Philippines? conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to distant beneficiaries who have no access to banking facilities that are commonly needed for the program. The research looks at how the GCash system complements the CCT program. Specifically, it examines the motivations, skills, and resources that are needed by the beneficiaries in the establishment of the program within a given area and the expectations of the service providers in terms of their providing information and support to the beneficiaries. As part of the analysis, the research compares the GCash system with the other existing disbursement system of the CCT program in terms of accessibility, transaction cost, and technology use. In doing so it applies Van Dijk's model of stages of access to technology. Alampay's previous (2008) use of this framework was applied on mobile money's potential for sending remittances among users at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). This new study builds on Alampay's previous research by looking no longer at potential, but rather at actual public services aimed at the BoP in geographically isolated communities.
Researcher(s)
Erwin Alampay, Charlie E. Cabotaje
About the Researcher(s)
Erwin Alampay is currently an Associate Professor at the National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) in the University of the Philippines, and Director of the Center for Leadership, Citizenship and Democracy. He was the Asia-Pacific Regional Coordinator for the Amy Mahan Research Fellowship Grant, and editted the book ?Living the Information Society in Asia? (2009, ISEAS Press). He serves as Senior Editor for the Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC) and is a Senior Research Fellow with LirneAsia.
Researcher 2
Charlie E. Cabotaje obtained his MSc in Governance and Spatial Information Management at the University of Twente?s Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) in The Netherlands. He finished his post graduate Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Philippines School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/alampay_cabotaje.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/alampay_cabotaje.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
The use and impact of mobile money in the delivery of conditional cash transers in the Philippines
2013
Charlie E. Cabotaje
Erwin Alampay
Philippines
Southeast Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
India is characterized by intensive cell phone usage, but it is lacking in universal banking technologies. Taking cues from the success of M-PESA Airtel, new mobile money schemes could foster radical positive social change. The only hurdle to its success could be to understand how customers would react to cash in hand versus mobile money platforms. This concern could metastasize due to uninformed perceptions of technology or concern with data. This study will observe and analyze the processes involved in the assimilation of mobile money, where it is being used, and the behavior of customers who prefer material cash over mobile money. Can mobile money eliminate the risks associated with cash transfers? What is the role of middlemen defined in this, and will this broad ecosystem increase transaction costs? With growing hesitation toward mobile money, can we ensure protection and trust in the minds of low income urban and rural people? Finally, privacy and data protection concerns are distinct issues that arise in e-commerce transactions. This study will seek to identify the privacy risks and analyze whether the current mobile money framework in India can account for such risks.
Researcher(s)
Lakshmi Kumar
About the Researcher(s)
Lakshmi Kumarhas a Ph.D. in economics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Madras. She also holds a graduate degree in mathematics and a postgraduate degree in econometrics from the University of Madras. Currently she is an Assistant Professor and the Program Director of the PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) program in Chennai. She has more than twenty years of experience in research and teaching. Her research interests lie in the development of financially inclusive programs for the poor.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/kumar.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/kumar.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
The new information ecosystem being developed around mobile money: A behavioral analysis of mobile money users in India
2013
India
Lakshmi Kumar
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
The aim of the research project is to assess the complementarity between mobile financial services and other financial infrastructures and systems in India. Complementarity refers to the presence of a demand or deficit at one location and a supply or surplus at another. To examine this objective we will couple the spatial analysis of the distribution and evolution of mobile payments with the distribution and evolution of financial inclusion in India, with special attention to the role of Banking Correspondents (BC) as an interface between a bank and its customers to facilitate deposits and withdrawals. Two levels of analysis are used to undertake a critical analysis of the spatial and social dimensions of mobile financial services ecosystems in India: national level and district level (Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu). Our study will also look into what the frictions of physical, social, and economic constraints are in complementing the activities of the formal banking industry. The researchers feel that if these frictions of physical, social, and economic distances are too great, then successful interaction will not occur in spite of a complementary supply-demand relationship. Findings about spatial variation and change to financial inclusion are highly relevant to our understanding of the complex processes of regional development that are currently underway in India.
Researcher(s)
K.V. Nithyananda, Cyril Fouillet
About the Researcher(s)
K.V. Nithyananda is an Assistant Professor in the area of Finance and Legal Systems at the Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli (IIM Trichy) in Tamil Nadu. He is also the Chairperson of the Consulting and Management Development Programmes at IIM Trichy. He has provided consulting services to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank in addition to the Bangalore Development Authority, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Mysore City Corporation, Brihan Mumbai Mahanagara Palika, and Jalgaon City Corporation, among others. His areas of research include intellectual property rights and finance. His latest research paper on the monetization of intellectual property rights was published in the Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, (NISCAIR, September 2012).
Researcher 2
Cyril Fouillet is an Assistant Professor and head of the economics section at the ESSCA Business School in Angers, France. As a research fellow at the French Institute of Pondicherry, he spent three years in India conducting his fieldwork on economic, spatial, and political dimensions of microfinance. He completed his Ph.D. in 2009 at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. He was a post-doctoral research fellow in development studies at the University of Oxford for two years (2009-2011). He also worked for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (Rural Finance Group) and the Financial Sector Deepening Kenya (FSD-K). His latest contribution is an edited special issue on Microfinance Studies with J. Copestake, B. Harriss-White and M. Hudon (Oxford Development Studies, 2013).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/nithyananda_fouillet.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/nithyananda_fouillet.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
Spatial Complementarity of Mobile Financial Services, Business Correspondents, and Banking Infrastructures: Accounting for Mobile Financial Services Ecosystems in India
2013
Cyril Fouillet
India
K.V. Nithyananda
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
This study regards the gathering of oral histories of silk industry stakeholders in the south-Indian state of Karnataka - in terms of the acquisition, ownership, and divestment of gold jewelry - as a way of tracking assets and debts and attaining an understanding of intersections between debt-based labor arrangements and the impact of financial inclusion policies in the sector. In addition to being fundamentally linked to debt and stocks of wealth, gold also serves as a monetary marker that will be used to locate and track memories of financial situations and financial behavior over time. We seek to acquire knowledge pertaining to modulating debt-based labor arrangements in the sector. In particular this study seeks to locate the ways in which such labor arrangements have been reinforced or reconfigured following the implementation of economic liberalization policies. The intention is to understand how larger trends of genderization, and gendered financial inclusion policies, pursued through self-help groups (SHGs) and commercial microfinance, have impacted links between social hierarchies and workforce vulnerabilities.
Researcher(s)
Nithya Joseph
About the Researcher(s)
Nithya Joseph is studying the politics of production and reproduction across the silk industry in Karnataka, India. This work is guided by research on debt-based labor and microfinance. Nithya has read for the M.Sc. in Contemporary India (2010) at the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford, and facilitated research methods learning labs and writing workshops at the Srishti College of Art, Design, and Technology in Bangalore.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/joseph.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/joseph.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Silk Societies, Gold Stories: Using Gold-Based Life Stories to Study Gender, Financial Inclusion, and Work Vulnerability in South Indian Sericulture
2013
India
Nithya Joseph
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
India witnesses massive domestic migration and remittances. A large chunk of such remittances passes through unregulated and traditional money transfer channels like hawala and cash couriers. In recent years there has been a push by the central regulator and the government to introduce formal banking channels that would cater to underserved populations under a much wider ambit of financial inclusion. Technology is expected to play a pivotal role in the fulfillment of the financial inclusion paradigm's potential. It seems intuitive that the mobile phone would be a scalable, pervasive, and rapid conduit to facilitate this process. This study will focus on customers of Eko India, the mobile banking agent to India?s largest banks like the State Bank of India and ICICI Bank. The study is unique in its attempt to differentiate mobile money within the formal banking channel, which includes bank branches, smart cards, et al. Through this lens we will deeply analyze and measure customer-facing value propositions, electronic money loops, trust, and customer service. Additionally, we will examine the implications of past policy interventions that promoted a ?multi-channel? approach to financial inclusion versus a single-channel focus on mobile money.
Researcher(s)
Amrit Pal
About the Researcher(s)
Amrit Pal works at the intersection of fintech, product management and research. He currently works on payments at Square in San Francisco. In previous roles, he served as Head of Product at Kopo Kopo in Seattle and Nairobi. At Kopo Kopo he led product roadmaps for payments, lending and enterprise products. He also initiated an experiment in Nairobi, living exclusively on M-PESA for 60 days without touching cash. Before Kopo Kopo, he served a brief stint at Eko in India. Opinions expressed are personal
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/pal.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/pal.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
One Among Many? Examining the Efficacy of Mobile Money in India's Remittance Corridors
2013
Amrit Pal
India
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
West Africa
Country
Cameroon
Project Description
What value systems are founded by the poor rural farmers? perceptions of the mobile money financial institutions? What are the daily practices, uses, and meanings of mobile money services? This study investigates the daily practices, transformative value, and social implications of mobile money and electronic transfer services amongst poor rural farmers and gardeners in the Cameroon Grassfields. The study uses ethnographic methodology and a network analysis framework to map, document, and critically analyze the social usages and practices of ICTS and mobile money amongst mobile farmers. Economically hindered by high unemployment rates due to the lack of industry, the northwest region of Cameroon is characterized by the abandonment of its young labor class as they flock to urban centers and across international borders in search of greater financial opportunities. Pertaining to this high population mobility, there is high usage and reliance on mobile and electronic money services for remittances. Although various studies from other countries have buoyed hopes about the transformative potential for mobile technologies to improve the market participation and welfare of farmers, in Cameroon there is little in the way of tangible evidence. Therefore, this study can provide valuable exploratory data to various stakeholders.
Researcher(s)
Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Divine Fuh
About the Researcher(s)
Francis B. Nyamnjoh joined the University of Cape Town in August 2009 as Professor of Social Anthropology from the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) in Dakar, Senegal, where he served as Head of Publications from July 2003 to July 2009. He has taught sociology, anthropology and communication studies at universities in Cameroon and Botswana. He is a recipient of the ?ASU African Hero 2013? annual award by the African Students Union at Ohio University. He is a B2 rated Professor and Researcher by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) since 2010, a Fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Science since August 2011, and Chair of the Editorial Board of the South African Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Press since January 2011.
Researcher 2
Divine Fuh joined the University of Cape Town in March 2012 as a lecturer in social anthropology from the University of Basel, Switzerland, where he was Assistant to the Chair of Research and Methodology in the Institute of Sociology. He holds a B.Sc. (Honours) from the University of Buea, a MA from the University of Botswana, and a Ph.D. from the University of Basel. He has taught at the University of Basel in Switzerland and the Western Cape and Stellenbosch Universities in South Africa. He has been a visiting fellow at the University of Brasilia, the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies, and the African Studies Centre in Leiden. He has published works on youth agency and popular culture in urban Africa. His research focuses on questions relating to youth, agency, mobility, development, and urbanity. His current project is entitled ?Fixing the City? and addresses youth agency and urban popular culture in South Africa. He is a Board Member of the Association of Southern African Anthropologists, and Secretary of the Langaa Board.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/nyamnjoh_fuh.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/nyamnjoh_fuh.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Njangi Sociality: Mobility, ICTS, and Mobile Money Usages and Practices amongst Poor Rural Farmers in the Cameroon Grassfields
2013
Cameroon
Divine Fuh
Francis B. Nyamnjoh
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
Australia/Oceania
Country
Fiji
Project Description
The central question that this research addresses is how mobile value added services (MVAS) could be leveraged to improve access to finance and growth of women-owned micro-enterprises (WMEs) in Fiji. The six prevalent themes in MVAS include: M-infotainment (entertainment), M-connectivity (communication related applications), M-health (health related issues), M-education (educational content), M-enterprise (business-related applications), and M-commerce (retail, banking, and transactions over mobile phones). The current study will focus on the last two themes. Mobile phones have the potential to accelerate growth through improved linkages to markets, while the access to the Internet that they provide can deliver crucial knowledge. Fiji's economic growth has only marginally improved in recent years, and the utilization of mobile technologies can pave the road to economic stability. This study would aid in the construction of our understanding of the socio-cultural and economic factors that drive women's adoption of MVAS. It could ultimately help them become stronger "business women" as access to finance improves and WMEs grow through the increased use of MVAS. The research draws from the technology diffusion/acceptance model as well as the theory of change. The research would mainly employ an ethnographic approach to answer the research questions and construct a model of drivers of MVAS adoption among WMEs in Fiji.
Researcher(s)
Milind Sathye, Biman Prasad
About the Researcher(s)
Milind Sathye worked for nearly two decades in the Reserve Bank of India/National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, including as the Manager of the World Bank Pilot Project, and as a member of the Board of Directors of a Regional Rural Bank. For the last fifteen years he has been working as a Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of Canberra, Australia. Frequently, consulted by Australian and overseas media, his expertise has been sought by the Australian Parliament?s Senate Economic Committees as well as by Australian courts as an expert witness involving banking and finance cases.
Researcher 2
Biman Prasad has been a Dean of the School of Economics at the University of South Pacific from 2003 to 2009. He holds a Ph.D. in Development Economics from the University of Queensland (Australia). He has done consultancy work for international organisations such as the Asian Development Bank, UNESCAP, CLGF, Food and Agricultural Organisation, The World Trade Organisation, AusAID, and governments in the Pacific region. Professor Prasad is the Associate Editor of the Journal of Fijian Studies and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pacific Studies.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/sathye_prasad.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/sathye_prasad.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile value added services for inclusive growth: A study of women micro-entrepreneurs in Fiji
2013
Australia/Oceania
Biman Prasad
Fiji
Milind Sathye
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
West Africa
Country
Ghana, Nigeria
Project Description
The potential for mobile money to transform the lives of the economically disadvantaged populations who are systematically excluded from access to traditional financial services (the unbanked poor) cannot be understated. However, critical to this transformation is an in-depth, country and context-specific understanding of the utility (usefulness, benefits, and limitations) of mobile money for these disadvantaged populations. Seeking to contribute to the current understanding of the transformative process of mobile money on financial inclusion, the authors explore the utility of mobile money from the perspective of unbanked poor mobile money users in urban areas in Ghana and Nigeria. In this research, the authors seek to (1) identify how the unbanked poor use mobile money services, (2) identify innovative uses of mobile money by the unbanked poor, and (3) identify the needs of the unbanked poor that are currently not being met by existing mobile money services and products. The authors explore the utility of mobile money for the unbanked poor using a mixed methods approach, including secondary data, interviews with mobile money providers, various focus groups of unbanked poor urban dwellers, and a large sample survey of 4,500 unbanked urban dwellers in Ghana and Nigeria who use mobile money. The insights gained by understanding the applications, innovations, benefits, and limitations of mobile money use by the unbanked poor is important to: (1) provide context-specific information which can be used by mobile money platform developers and providers to craft new, innovative, and locally-tailored applications of mobile money; and (2) identify specific cultural limitations that hinder the adoption and use of mobile money by unbanked poor urban dwellers.
Researcher(s)
Lite J. Nartey, J. Adetunji Adegbesan, Olayinka David-West
About the Researcher(s)
Lite J. Nartey is an Assistant Professor in the Sonoco International Business Department at the Darla Moore School of Business. She holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, a MPA from New York University, and a B.Sc. (Honours) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. Her research interests include exploring the relationships, contingencies, and dynamics among multinational firms, governments, and civil society actors, and the implications of these dynamics on firm performance and societal value; stakeholder engagement and the business case for corporate social responsibility; extractive industries (specifically oil and mining); African business (mobile money, telecommunications and banking); and Chinese investment in Africa. Her work has been recognized for several awards and nominations including being a finalist for the Wiley Blackwell Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research (2013) in the Business Policy and Strategy (BPS) Division of the Academy of Management and a finalist for the Industry Studies Association Dissertation Award.
Researcher 2
J. Adetunji Adegbesan has an honours degree in electronic engineering from the University of Nigeria and a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from IESE Business School. He is the Director of Research, and a member of the Strategy Group at LBS where he leads sessions on competitive strategy and innovation in executive programmes. He is also a visiting scholar and associate researcher at the Anselmo Rubiralta Center for Globalisation and Strategy at IESE Business School. His published research has appeared in prestigious international journals such as the Academy of Management Review and the Strategic Management Journal. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Strategy Division of the Global Academy of Management and serves on the editorial board of Strategic Organisation. He works closely with industry leaders in Nigeria and Europe in the area of Strategic Innovation, and his consulting experience spans the software, mobile communications, oil and gas, identity management, and electronic payments industries.
Researcher 3
Olayinka David-West, an information systems (IS) professional with over two decades experience in the Nigerian IT industry, has a passion for the effective use of IT in business. She holds a doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Manchester Business School, a M.Sc. in Business Systems Analysis and Design from City University, London, and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Lagos. She is currently a senior fellow in the Operations, Information Systems and Marketing Division of Lagos Business School and the academic director at the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-African University. She is the author of numerous academic papers and case studies. She has also presented her research findings at local and international conferences.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/nartey_adegbesan_david-west.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/nartey_adegbesan_david-west.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money Utility and Financial Inclusion: Insights From Unbanked Poor End-Users
2013
Ghana
J. Adetunji Adegbesan
Lite J. Nartey
Nigeria
Olayinka David-West
West Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Peru
Project Description
How mobile is money in societies that, until recently, were largely cashless? Are big, unwieldy cash denominations-such as Peru's 100-sol bill-uniquely mobile, or uniquely stationary in such places? Might new influxes of cash have special impacts on poverty, economic life, and even the ways people self-identify? Large cash units have recently begun to circulate through the rural communities of Andean Peru?s Colca Valley due to two factors: (1) the recent emergence of a developmental paradigm emphasizing microfinance investments in enterprises that promote indigenous culture as a market good, and (2) the rise in cash-cropping as a means of livelihood. In its capacity to structure savings, transactions, and value distribution, large cash denominations provide a unique and rarely explored avenue for understanding the everyday impacts of development intervention. This project draws on anthropological theories of money, economic development, and indigenous identity to argue that new forms of usage, transfer, and mobility of specifically large bills are reconfiguring the ways Colcans relate to one another and conceptualize themselves. The study will be anchored in ethnographic analyses of cash changing hands, methodologically rooted in three case studies: two development investments in enterprises marketing indigenous identity?a tourism enterprise and a quinoa exportation initiative?and one formerly subsistence household that has recently turned to cash cropping.
Researcher(s)
Eric Hirsch
About the Researcher(s)
Eric Hirsch is a doctoral candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of Chicago. His research and teaching interests center on the intersection between indigenous identity and development investment in rural Peru. For his MA in anthropology he researched climate activism and everyday life in the Maldives, a nation projected to be rendered uninhabitable due to rising seas.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/hirsch.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/hirsch.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Investing in Indigneity: Big Bills, Fungibility, and Mobile Cash in Andean Peru
2013
Eric Hirsch
Latin America and the Caribbean
Peru
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
East Africa
Country
Tanzania
Project Description
Access to savings accounts enables poor households to save and build assets that allow them to consume at a desirable pace, invest in health and education, and start or improve income-generating activities. Mobile money-linked savings accounts have the potential to play an important role in the financial inclusion of the poor. However, mobile-linked savings accounts may generate significant "spillovers," that is, they may impose benefits or costs on those who do not adopt the account. This project analyzes this question in peri-urban Zanzibar, Tanzania. Also, financial inclusion may generate a "multiplier effect," increasing the income and consumption of non-adopting social network members. The introduction of savings accounts may discourage informal lending or insurance within the social network, potentially making some non-adopting households worse off. Different network members may be affected differentially. For instance, those with whom the adopting household has an altruistic, reciprocating relationship may benefit, yet those with whom they share out of obligation as opposed to altruism may become financially crippled. We will study these issues by randomly providing savings accounts to some ?focal? households (and not others), and then examining the consumption, investment, savings, and risk-sharing of households who the focal households identified either as altruism- or obligation-motivated risk-sharing partners.
Researcher(s)
Alfredo Burlando, Cynthia Kinnan, Silvia Prina
About the Researcher(s)
Alfredo Burlando is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Oregon. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University. His current research focuses on the interaction between formal financial markets and informal risk sharing networks in East Africa. His past research has focused on infrastructure development and its impact on health and other outcomes in Tanzania.
Researcher 2
Cynthia Kinnan is a development economist at Northwestern University?s Department of Economics. She received her Ph.D. from MIT. Her research investigates how households cope with risk, finance investments, and savings. Her research has examined barriers to risk-sharing in villages in Thailand, how kinship networks and banks interact in Thailand, the impacts of microcredit in urban India, the interactions between risk-sharing, access to savings, and social networks in rural India, and the impacts of migration on non-migrating household members in China. She has ongoing projects in India, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
Researcher 3
Silvia Prina holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University. She is Assistant Professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Her fields of research are applied microeconomics and development economics. She is currently conducting research aimed at studying whether access to formal savings accounts improves the lives of poor households in Mexico, Nepal, and Tanzania.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/burlando_kinnan_prina.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/burlando_kinnan_prina.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
How does mobile money affect adopters' social networks?
2013
Alfredo Burlando
Cynthia Kinnan
East Africa
Silvia Prina
Tanzania
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
Basic knowledge of accounting has long been considered the key to prosperity. Yet, in using accounting training as a key method of poverty alleviation, initiatives for financial inclusion have tended to obscure existing strategies as well as social, technological, or cultural infrastructures that poor populations in non-Western contexts mobilize for their own financial reckoning. This project researches such strategies and infrastructures by analyzing the ways financial reckoning occurs at intersections between spiritual and economic life. Focusing on the logics, techniques, and technologies of accounting for cash and cashless transactions (e.g. debts, gifts, barter, livestock trading, etc.) employed by tribal populations in two villages in rural Assam (Northeast India), this research seeks to explore how "the poor" actually account. The project investigates what the materials, practices, entailed beliefs, and guiding concepts of reckoning economic life are and how they are mobilized within the horizons of moral, religious, and material cosmologies. Doing so, it opens up a space to explore what cosmologies attuned to economic conditions of scarcity, social norms and moral sanctions, and powerful non-human forces might entail, and how these refract upon daily practices of financial reckoning and record keeping. This research will be of value to practical and pedagogical approaches to financial inclusion as well as to economic anthropology. It will also provide two valuable case studies for assessing how mobile money designs might serve as a distribution channel for new kinds of accounting software or services, and vice versa.
Researcher(s)
Sean M. Dowdy
About the Researcher(s)
Sean M. Dowdy is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on cosmology and political economy in lowland Assam. His dissertation, provisionally titled, "Felicitous difference: Cosmoeconomics in contemporary Assam" examines how a shamanic complex in the village of Mayong has come to refigure broader political and economic tensions in Northeast India.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/dowdy.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/dowdy.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
How "The Poor" Account: Financial Reckoning and its Cosmoeconomics in Assam, India
2013
India
Sean M. Dowdy
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
East Africa
Country
Uganda
Project Description
Sports betting is a common form of gambling in Uganda among all age groups. The making of bets and receipt of payments can now be done over the mobile money platforms of various mobile telephone service providers. There is a dearth of knowledge with regard to the drivers (especially the mobile money payments system) and implications of this phenomenon. This study seeks to examine the role of mobile money payments (making bets and receipt of payments) in the execution of sports betting in Uganda. Anexploratory mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative) research design guided by Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior will be employed in reaching the study's objectives. This study will be guided by a series of research questions which include: How does sports betting take place over mobile money payments platforms? What are the motivational factors that drive persons into sports betting in particular and gambling in general? Do social networks have a role to play in the uptake of sports betting? What are the social benefits as well as social costs of sports betting? What institutional frameworks exist in Uganda to regulate sports betting in particular and gambling in general? What are sports betters? attitudes or perceptions toward risk? Answering the above questions is important in the attempt to better regulate the sector as well as mitigate any associated adverse effects.
Researcher(s)
Bruno Yawe, Kizito Ssengooba
About the Researcher(s)
Bruno Lule Yawe is a Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Department of Economic Theory and Analysis, School of Economics, Makerere University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Makerere University, a Master of Arts in Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Dar es Salaam. He received advanced training in Quantitative Methods, Economic Theory and elective courses in the fields of Health Economics and Financial Economics. He served as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Economics, American University, Washington, D.C. during March and April 2009 where he underwent mentoring to teach Gender-aware Macroeconomics to the UNDP sponsored Master of Arts (Gender-Aware Economics) Program. He is also the Coordinator of the Master of Arts (Gender-Aware Economics) Program. He has published in the following journals amongst others: Tanzanian Economic Trends, TET: A Biannual Review of the Economy; Health Policy and Development Journal; Zambia Social Science Journal; Telecommunication Policy; and the International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development. He has consulted for local and international organizations in various areas. His current research interests include but are not limited to: ICT and financial services; performance measurement (efficiency, equity, quality, effectiveness) in health care and education.
Researcher 2
Kizito Ssengooba is a Chartered Accountant based in Uganda. Since May 2012, he has worked as a Senior Assistant Bursar in charge of Projects and Assets at Kyambogo University, Kampala. He is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) of the United Kingdom. Additionally, he holds a Master's of Business Administration (Finance) Degree and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) Degree from Makerere University. Prior to joining Kyambogo University, he served as the Operations Manager of Luweero Teachers? Savings and Credit Cooperative. He has worked with both government and non-governmental organizations as well as local and international organizations at senior management levels involving strategic and operational guidelines. He has over nine years of experience working with organizations that fight poverty by empowering people to undertake income generating ventures. Over the period March - July 2012 he served as a research assistant for the survey of "Clients Attitudes towards Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) Services" undertaken by Yawe Bruno (Ph.D.) for the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/yawe_ssengooba.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/yawe_ssengooba.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Gambling and Mobile Money Payments: A Case Study of Sports Betting in Uganda
2013
Bruno Yawe
East Africa
Kizito Ssengooba
Uganda
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
The government of India, development practitioners, and researchers are all emphasizing the role of innovation in reorganizing current platforms of financial inclusion in order to summon more individuals into the programs. Various new forms of the systems have been unleashed as part of this endeavor. One such delivery package has been introduced in the form of the Customer Service Centre (CSC) Scheme of National e-Governance Plan under which varied government services are being provided through a web enabled physical infrastructure established in various kiosks among villages. The proposed research aims to study this new model, focusing on its subset kiosk banking model that provides financial services to the poor. Given the reach and well-equipped infrastructure of CSCs, researchers hypothesize that providing financial services through them will be cost-effective, sustainable, and will enable real-time banking for low income rural households. The study also intends to identify the scope of the converging CSCs' web-enabled infrastructure and kiosk banking model in other ways that can facilitate the substitution of in-cash transactions of a village (especially in case of agriculture) with cashless transactions. Such a mechanism could lead to a breakthrough in the marketability of financial inclusion programs and could encourage the government to implement the findings into policy. Researchers have chosen the state of Madhya Pradesh for the purpose of the study because it has remained relatively untouched by financial services and has a generally poor socio-economic standing.
Researcher(s)
Parul Agarwal, Amulya Krishna Champatiray
About the Researcher(s)
Parul Agarwal holds a Bachelor's of Arts in Economics from the University of Delhi and a Master?s degree in Rural Management (PGPM-RM) from the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB). In the summer of 2009, as an intern at the Small Enterprise Finance Centre (SEFC) at the Institute for Financial Management and Research, she helped research chit funds for a project on innovative financing for low-income households. She has also conducted independent research on urban poverty and migration in Delhi and Bhubaneswar. Parul joined CMF as a Research Associate in May 2010 and is currently working as a Programme Head on several impact evaluations regarding microcredit and its relation to poverty.
Researcher 2
Amulya Krishna Champatiray has over ten years of work experience in the diverse field of community development, focusing on financial inclusion and livelihoods. He began his career by promoting community institutions and eventually became associated with leading microfinance policy and capacity building organizations. He has been working in areas of action research, policy outreach, and the training of microfinance professionals at IFMR. He has led various studies pertaining to microfinance. He has also contributed to other studies in the field of financial inclusion and has directly affected public policy. Additionally, he plays a strategic role in the policy outreach initiatives of IFMR Research by engaging in institutional relation building with key governmental departments, industry associations, and policy institutions. Amulya holds a Master's degree in Management from Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) in Ahmedabad and a Bachelor?s degree in Commerce from Utkal University in Bhubaneswar.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/agrawal_champatiray.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/agrawal_champatiray.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Exploring the nature, scope and feasibility of existing technological infrastructure of India's National e-Governance Plan's Customer Service Centre scheme towards converting in-cash transactions into cashless transactions
2013
Amulya Krishna Champatiray
India
Parul Agarwal
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya, Uganda
Project Description
This research proposal focuses on Somali financial flows between Kenya and Uganda. In particular, it examines the interplay between mobile money and Somali financial institutions in the transnational space between Nairobi and Kampala. The study unfolds between Eastleigh, a Nairobi-based estate, and Kisenyi, Kampala, two major hubs of the East African Somali diaspora. It will examine the little explored aspect of Kenya?s Safaricom M-Pesa usage across borders and the implications of its partnership with MTN, a Ugandan telecom, for Somali refugees and small traders (categories that often overlap). The study will also examine the relations of alternativeness and complementarity of mobile money with hawala, a widespread Somali money transfer network, and hagbed, or self-help groups. This research seeks to answer the following questions: how are new technology-driven financial products integrated within pre-existing monetary ecosystems? How do new monetary practices shape institutional and social relations, and how are they shaped in return? Using ethnographic methods of data collection, the researchers hope to contribute with their findings to the scholarship on how emerging monetary media are changing established ideas of money, financial practices, and processes of valuation.
Researcher(s)
Gianluca Iazzolino
About the Researcher(s)
Gianluca Iazzolino is a PhD candidate at the Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Previously, he worked as a producer and freelance journalist in Africa, the Middle East, Russia, India, and Central America, and he has worked for Italian NGOs in Italy and Latin America. He also holds a MA in Communication from the University of Turin and a MSc in Conflict Resolution and Governance from the University of Amsterdam.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/iazzolino.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/iazzolino.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Contingency routes: Somali financial flows and transnational spaces between Kenya and Uganda
2013
East Africa
Gianluca Iazzolino
Kenya
Uganda
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
This study seeks to uncover the challenges facing the uptake of the yuCover micro insurance scheme in Kenya. Various forms of micro insurance have been available for specific low income individuals in Africa for decades. Yu MNO (Mobile Network Operator) introduced the yuCover loyalty based insurance scheme that rewards yu MNO subscribers with a monthly life and disability coverage based on their expenditures on the network. However, insurance is still considered to be for the elite as the system has failed to properly attract a majority of low income individuals. The study will seek to identify the specific internal mechanisms that have aided in the slow uptake of the yu MNO system. Data will be collected in order to answer the following question: What effects do distribution skills, market acceptance, and regulation have on the uptake of yuCover micro insurance? The research design that will be adopted for this study is a descriptive survey. A semi-structured questionnaire will be used to collect quantitative data, while qualitative data will be collected through interviews, focus groups, discussions, and audio-visual recordings.
Researcher(s)
Nelson Karani, Cyrus Isaboke
About the Researcher(s)
Karani Nyachiro Nelson received his Master's degree from the Periyar University in Salem, India, in 2004. Since 2005, he has taught computer science in various universities in Kenya as a part-time lecturer including the African Virtual university (Egerton), Kenya Methodist University, Mount Kenya University, Kisii University, and Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST).
Researcher 2
Cyrus Isaboke is an Internal Auditor whose work currently focuses on mobile money research. He is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) and is currently pursuing a Master?s degree in Strategic Management at Kenyatta University.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/karani_isaboke.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/karani_isaboke.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Challenges facing the uptake of M-insurance loyalty based life insurance schemes: A case study of the yuCover micro-insurance scheme in Kenya
2013
Cyrus Isaboke
East Africa
Kenya
Nelson Karani
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
Southern Africa
Country
Zambia
Project Description
The current study proposes to examine the impact of the planned 2013 currency redenomination of the Zambian national currency--the Kwacha--on mobile money use in Lusaka, Zambia. Will a new, more portable Kwacha increase the use of cash, or will the transition to using fewer notes inspire Zambians to use the cashless alternative of mobile money more often? Will the use of coins, cash, and mobile money post-redenomination be impacted by socioeconomic class?
Researcher(s)
Vivian Afi Dzokoto, Mwiya Imasiku L
About the Researcher(s)
Vivian Afi Dzokoto, an Associate Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been researching money-related behaviors in African contexts since 2008. She is a graduate of the University of Ghana (B.Sc., Psychology) and the University of Illinois (Ph.D., Clinical and Community Psychology). Her training as a cultural psychologist shapes her work in the study of human-money interfaces, particularly in the areas of consumer up-take and resistance to new forms of money (including redenominated currency and cashless forms of money), the impact of new forms of money on the poor, and the psychological processes involved in understanding new forms of money.
Researcher 2
Mwiya Imasiku L, a senior lecturer at the University of Zambia, is an applied psychologist who conducts seminars and workshops, provides psychological services, and is involved in academic research within and outside of Zambia. He is passionate about investigating the psychological implications of the adoption of mobile phone-enabled financial services in Zambia. His research has been supported by several local and international grants, and his work has been published in Zambian and international journals. He has worked as a consultant in several NGOs in Zambia including the Dream Runners Orphanage, the International Justice Commission, and the Regional Aids Training Network. He serves as a member of the Editorial Board of the journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zambia. He was Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Zambia from 2007 until 2012.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/dzokoto_imasiku.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/dzokoto_imasiku.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Cashless or Cashlite? Mobile Money Use and Currency Redenomination in Zambia
2013
Mwiya Imasiku L
Southern Africa
Vivian Afi Dzokoto
Zambia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Indonesia
Project Description
This study will investigate how the patron-client relationship persists under the growth of rural financial institutions (RFI). The growth of RFIs should increase the role of financial inclusion and replace the banking practice between the client and the patron (Morduch 1999). However, in Bugis-Makassar, South Sulawesi, the patron-client relationship exists even though RFIs are prevalent (rural bank, cooperatives, rotated savings, and possible money lenders). The client can borrow from the patron and repay the debt without any kind of work for the patron, but the costs of this borrowing could be massive. As the relationship persists, the transactions between the patron and client could grow in many forms, and as these transactions become a regularity, the client may become dependent on the patron. To examine the problem, we will survey three villages in Bugis-Makassar, South Sulawesi. Each of these villages contains both a high percentage of patron-client relationships and is surrounded by rural financial institutions. Specifically, we will describe factors that support the existence of the patron-client relationship such as social demographics and social capital, and why they still exist when the financial needs of the cashless can be met by modern financial institutions. We will conduct a case study with a combination of methods including unstructured interviewing and direct observation.
Researcher(s)
Tiar Shantiuli, Salami Said
About the Researcher(s)
Tiar Mutiara Shantiuli is a researcher for the Center for Economic and Public Policy Studies, UGM (Universitas Gadjah Mada) where she is also a doctoral student at the Tourism Study Program of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. She studied accounting at the Swinburne University of Melbourne during her undergraduate program and management at Swadaya Jakarta. She was also granted a Magister in Science in management from the graduate program of the Faculty of Economics and Business at UGM.
Researcher 2
Salmah Said is a researcher and lecturer in the Management Department at the State Islamic University (UIN) Alauddin in Makassar, Indonesia where she is also a doctoral student. Her Master's degree was obtained from the Department of Finance at the University of Melbourne. Salmah combines research interests in management finance, Islamic economics, and governance in her studies. Her research includes: "The View of Muslim Scholars on Sharia-based Capital Market," "Local Authority Finance and Accounting for Local Government in Indonesia: A Comparison Between Pre and Post Local Autonomy," "Analysis of the Implication of Share Ownership and Financial Decision of the Company," "Derivatives and Islamic Scholars' Viewpoints," and "Factors Affecting Price Earning Ratio of Jakarta Islamic Index Companies listed on Jakarta Stock Exchange."
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/shantiuli_said.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/shantiuli_said.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Banking with the patron: the case of patron-client in Makassar, Indonesia
2013
Indonesia
Salami Said
Southeast Asia
Tiar Shantiuli
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
West Africa
Country
Nigeria
Project Description
This study investigates automated teller machine (ATM) fraud in southwest Nigeria, with the prime determinant of analysis relying on the perspective of the victim. The primary research questions are: How do banks cope with ATM fraud challenges? How do mobile money service providers characterise ATM fraud and their victims? The study triangulates the Victims Precipitation theory (VPT), Lifestyle theory (LT) and Routine Activity theory (RAT) to explain how ATM fraud affects its victims. VPT assumes that by acting in an incendiary fashion, some individuals initiate a chain of events that lead to their victimization. LT suggests that there are certain lifestyles that disproportionately predispose individuals for victimhood. Using a sequential exploratory strand of mixed methods, data will be collected using a multi-stage sampling procedure. This will involve compiling samples of the large pool of ATM users in the states of Lagos and Oyo in the Southwest region of Nigeria. Interviews will be conducted with victims, the police, ATM suppliers, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) staff and bank officials in charge of the ATM. Studying ATM fraud victims will give insight into factors precipitating their vulnerability. Findings from such an endeavor are therefore vital in providing preventive measures for the consumer?s protection in the future.
Researcher(s)
Oludayo Tade, Oluwatosin Adeniyi
About the Researcher(s)
Oludayo Tade teaches the sociology of deviant behavior and social problems in the Department of Sociology at the University of Ibadan. His Ph.D. thesis entitled ?Household Demand and Child Trafficking for Domestic Use in Oyo State? investigated child trafficking. He was a postgraduate scholar at the University of Ibadan between 2008 and 2010. His research interests span from child labor, to cyber crime, to transactional sex, to child trafficking and family studies.
Researcher 2
Oluwatosin Adeniyi teaches mathematical economics and applied econometrics in the Department of Economics at the University of Ibadan. His research interests include international macroeconomics, development economics, energy economics, and the economics of crime and conflicts, among others.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/tade_adeniyi.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/tade_adeniyi.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Automated Teller Machine Fraud in South-West Nigeria: The Shoe-wearers' Perspectives
2013
Nigeria
Oludayo Tade
Oluwatosin Adeniyi
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2013
Region
West Africa
Country
Ghana
Project Description
The researchers will seek to examine the culture of female traders in northern Ghana as well as ways in which female traders perceive and/or use mobile money (mMoney) both at home and in day-to-day business transactions. The research utilizes both interactive focus group discussions and key informant interviews to explore how female traders handle finances and to analyze the potential for better designed mMoney systems. The study will be led by faculty of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in a poverty-focused developmental research strategy that will adopt approaches that allow for the full participation of the female traders and will build on the notion that "poor Ghanaians do not use mobile money" (Mobile Financial Services in Ghana, Challenges and opportunities, 2012). This research is guided by two theoretical models that aid in the identification of potential barriers to mMoney systems. First, Masinge's (2010) model of technology adoption is important in that it considers risk, trust, and cost when exploring whether technology will be adopted. Secondly, the researchers will consider Korten's theory that places, people, and resources are "bound into a locally self-sustaining human ecological system" (Zewde, 2010). Often, models looking at technology acceptance focus on the individual, but do not consider the context of the local system where the technology is being introduced. This research will examine the individuals and the local eco-system as it relates to women and mobile money systems.
Researcher(s)
Dennis Chirawurah, Deborah Elzie, Seidu Al-hassan
About the Researcher(s)
Dennis Chirawurah is a Ph.D. student and lecturer at the University for Development Studies in Ghana. He is a governance and M&E; expert with over fifteen years of experience in the field of participatory research. He will serve as co-leader of the research team and will lead the field team. He has coordinated field outreaches of MSc and BSc students at the University for Development Studies and has deep community leadership experience stemming from his position as the Presiding Member of the Navrongo Municipal Assembly. He served among other scientists at the Navrongo Health Research Center in pioneering interventions that led to equity driven close-to-client primary health care in Ghana.
Researcher 2
Deborah Elzie holds a MA in Educational Psychology with a focus on intelligent technologies from Columbia University.She is an interaction designer and program director with experience in designing and evaluating programs in international development, disaster management, and mobile interface design. She is currently based in Kampala, Uganda where she directs activities in the field for the Strengthening Leadership in Disaster Resilience Leadership Program (SLDRP). The SLDRP is a global program with fellows across Africa, Southeast Asia, and in the Caribbean. She also serves as the Director for Resilience (Field Level) for the new ResilientAfrica Network program, a USAID sponsored project led by Makerere University. She has extensive experience working with mobile application development teams based in eastern and western Africa.
Researcher 3
Dr. Seidu Al-hassan is Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Continuous Education at the University for Development Studies and is a Senior Lecturer there. He holds a PhD degree in Agricultural Economics and a Diploma in Education. He has over twelve years teaching and research experience. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he provides technical assistance to governmental and non-governmental agencies on a consultancy basis in areas such as community development, micro-finance and Development and Management of small business enterprises. He is a network member of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). His research interests are poverty, policy management, community development, applied microeconomic theory, literacy, and peace education.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/chirawurah_elzie.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2013/chirawurah_elzie.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
A participatory look at women traders' cognitive understanding and perceptions of the use of mobile money systems in northern Ghana
2013
Deborah Elzie
Dennis Chirawurah
Ghana
Seidu Al-hassan
West Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
West Africa
Country
Nigeria, Ghana
Project Description
The objective of this research was to examine ways in which mobile money could improve the experiences of individuals crossing the borders between Nigeria, Benin,Togo and Ghana. Rather thanexamine allfour countries,we chose a more narrow study area,the large urban area known as GILA (the Greater Ibadan-Lagos-Accra corridor).
GILA includes thelargest cities in each country and,overall,powers the regional economy. Given the common goalof the national governments to reduce dependence oncash and increase the use of digital money, it makes sense to go where the money is. In this part of west Africa,the money is in GILA.
Despite the short distances (about 500 kilometers end-to-end), three international boundaries divide four distinct nations with differences in regulation,culture,
wealth and established telecoms and banks. Mobile money is unevenly available.
The research took an inventory of money handling practices for different categories of international travellers at the three border crossings (Ghana-Togo, Togo-Benin and Benin-Nigeria). We interviewed industry and government stakeholders and offer high-level concepts for services that might encourage use of mobile money to replace physicalcash within the GILA corridor.
Internet and telephone research began in May,2012 and continued throughout the year. A research trip and in-person interviews took place in September and October 2012.
Researcher(s)
Joel Patenaude
About the Researcher(s)
Joel Patenaude is a Managing Partner of J2 Partners, Inc., a consulting firm based in Montclair, New Jersey. Patenaude holds a Masters of Regional Planning degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His present clients include an e-payments company in Nigeria. Regional experience includes multiple trips to Ghana. Patenaude served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/patanaude.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/patanaude.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money Information System Architecture for an Open Air Market
2012
Ghana
Joel Patenaude
Nigeria
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
West Africa
Country
Ghana
Project Description
The World Bank report of 2012 indicates that global mobile phone subscription now stands at 6 billion. This figure represents approximately 75 percent of the world's population. In Ghana, the present mobile phone penetration of 98% makes it a fertile ground for the promotion of mobile money activities. Statistics from the World Bank Report show that between GLO, MTN and Airtel there are 5.4 million subscribers with total daily transactions of approximately GHC (Ghana Cedi) 16.5 million. Nonetheless there is a lack of penetration in rural areas.
We will look at the different roles that private technology companies and the government of Ghana can play in promoting mobile money uptake. We are interested in looking at responsibility, awareness, uptake, promotional material, stakeholder conferences and gaps between rural and urban dwellers.
Several factors account for the low patronage of digital financial services and payment systems in the urban and rural communities in Ghana. Some of these factors include; fear of losing money that is stored electronically, lack of trust in the digital financial payment systems, time lost in engaging on electronic transaction while physical contacts could provide results and lack of proper information on the advantages of using mobile money.
Cited in David S. Evans and Alexis Pirchio, An Empirical Examination of Why Mobile Money Schemes Ignite in Some Developing Countries but Flounder in Most, University of Chicago Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No. 723, March 2015, 2.
Researcher(s)
Yaw Owusu-Agyemang and Abena Offe
About the Researcher(s)
Yaw Owusu-Agyemang is Head of Unit/Adjunct lecturer: Ghana Telecom University College & Stellenbosch University, Examinations and Records Unit
Researcher 2
Abena Offe is Head, Academic Partnerships Ghana Telecom University College
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/offe%20etal.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/offe etal.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money Payments in Ghana "Positioning the Retail Agents as Change Agents in the Transformation of Mobile Payment Transactions"
2012
Ghana
West Africa
Yaw Owusu-Agyemang and Abena Offe
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
East Africa
Country
Ethiopia
Project Description
Existing mobile money architectures overlooked value storage and everyday money practices of individuals. They mainly deal with payment related issues and procedures based on bank accounts. They also targeted urban people, who have banking and technology know-how. Based on this knowledge gap, this research intends to explore, analyze, and identify design concepts for mobile money information system development that can support rural communities in developing countries who transact in open air market. Majority of our study population cannot write and read even their names; they identify currency notes based on color and size not based on values written on them, which raises the question how could such illiterate rural individuals transact in electronic payment ecosystem. In this context, the purpose of this study is to thoroughly analyze and understand the characteristic nature of cash transactions and usage scenarios among study participants in open air market and identify design concepts and provoke discussions on this issue. Methodologically, we used qualitative methods, where data is collected through observation, discussions, and interview with key market participants and the data is documented through photograph and video. We found that almost all merchants: (1) Use color of currencies to identify one from the other. (2) Some merchants want to merge their sells while some want to keep their daily. (3) Due to their transaction practices, merchants have many problems and make many errors and mistakes. (4) merchants who have no formal education expressed that they would like to have devices that operate by sound. (5) Sellers & buyers set prices of certain items through negotiation. The output of this study contributes towards the development of cashless transaction based on mobile phones.
Researcher(s)
Woldmariam Mesfin Fikre
About the Researcher(s)
Woldmariam Mesfin Fikre is a lecturer at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He received his first degree in Business Management from Jimma University 2001, and a Master's degree in Information Science from Addis Ababa University 2005. He is currently enrolled in the IT-PhD school of the University in the Information Systems Division. He is interested in interdisciplinary areas, mainly: ICT4D, e-services, technology diffusion, IT-organizations-environment and virtual organizations. Currently, Woldmariam Mesfin Fikre is working on the one laptop per child project.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/fikre.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/fikre.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money Information System Architecture for an Open Air Market
2012
East Africa
Ethiopia
Woldmariam Mesfin Fikre
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Indonesia
Project Description
This is a study of the ""triple intersection"" of (l) smartphones; (2) social network sites; and (3) purchasing and selling online in Indonesia, the fourth most populous nation and home to more Muslims than any other country. Indonesia is at the forefront of emerging practices of online commerce, with consequences for a range of issues including consumption, payment, and internet sociality. To better understand this rapidly changing landscape of mobile social media and payments in Indonesia, research teams in the cities of Surabaya (East Java province) and Makassar (South Sulawesi province) conducted a series of interviews, focus groups, and observation of everyday practices. Research was coordinated by the Principal Investigator (Tom Boellstorff, University of California, Irvine), who participated in a workshop in Surabaya with both research teams held midway through the research (September 2012). Key findings from the research include the following: (1) Mobile devices have definitively displaced desktop computers for commerce (and other uses), but laptops remain important. (2) Indonesians tend to follow specific pathways into electronic commerce that can move across platforms and be identity-specific. (3) Multiple device ownership is nearly universal in Indonesia (often four to six devices), and this is linked to particular practices of online consumerism and payment. (4) BlackBerry is the dominant mobile device for Indonesians when shopping online, so much so that it is treated as a category of device unto itself, distinct from other smartphones. (5) Providers and websites are extremely important to online shopping and payment, and are the primary factor driving multiple device ownership. (6) Place-making is an important aspect of the intersection of (a) smartphones; (b) social network sites; and (c) purchasing and selling online in Indonesia, but often this involves localizing effects (for instance, using a smartphone and social network site to order snacks from a food stall at the end of the block). (7) Experiences in buying online often lead to forms of online selling, with a wide range of formality and linkage to social networks. (8) Risk is an ever-present aspect of online buying, but is often treated as a ""risk of shopping"" via the internet and addressed through various social and technological strategies.
Researcher(s)
Tom Boellstorff, Khanis Suvianita, Dede Oetomo and Nurul Ilmi Idrus
About the Researcher(s)
Tom Boellstorff is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests include contemporary Indonesian society (where he has conducted ethnographic research since 1992) and digital culture. His books include The Gay Archipelago: Sexuality and Nation in Indonesia (2005), A Coincidence of Desires: Anthropology, Queer Studies, Indonesia (2007), Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human (2008), and with Bonnie Nardi, Celia Pearce, and T.L. Taylor, Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: a Handbook of Method (2012).
Researcher 2
Khanis Suvianita is on the Advisory Board of GAYa Nusantara Foundation.
Researcher 3
Dede Oetomo is National Coordinator of GAYa Nusantara Foundation.
Researcher 4
Nurul Ilmi Idrus is Professor of Anthropology at Hasanuddin University, Indonesia. She has published a number of articles on Indonesia, including 'Dissolution of Marriage: Gender, State and Islam in Contemporary Bugis Society in South Sulawesi, Indonesia' in Intersections 30 (2012).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/boellstroff1.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/boellstroff1.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Social Media and Mobile Payments in Indonesia, IMTFI/Sicap partnership
2012
Dede Oetomo and Nurul Ilmi Idrus
Indonesia
Khanis Suvianita
Southeast Asia
Tom Boellstorff
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
The primary goal of this research is to investigate the use and impact of mobile money services among the visually impaired population in Kenya, especially as it intersects with poverty. This study will build on an ongoing investigation, supported by IMTFI, on the use of mobile money services among 21 women's groups in Eastern Kenya and its correlation to poverty reduction. This study will focus on one of these groups, "The Cheerful Sisters," around 14 visually impaired women who challenged service providers, educators, and policymakers to consider how services to disadvantaged populations can be strengthened or realized in order to reduce poverty, especially in rural areas. The study will be carried out in four phases. The first phase will seek to profile the users as individuals and as a population facing visual challenges. The second will be to assess, document, and analyze the impact, both positive and negative, of the mobile money services on the visually impaired in Kenya as it relates to poverty. The third will consist of a workshop bringing together key stakeholders in this process: the visually impaired, policymakers, service providers and educators, among others. The final phase will be the documentation and dissemination of the lessons learned. The methodology will be participatory in nature and will include in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations and review of secondary data.
Researcher(s)
Ndunge Kiiti, Jane Mutinda
About the Researcher(s)
Ndunge Kiiti is Associate Professor at Houghton College, in Houghton, NY and Adjunct Faculty at Emory University?s Rollins School of Public Health, Department of Global Health, in Atlanta, GA. To integrate teaching with practice, Kiiti collaborates with MAP International, a nonprofit organization that promotes the total health of people in over 115 countries worldwide. With a key focus on Africa and Latin America, Dr. Kiiti?s work involves research, training, and publishing in the areas of communication, sustainable development and international health policy. She has served on the advisory boards of the Kenya AIDS NGO Consortium, AMREF?s Health Education Network, and the CORE Group in Washington, D.C. Dr. Kiiti has a PhD in Communication from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, which included a one-year study in International Health at the John?s Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
Researcher 2
Jane Wanza Mutinda has a PhD in Environment and Community Development from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya, the department where she currently serves as the Chairperson. Dr. Mutinda?s portfolio includes research emphasis on Gender and Environment, Community Resource Management, Poverty Alleviation and Microfinance among Women?s Groups in Kenya. In addition to her work in academia, she most recently served as the Project Director for a NEPAD supported program to train women in Eastern Kenya on resource mobilization and investment from 2007-2010. She has served as a consultant for numerous organizations including: UNICEF, Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD), African Women?s Development Fund (AWDF), among others. Dr. Mutinda also obtained a Master?s in Education and Environmental Studies from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya and a Bachelor?s in Education (Honors) from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/kiti_mutinda.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/kiti_mutinda.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Use of Mobile Money Services and Platforms among the Visually Impaired in Kenya: Any Impact on Poverty Reduction?
2012
East Africa
Jane Mutinda
Kenya
Ndunge Kiiti
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
This proposal aims to study the impact of pure mobile money microfinancing on the poor users in Nairobi, Kenya. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Kenya have gradually introduced mobile money in order to benefit from the greater convenience, speed, and lower cost of transferring funds. Since most MFIs had already established brick-and-mortar operations, mobile money complements their traditional approaches to serving their clients. Musoni, however, a relatively new MFI, provides microfinance to the unbanked solely through mobile phone-based financial services. Though it has branches, its operations are cashless, a shift that intends to reduce administrative costs, increase transaction efficiency, and decrease the time and effort necessary for clients, generating customer loyalty. The researchers propose to use a livelihoods framework for this study with the aim of analyzing the relationship between low-cost mobile money technology and poverty reduction. The researchers will investigate the impact of Musoni?s model on the poor in Nairobi, Kenya, including the level of awareness of users about the impact of mobile money. Qualitative techniques will include focus group discussions and in-depth interviews; quantitative methods, primarily the analysis of structured questionnaires, will be used to complement this data.
Researcher(s)
Tonny K. Omwansa, Timothy Mwololo Waema
About the Researcher(s)
Tonny K. Omwansa is the co-author of Money, Real Quick: The Story of M-PESA. He lectures at the ICT4D at the School of Computing and Informatics of the University of Nairobi in Kenya. His PhD research explored the impact of mobile money at the base of the pyramid. Omwansa has worked with GSMA as a panel member for the MMU program, evaluating mobile money applications as prospects for seed funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In recent years, he has presented at several conferences, discussing mobile money in Africa and, more specifically, the M-PESA experience in Kenya.
Researcher 2
Prof. Timothy Mwololo Waema is Professor of Information Systems in the School of Computing and Informatics in the University of Nairobi. He holds a PhD in Strategic Management of Information Systems from University of Cambridge (UK) and a Honours Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Bath (UK). Prof. Waema has extensive ICT for development (ICT4D) research experience and has published widely in journals, conference proceedings and in books.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/omwansa.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/omwansa.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Impact of Pure Mobile Microfinancing on the Poor
2012
East Africa
Kenya
Timothy Mwololo Waema
Tonny K. Omwansa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Indonesia
Project Description
This research will explore the social client perspective in mobile money systems, specifically potential resistance to e-money. We focus on 200 poor remittance-receiver families in Central and Eastern Lombok Island in Indonesia. Following Ram and Sheth (1989) we will measure resistance to e-money innovation along five axes: usage, value, risks, tradition, and image barriers. It is not clear whether slow e-money adoption is due to concern over system configuration security; basic fees; aging related to risk and image barriers; perceptions that relate to the input information mechanism; the battery life of a mobile phone; a fear that the list of PIN codes could be lost and end up in the wrong hands; or the usefulness of new technology in general. Could the the important factor be further information that e-money help meet the needs of private banking, increasing convenience and cost effectiveness? Could it be merchant reluctance to use e-money? Could local cooperatives be e-money provider partners, due to the high use of cash-base transactions among Indonesians? Could the use of e-money help out-migrant workers transfer remittances efficiently? A descriptive and factor analysis will be used to summarize information from the survey and in-depth interviews.
Researcher(s)
Catur Sugiyanto, Tiar Shantuili, Zuhrohtun Zuhrohtun
About the Researcher(s)
Dr. Catur Sugiyanto is Professor of Economics and Senior Researcher of the Center for Economic and Public Policy Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada. In 2002, he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. His main research interests in the area of agricultural and regional development include analyzing the impacts of policy change, fiscal decentralization, financial inclusion, and understanding the productivity of farms and small-medium scale enterprises. His papers have been presented at the East Asian Economic Association conference in 2008, the Indonesian Regional Science Association conference, and the Federation of ASEAN Economic Associations, among others. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through IMTFI, he examines the income and consumption smoothing of the poor in Yogyakarta (2010) and the resistance to using e-money by remittance receivers on Lombok Island (2012).
Researcher 2
Tiar Mutiara Shantiuli is a researcher at the Center for Economic and Public Policy Studies (CEPPS) Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). She is also a doctoral student at the Tourism Study Program of the Faculty of Graduate Studies at UGM. Tiar studied accounting at the Swinburne University Melbourne (1990-1991) during her undergraduate program and Management at the STIE Swadaya Jakarta (1993-1996), and obtained a Magister Science in Management (2003) from the Graduate Program of the Faculty of Economics and Business, UGM. Her research interests include information systems, local government revenue, tourism industries, and local development. She has presented papers at the ICMSDM (2010) in Taipei, GCBR (2008 and 2010) in Hawaii, ICBME (2010) in Cesme, Turkey.
Researcher 3
Zuhrohtun Zuhrohtun is a PhD Candidate in Accounting and Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. She is also a Lecturer in the Accounting Department, Faculty of Economics, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional ?Veteran? Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Her papers have been presented at the 2010 Asian Academic Accounting Association (AAAA) Annual Conference at Khadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey (?Accounting Conservatism and Future Bad News: The Case of Singapore and Pakistan?), at the annual London Business Research Conference at Imperial College, London, UK (?Good Corporate Governance and Environmental Performance: The Case of State Owned Enterprises and non State Owned Enterprises that Listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange?), and at the World Business Ethics Forum at the University of Maca, Macau, China (?The Effect of Environmental Disclosure on Firm Performance: Before and After Environmental Disaster in Indonesia?).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/sugiyanto.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/sugiyanto.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Resistance to e-Money in Poor Remittances Receivers' Families, Case in Lombok Island, Indonesia
2012
Catur Sugiyanto
Indonesia
Southeast Asia
Tiar Shantuili
Zuhrohtun Zuhrohtun
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
South Asia
Country
Bangladesh
Project Description
The value of worldwide Islamic financial assets has leapt from half a million dollars in the 1970s to over one trillion dollars today. These assets are widely expected to quadruple within the next few years. Bangladesh, a deeply impoverished nation of nearly 160 million with the world's fourth-largest Muslim population, has a rapidly growing Islamic finance industry poised to expand by folding poor clients into Islamic microfinance. I propose to study Bangladeshi Islamic microfinance as mobilizing preexisting social/religious networks to render the "Islam" in Islamic microfinance a form of value storage. Participation in Islamic microfinance appears to be emerging as a way for poor clients to develop both their religious and economic subject positions in a mutually reinforcing manner. The Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL), operating an Islamic microfinance program, positions itself as a religious as well as financial institution dedicated to poverty alleviation. This holds the potential to shift individuals operating within informal, community economic networks to formal, agent-based banking, potentially increasing economic stability and strategic access to funds. I will explore three main research questions at IBBL headquarters in Dhaka, and within an IBBL Islamic microfinance collective in a rural coastal village. First, how are poor Islamic microfinance clients folded into ideas about social justice in Islam and the economics of poverty alleviation and development? How do individual clients versus the bank conceive of the potential and limitations of Islamic microfinance vis-a-vis contours of local poverty? Second, how 'mobile' are the banking technologies, products, and services of Islamic microfinance? What accounting and auditing processes are being developed in response? Third, to what degree is Bangladeshi Islamic microfinance a replicable system for improving access to funds and savings mechanisms for the poor outside Bangladesh?
Researcher(s)
Bridget Kustin
About the Researcher(s)
Bridget Kustin is a PhD student in Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, where she studies Islamic (micro)finance in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, focusing on questions of risk, uncertainty, accounting, poverty alleviation, and gender. Previously, she served as South Asia Researcher for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal, bipartisan agency providing foreign policy recommendations to the President, Congress, and Secretary of State. Bridget was a 2012 fellow-in-residence at the Center for Social Science Research-Berlin (WZB), a 2006 Bengali Language Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies, and 2005 Fulbright scholar to Bangladesh. Her graduate research has been supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a CAORC Multi-Country Fellowship, and the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies. She has presented at conferences and workshops across South Asia, Europe, and the U.S., and written for the Washington Post, Public Books, and the Daily Star Forum Magazine (Bangladesh).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/kustin.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/kustin.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobilizing Religion as Value Storage: Islamic Microfinance in Bangladesh as a Model for Poverty Alleviation?
2012
Bangladesh
Bridget Kustin
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Brazil
Project Description
This research project will evaluate the potential for mobile money adoption among the poor in Brazil. It will focus on how the beneficiaries of the Bolsa Familia program, a large governmental benefit project, in a poor community in the Brazilian Northeast use financial services and mobile devices. It examines in particular the partnership among a local microfinance organization (Banco Palmas, well-known for its social banking model), a major bank (Caixa Economica Federal), a mobile operator (Vivo), and an international credit card company (MasterCard) to implement mobile money in the community Conjunto Palmeiras. The research strategy will take two different approaches. The supply side will consist of interviews with executives and managers in order to better understand the processes of service design and the building of the business model. The demand side will be researched by means of a sample of Bolsa Familia beneficiaries living in Conjunto Palmeiras, which will examine both their financial habits and the way how they currently use their mobile devices.
Researcher(s)
Eduardo Diniz, Adrian Kemmer Cernev, Charlotte Guy, Nathalia Moreira
About the Researcher(s)
Eduardo Henrique Diniz is an Electronic Engineer, M.Sc. and PhD in Business Administration, with focus in Information Systems Management. Visiting scholar at University of California, Berkeley from 1996 to 1998, and at HEC Montreal in 2007. Professor at FGV-EAESP, Sao Paulo, Brasil since 1999, member of the Center for Microfinance Studies at FGV and coordinator of the Technology and Automation Group of CEB (Center for Excellence in Banking), also at FGV. Has researched technology in banking and government since 1991 and published several papers and articles on those subjects. Chief-Editor of RAE, a Brazilian business administration journal, since 2009.
Researcher 2
Adrian Kemmer Cernev is a professor at FGV-EAESP, S?o Paulo - Brazil, in the Department of Information Technology and Quantitative Methods since 2004. He was the Associate Dean of Institutional Assessment Office until 2012. Member of the Center for Microfinance Studies at FGV, and a MBA program coordinator in the same institution. He holds a B.A., M.Sc. and PhD degrees in Business Administration, with research focus on E-Business and Mobile Banking & Payments. He has also professional experience as executive in multinational companies.
Researcher 3
Charlotte Guy is currently a Fulbright fellow in Brazil at the Center for Microfinance, Fundacao Getulio Vargas-Sao Paulo, where she is researching microcredit in Brazil. She previously worked as an Associate at Interlink Capital Strategies, a Washington DC-based financial consulting firm specializing in structuring debt financing for projects in emerging markets utilizing multilateral and government loan guarantee programs. Charlotte graduated cum laude in 2009 from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she majored in International Politics with a concentration in International Law, Ethics & Institutions and received a certificate in International Development. In December 2011, Charlotte passed the CFA Level I. She speaks English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Researcher 4
Nathalia Moreira is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Government at Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV-EAESP). She also has a Masters in Business Administration with an emphasis in Public Administration (2010), a Masters in Strategic Management (2009) and a Bachelors in Executive Secretarial Science (2007) from the Federal University of Vicosa, Minas Gerais. She was also a teacher Federal University of Vicosa in Brazil. At this time, Nathalia is a member of the following research groups at FGV: Public Administration and Social Management and Family, Policies, and Gender.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/diniz.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/diniz.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Payment Adoption in Brazil: Investigation on a Pilot Implementation
2012
Adrian Kemmer Cernev
Brazil
Charlotte Guy
Eduardo Diniz
Latin America and the Caribbean
Nathalia Moreira
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
Kenyan emigrants maintain family ties with stay-behind relatives through significant money gifts, which are converted into school fees, consumer goods, and significant household and community investment. Mobile money has also rapidly become a part of value circulation in Kenya. Its lower risks and costs and its promise of private and direct remittances could increase the benefits of remittance flows to women and youth. This project will examine how and why Kenyan emigrants to the UK and USA send remittances to stay-behind families in Bungoma County, Kenya, and how their relatives save these remittances or convert them into cash, commodities, foodstuffs, land, labor, livestock, school fees, and other forms of value. The anthropological approach utilized in this study treats remittances as performances of transnational kinship, and shaped by cultural understandings of reciprocity, generation, gender, seniority, and household prestige. The project will thus use both qualitative ethnographic approaches to the cultural understanding of remittance value and social network analysis to measure and describe how remittance values are transferred through social networks. The goal of the research, in sum, is to examine the individual and household use of mobile money to send, spend, and save international remittances within broader extended families as cultural/economic institutions.
Researcher(s)
Sibel Kusimba
About the Researcher(s)
Sibel Kusimba is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University. Her fieldwork in East Africa has examined land use patterns, kinship and leadership, and technological change.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/kusimba.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/kusimba.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Kin and Mobile Money: The Anthropology of International Remittances in Kenya
2012
East Africa
Kenya
Sibel Kusimba
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
West Africa
Country
Ghana
Project Description
While the initial pace of adoption of Mobile Money (MM) by Ghanaian consumers has been slow, it is expected to pick up. The MM platform has clear advantages for Ghanaian businesses and consumers over physical cash, yet it may also have unintended consequences related to the non-economic functions of money, as well as operational hitches related to weaknesses within the existing national infrastructure that the MM platform needs to operate. It is unclear whether MM will positively influence the urban poor or whether MM will continue to be an area of financial exclusion in this population. The goals of this study are (i) to investigate MM uptake patterns in the second year of its re-introduction to Ghana, (ii) to explore the social and cultural interfaces between MM and existing money behaviors, including the savings and money transfer practices of Ghanaians from different socioeconomic classes, and (iii) to investigate the internalized (cognitive) representations of MM that Ghanaians develop. The focus will be on the segments of the Ghanaian population, as well as the behavioral practices, that will be included and excluded from the MM adoption process.
Researcher(s)
Vivian Afi Dzokoto, Elizabeth Appiah
About the Researcher(s)
Dr. Vivian Afi Dzokoto is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2005, and completed her undergraduate education at the University of Ghana. Dr. Dzokoto is a cultural and clinical psychologist whose varied research interests include the cultural aspects of human-money interfaces. So far her research in this domain has focused on Ghana. Of special interest in this area are the predictors of consumer up-take and resistance to new forms of money (including redenominated currency and mobile money); the impact of new forms of money on the poor; psychological processes involved in understanding and habituating to new forms of money, and awareness of and attitudes about AML/CFT.
Researcher 2
Dr. Elizabeth N. Appiah is the head of the Department of Management Studies at the Pentecost University College, Accra. She holds a PhD. in economics of education from the University of Illinois and a master of science in economics from the University of North Carolina. She is co-author of a number of professional articles on the economics of human capital and geographic poverty. Earlier, she taught economics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and was also a consultant.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/dzokoto.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/dzokoto.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Making Sense of Mobile Money in Urban Ghana: Personal, Business, Social and Financial Inclusion Prospects
2012
Elizabeth Appiah
Ghana
Vivian Afi Dzokoto
West Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Philippines
Project Description
The main objective of this study is to assess the impact of ICT-based agricultural technical service on farmers? household savings generation and credit loan payments. This study builds on the provision of Information Communication Technology-based decision software by the Philippines' Department of Agriculture and the International Rice Research Institute, which acquires information about farmers' fields, computes field-specific guidelines, and provides customized field-specific guidelines in local languages. As such agricultural technical support is provided through mobile technology, savings mobilization and payment functionality also become readily available to these underserved segments as well. Through the Microfinance Agriculture Loan Products (MALP), an initiative on agriculture business development with 6 pilot microfinance institutions in the Visayas and Mindanao, pilot MFIs will be able to engage farmers on the use of mobile technology for agricultural technical support and ultimately promote mobile banking services for savings and credit payments. This study consists of impact research on the use of ICT-based agricultural technical service relative to farmer savings generation and credit payments under the MALP program. This research provides an understanding of how mobile applications change farmers' access to mobile financial services, the value of partnership in meeting farmers? needs, and perceptions of farmer households about the program. Through this study there will be greater understanding of MFIs capability of pursuing new client segments, capturing greater customer data, and promoting cross-selling through ICT-based agricultural technical support and mobile money.
Researcher(s)
Allerine Isles
About the Researcher(s)
Allerine B. Isles has 15 years of experience in business consultancy, events, and volunteer management, with a background in market research for the Middle East and North African market, setting up financial reporting, resource mobilization, asset management, performance management, and total quality management systems. Al has spearheaded business consultancy projects in the areas of human resource management, customer service, communications, wealth management, total quality systems in Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and other parts of the Middle East. She obtained a Masters in Public Administration at the University of the Philippines, Diliman National College of Public Administration and Governance. Her education also includes study of Project Management for NGOs at the Ateneo Center for Continuing Education, microfinance courses at the Asian Microfinance Innovation and Development Academy (AMiDA), and agribusiness development with the Wageningen University and Research Center in The Netherlands.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/isles.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/isles.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
Impact Research of Farmers' Access to ICT-based Decision Software to Household Savings Generation and Credit Loan Payments
2012
Allerine Isles
Philippines
Southeast Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Latin America and the CaribbeanSouth Asia
Country
India, Mexico
Project Description
The aim of the proposed research project is to compare processes of generation, storage, accumulation, mobilization, and exchange of monetary and non-monetary valuables in South India and Western Mexico, with special attention to the frameworks of calculation and the diverse financial instruments utilized in these processes. Building upon previous work (both quantitative and qualitative) carried out in the two areas, we intend to undertake new research using a different lens with a specific emphasis on the differential social, cultural and ethical dimensions involved in the aforementioned financial practices.
Researcher(s)
Magdalena Villareal, Isabelle Guerin
About the Researcher(s)
Magdalena Villarreal is a Mexican anthropologist. Did her PhD (cum laude) at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands in 1994. Is currently professor and senior researcher at the Center for Advanced Research and Postgraduate Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS). Her main areas of interest are the anthropology of money and debt, social differentiation (in particular gender, nationality, race and generation), poverty and international migration from an actor-oriented perspective. Her most recent books include Antropologia de la Deuda: Cr?dito, Ahorro, Fiado y Prestado en las Finanzas Cotidianas and Mujeres, Finanzas Sociales y Violencia Economica en Zonas Marginadas de Guadalajara.
Researcher 2
Isabelle Guerin is a French economist and researcher at the Unit for Research on Development and Society, Paris 1, Sorbonne in France. Her main interests include tied labor, informal finances and microfinace, particularly focused in Southern India and Northern Africa. She publishes in development studies journals such as World Development, Journal of International Development, Development and Change. Her latest book is an edited volume, India?s Unfree Workforce: Old and New Practices of Labour Bondage (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2009), with Jan Breman and Prakash Aseem.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/villarreal.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/villarreal.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Generating, Storing and Exchanging Value: Comparing Financial Practices in Mexican and Indian Rural Communities
2012
India
Isabelle Guerin
Latin America and the CaribbeanSouth Asia
Magdalena Villareal
Mexico
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
In recent years, there has been increased interest in access to formal financial services by the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) in developing countries. Today, there are six competing mobile money transfer systems in Kenya ("M-Pesa," "yuCash," "Orange Money", "Airtel money," "PesaPoint" and "PataCash"), each of which offers subscribers SIM card registrations and subscriptions to mobile money transfer systems. Thereafter, subscribers access electronic money remittances, payments, micro-credits, insurances, savings accounts, and loan facilities. These products are key instruments in the empowered of the poor as they become exposed to branchless banking in their daily lives. In Kenya, however, very few studies have addressed the inter-linkages between gender empowerment and financial inclusion in banking institutions. This is in spite of the fact that mobile money systems are technologies, which embody gender differences as well as socio-cultural constructs like gender empowerment. This study will examine the gender dimension of mobile money systems, exploring how mobile money systems can give one gender preferential access and empowerment to financial intermediation at the expense of the other.
Researcher(s)
Simiyu Wandibba, Stevie Nangendo, Benson Mulemi
About the Researcher(s)
Dr. Simiyu Wandibba is Professor of Anthropology at the Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies, University of Nairobi. He holds a BA with Education and an MA from the University of Nairobi and a PhD from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. His research and teaching interests are in ethnography, gender and development, heritage management, history of anthropology, social science research methods, and the archaeology of living peoples.
Researcher 2
Dr. Stevie M. Nangendo is a Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies, University of Nairobi. He holds a BA from the University of Nairobi as well as an MA and PhD from Bryn Maw College, Philadelphia, USA. His research and teaching interests are contemporary indigenous technologies, gender and development, commercial farming, food and nutrition security, health and gerontocracy, symbolic anthropology, contemporary theories and research methods in anthropology.
Researcher 3
Dr. Benson A. Mulemi holds PhD and MA degrees in anthropology from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the University of Nairobi, Kenya, respectively. Dr. Mulemi also hold a BA degree in Anthropology (his major) and Kiswahili language from Moi University, Kenya. He is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. His research interests are ethnographies of minority health, wellbeing and livelihoods, culture and socio-economic development, and hospital ethnography.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/wandibba.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/wandibba.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Gender Empowerment and Access to Financial Services in Machakos County, Eastern Kenyan
2012
Benson Mulemi
East Africa
Kenya
Simiyu Wandibba
Stevie Nangendo
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
The rollout of Unique Identification (known as Aadhaar or UID) numbers and cards for every Indian might be a financial inclusion game-changer by offering urban rickshaw pullers the means to meet banks' Know Your Customers (KYC) norms. Similarly, the mobile money services offered by several banks using the business correspondent (BC) model could address the financial needs of these poor migrants. These processes, however, are riddled with challenges, including behavioral changes among the rickshaw pullers, which are yet to be understood. This study attempts to use an unorthodox route of social activism cum experimental research to find answers to these concerns by providing handholding support to rickshaw pullers to facilitate their financial inclusion, while simultaneously documenting behavioral changes and the challenges they face in the transformational process to obtain access to formal financial services.
Researcher(s)
Mani A. Nandhi, Deepti KC
About the Researcher(s)
Mani Arul Nandhi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Commerce, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. She holds an MPhil degree in Marketing from the Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics and a PhD from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi. Her areas of research interest include microfinance, financial inclusion, urban poverty, and mobile banking. She has been awarded grants before from IMTFI for her studies on the financial behavior of cycle rickshaw pullers in Delhi and the impact of EKO mobile banking on low-income users in Delhi.
Researcher 2
Deepti KC has a Bachelor?s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Jaipur. After completing her degree in India, she moved to the US to pursue her Master?s degree in Environmental and Public Health Engineering. She also has a Master?s degree in Fundraising Management and Nonprofit Administration from Columbia University in New York. She is currently working as a Senior Programme Manager at the Centre for Micro Finance (CMF) at IFMR Research. She joined CMF as a Programme Manager of Microfinance Researchers Alliance Program (MRAP), a research capacity development programme for Indian professors. Prior to joining CMF, she worked as a Project Coordinator at Columbia University Medical Center, New York where she oversaw a large population-based cohort study. Her current research areas focus on livelihoods, microenterprises and financial inclusion of the poor.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/nandhi.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/nandhi.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Evolving Participatory Relationships for Uplifting Urban Poor Rickshaw Pullers: Next Step Forward
2012
Deepti KC
India
Mani A. Nandhi
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Philippines
Project Description
This study hopes to describe and compare how conditional cash transfer (CCT) grants are disbursed to Indigenous People (IP) beneficiaries in Palawan, Southern Philippines: (1) manually or over-the-counter and (2) through the use of mobile technology such as cash cards/ATMs or GCASH. Moreover, taking into account the differences in distributing cash grants, this study will explore how IP beneficiaries perceive and respond to such uses of financial technology. It will look at the possible socio-cultural changes in their perceptions and behavior towards technology and money, as well as how they consume, save, and utilize the cash grants given to them. This study will use both quantitative and qualitative methods. The former will include a survey of randomly selected IP household beneficiaries divided into two groups based on how their receive their cash grants, over-the-counter or via cash cards or GCASH Remit. This method hopes to compare the consumption pattern and savings behavior between the two groups. Qualitatively, this study will conduct cash mobility mapping exercises and key informant interviews with tribal leaders and other stakeholders in the community. Aside from contributions to the literature on mobile technology, this study hopes to provide technical support to the CCT program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and other safety net programs on how mobile technology can become more effective in better reaching the socially and financially excluded.
Researcher(s)
Anatoly Gusto, Emily Roque
About the Researcher(s)
Anatoly "Jing" Gusto leads MICRA Philippines? Research and Innovations Unit whose current agenda focuses on innovation in financial inclusion, particularly through the application of information and communications technology (ICT) and product development/diversification for the microfinance industry in various fields such as branchless banking, microinsurance, housing microfinance, and agriculture. Jing spearheads the organization's efforts in implementing research-related activities and translating learnings into systematic practice of innovation. Before joining MICRA, he was a microfinance and mobile phone banking specialist of the USAID-funded MABS Program where he focused on market research and product development. He also has extensive experience in program development, implementation and monitoring of gender advocacy projects as well as capital market regulation having worked at the Philippine National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), respectively. Jing graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and had microfinance training from the Boulder Institute of Microfinance in Turin, Italy.
Researcher 2
Emily B. Roque is currently a lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in Ateneo de Manila University. She finished her Masters in Sociology and AB Social Sciences with a minor in Development Management at the Ateneo de Manila University. She has conducted research on topics such as street homelessness, microfinance, social development, urban poverty, and community-based heritage tourism. She has also done consultancy work with MICRA Philippines, the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC), and the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) and has worked as Program Associate in the Team Energy Center for Bridging Leadership of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/gusto.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/gusto.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Delivering Cash Grants to Indigenous Peoples Through ATM and GCASH Remit: Boon or Bane? The Case of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Conditional Cash Transfer Program in the Philippines
2012
Anatoly Gusto
Emily Roque
Philippines
Southeast Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Southern Africa
Country
South Africa
Project Description
The proposed research aims to improve our understanding of the impact of mobile money by situating it within critical bodies of development theory that, as of now, are largely disconnected from studies of mobile money. The research will consider mobile money as an emerging infrastructure with utilization by diverse entities whose interests and goals may not always coincide with those of the poor. Following a critical analysis of how mobile money is perceived and functions, the project will seek to develop productive recommendations for how the development goals projected onto mobile money might be fruitfully achieved. The research will take place while based in Cape Town and will focus on the South African experience.
Researcher(s)
Kevin Donovan
About the Researcher(s)
Kevin P. Donovan is currently a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Cape Town. His research focuses on the impact of new technologies?including mobile phones and biometrics?on poverty alleviation and privacy. His IMTFI project draws on science and technology studies to examine the techniques through which South Africa's social protection scheme is implemented. Previously he worked at the World Bank's infoDev division, including researching the impact of mobile money. He graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service with a degree in Science, Technology & International Affairs
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/donovan.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/donovan.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
Composing Development? Biometrics, Smart Cards and Financial Inclusion in South Africa's Social Protection Initiative
2012
Kevin Donovan
South Africa
Southern Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Colombia
Project Description
In Colombia, a country with almost as many mobile phones as inhabitants, the use of mobile money is still not widely adopted. While state and private banks promote free mobile banking services, people in low-income areas prefer to use game operator networks to serve their needs due to the variety of transactions they cover and proximity. Currently, many people living under the poverty line play 'chance?- or lotto-like games. Game networks, which operate via terminals located at small stores scattered throughout poor neighborhoods, have begun offering clients simple financial service offerings, such as access to savings accounts or money transfer to encourage customer retention and facilitate playing. Customers can buy pre-paid cards (e.g., power or phone cards), send or receive money, and pay debts through these outlets. Understanding why customers choose these services over other traditional banking services can provide insight into design success criteria for developing and improving offerings outside to the gaming networks. This study will explore the different factors that determine poor people's adoption of game operator networks for transaction services over other platforms (bank, mobile phone, and postal), and provide guidelines to help develop mobile money services better adapted to their needs. Based on the research findings, the team will present recommendations on which features and benefits should be included in a mobile payment or savings platform to ensure adoption with Colombian consumers.
Researcher(s)
Ana Echeverry, Coppelia Herran, Anny Chou, Liliana Sanin
About the Researcher(s)
Ana Echeverry is a local researcher (Medellin) at TOCA, a Chicago-based consultancy, and Project Lead. Ana has a Master's degree in design planning from the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, in Chicago. She is also an industrial designer from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), where she previously worked as coordinator and professor of postgraduate studies in innovation planning.
Researcher 2
Coppelia Herran is an industrial designer from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), where she also works as a researcher and professor. Currently, she is also a Master's degree candidate in Anthropology at the Universidad of Antioquia. She leads a research line focusing on 'material culture' within the Group of Design Studies at UPB. Coppelia has worked in multiple research projects involving poor and vulnerable communities in Colombia.
Researcher 3
Anny Chou brings a well-rounded, international background to the TOCA team. She has project management experience, analytical capabilities, and sales expertise. With her exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, Anny is adept at leading cross-functional teams and cross-cultural teams, and helping clients understand the business value of different product or service offerings. Prior to TOCA, she worked at leading financial software provider Morningstar in its Development Program. She was responsible for training Morningstar's worldwide customer base on the firm?s reference database before successfully transferring ownership of this process to the New Delhi and Shenzhen Global Operations Team. Anny received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Carleton College.
Researcher 4
Liliana Sanin is an industrial designer from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB). She coordinates knowledge transfer projects between UPB and industry. Her previous experience includes working at Interactuar, an NGO specializing in micro-credit and education for the poor.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/echeverry.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/echeverry.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Betting on Chance in Colombia: How Game Operator Networks Succeed in Providing Financial Services to the Poor While Other Networks Stay Behind
2012
Ana Echeverry
Anny Chou
Colombia
Coppelia Herran
Latin America and the Caribbean
Liliana Sanin
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru
Project Description
The objective of this project is to identify constraints to the growth of mobile-based financial services for the poor in Latin America, and thus contribute to the body of knowledge required to design effective incentive mechanisms for promoting investments and service deployment, as well as adoption by potential beneficiaries. The primary research questions to be addressed are: What are the institutional and contextual factors that constrain the deployment and scaling of mobile-based financial services for the poor in Latin America? What are the interactions between demand for financial services and mobile telephony usage patterns among poor households that affect the growth of mobile banking? How can existing conditional cash transfer programs (CCTPs) be articulated with mobile telephony platforms to achieve greater efficiency in program delivery and at the same time extend the range and coverage of financial services for the poor? The project combines research activities on the supply and regulatory factors that affect the development of the mobile banking ecosystem in Latin America. Research will consist of, first, the creation of a database of existing mobile-based financial inclusion initiatives in the region (to be mapped and characterized in terms of services, business model, partnership structure, coverage, adoption, and overall results) and, second, the analysis of the regulatory environment in target countries (Brazil, Paraguay, Mexico and Peru) to identify regulatory bottlenecks for unlocking investments in mobile solutions for the unbanked.
Researcher(s)
Roxana Barrantes Caceres, Judith Mariscal
About the Researcher(s)
Roxana Barrantes Caceres is an economist with a B.S. Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Per? and a PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Executive Director and Researcher, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos. Professor, Department of Economics at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Per?. Professional activities in applied microeconomics, focused on (a) regulation and privatization of infrastructure sectors; and (b) environment and natural resources. During her career, Barrantes has served as staff and member of the board of directors of the Peruvian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (OSIPTEL), consultant to the Transport Regulatory commission in Peru (OSITRAN), the National Superintendent of Sanitation (SUNASS), the Ministry of Transport and Communication, the National Ombudsman Office, and to the Inter American Development Bank. Currently, she serves in the Advisory Committee of LACEEP (Latin American and Caribbean Environmental Economics Program), and Steering Committee of DIRSI ?Latin American and Caribbean research network on ICT regulation to foster inclusion by the poor into the information society. Past President of Permanent Seminar on Agricultural Research in Peru (SEPIA), Former Member of the Resolution of Environmental Disputes Court of the National Environmental Council (CONAM) and former President of the ProConectividad Committee of ProInversion. She has several recent and forthcoming publications on the use of mobile telephones among market traders in rural Peru, broadband technology, and inclusive development.
Researcher 2
Judith Mariscal (Ph.D. LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin) is full Professor at the Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economica (CIDE) in Mexico City DF, where she is Director of the Telecommunications Research Program, Telecom-CIDE. She is a member of the Steering Committee for DIRSI, a research network on ICT policy for development in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Social Witness for Transparency International, Chapter Mexico Her current research focuses on ICT regulatory and public policies and has published in leading journals such as Telecommunications Policy, Latin American Studies, and Information Technologies and International Development. She has authored two books: Unfinished Business: Telecommunications Reform in Mexico (published by Praeger Press in 2000), and Digital Poverty: Latin American and Caribbean Perspectives (published by ITDG in 2007, coauthored with Hernan Galperin).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/barrantes.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/barrantes.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Banking the Poor through Mobile Telephony: Understanding the Challenges for Expanding Mobile-Based Financial Services in Latin America
2012
Argentina
Brazil
Judith Mariscal
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mexico
Paraguay
Peru
Roxana Barrantes Caceres
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
A widely cited study on the impact of mobile phones in coastal Kerala, India (Jensen 2007), which argues that the availability of price information about mobile services in fishing communities is linked to increases in fishermen's earnings, has been used to argue that mobile phones lead to efficient markets and increased incomes. We wish to examine to what extent Jensen's findings are generalizable to other places and other commodities. We propose here a study that examines the use of mobile phones in fishing work with a focus on the work practices of fishermen and the institutional context within which their work is carried out. Our questions for this research are two-fold. First, to what extent were the unique geographic and institutional circumstances of Jensen's study sites (rather than the mere introduction of mobile phones) responsible for his findings Second, if we examine the work practices of fishermen, rather than focus solely on the economic principles in play, what might we learn about the use of mobile phones as part of the overall livelihood strategy of a fishing community in a particular geographical and institutional context? A combination of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with members of the fishing community in coastal Kerala, representatives of local associations for fisherfolk, and officials of the Kerala government will help us answer these questions.
Researcher(s)
Jenna Burrell, Janaki Srinivasan, Richa Kumar
About the Researcher(s)
Jenna Burrell is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley. Her book Invisible Users: Youth in the Internet Cafes of Urban Ghana is forthcoming with the MIT Press. She completed her PhD in 2007 in the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics, carrying out thesis research on Internet cafe use in Accra, Ghana. Before pursuing her PhD she was an Application Concept Developer in the People and Practices Research Group at Intel Corporation. Her interests span many research topics, including theories of materiality, user agency, transnationalism, post-colonial relations, digital representation, and especially the appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by individuals and social groups on the African continent.
Researcher 2
Janaki Srinivasan studies the role of information in socioeconomic change. With a focus on information technology-based development initiatives, she has conducted research on the politics involved in creating, accessing, and using information in the functioning of government services and market processes in rural India. Janaki uses participant observation techniques and interviews in her research, and has worked in rural Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Puducherry and Kerala, India. She has a PhD from the UC Berkeley School of Information (2011), a Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology from the Int?l Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (2004), and a Masters in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (2001).
Researcher 3
Richa Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi. She completed her Ph.D. in the History and Anthropology of Science, Technology and Society (HASTS) from the Science, Technology and Society (STS) Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA in 2009. Her dissertation was an ethnographic study of the socioeconomic and cultural transformation of the Malwa region in western Madhya Pradesh (India) over the last 40 years with the introduction of soyabean cultivation in the 1970s, and the establishment of an information technology (IT) based private marketing network, known as the eChoupal, in the 2000s. She is a recipient of the New India Fellowship (2010) and is finishing a book manuscript on the political economy of agriculture in central India.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/burrell.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/burrell.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
A Work Practice Approach to Understanding Actors in Agricultural Markets: Revisiting the Fishermen of Kerala, India
2012
India
Janaki Srinivasan
Jenna Burrell
Richa Kumar
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
Why do people trust each other? Is it mutual trust or self-interest that brings people together to form groups? How far does the theory of rational choice, and its accompanying individualism, penetrate the concept of social capital? Is there a relationship between social cohesiveness in groups and financial success? Such questions generate interest in the conditions that promote association and group emergence, including trust, reliability, reciprocity, and shared values, inherent factors for cohesion; in how these factors function; and in what other elements, apart from repayment and meeting attendance, ensure the sustainability of 'Self Help Groups' (SHGs). These questions are also vital for the expansion of microfinance programs. With the above questions in mind, this study will investigate whether microfinance institutions among Muslim women in Hyderabad address saving, which is generally unacceptable to Muslims due to the attached element of interest. What strategies have microfinance institutions employed to promote the inclusion of Muslims? What are the local modes of saving available to the Muslim women that allow them to invest money without infringing basic Islamic tenets? What are their structures and mechanisms and how do these local models help the women address future crisis?
Researcher(s)
Rosina Nasir
About the Researcher(s)
Dr. Rosina Nasir is an anthropologist by training and working as an Assistant Professor, at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP), School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad. She has completed her Masters in Anthropology and Doctorate of Philosophy in Anthropological Demography from Delhi University. She has been awarded the prestigious C.R. Parekh award, London School of Economics, 2010-2011. Besides this, she has obtained fellowship from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, for one year for training in Integrated Geriatric Care. She has been associated as fellow and awarded research support from the Asia Research Centre, London School of Economics (LSE), London, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Shastri Indo Canadian Institute (SICI), Microfinance Research Alliance Program (MRAP), Ford Foundation, and Indian Council of Social Sciences Research (ICSSR), India. She has contributed research articles in international journals, such as the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Man in India, The Eastern Anthropologist, and The Anthropologist. Her areas of academic research are microfinance, Islamic microfinance, social capital, Muslims and exclusionary processes, and secularism in India.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/nasir.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/nasir.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
A Study on Association of Social Capital with Microfinance and Local Saving Programs among the Muslim Poor in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
2012
India
Rosina Nasir
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
This project will investigate the mobile money model of a prominent mobile banking financial services provider in India. In particular, the study will investigate a shift of organizational focus from the savings to the remittance product. Eko, which, contrary to African contexts, until now had focused on savings products in India, recently changed its focus towards remittance-based services. This shift was seen as a remedy to the lack of uptake of their previous savings focus. The proposed study hopes to examine the Eko model in action, describe the transition of the model, provide a stakeholder analysis, and finally, provide a prognosis for the development of mobile money services (with a special emphasis on savings) in the Indian context. To this effect, the research design incorporates two related, but distinct set of research questions, which are centered around provider-end and user-end perspectives respectively. Currently, there is scant scholarly literature on the Eko model, which, when considered in light of their unique and prominent position within the Indian mobile banking industry, as well as of their Indian partnership with the largest Indian Bank (SBI), constitutes a research gap of import. This work will address this gap.
Researcher(s)
Ishita Ghosh, Kartikeya Bajpai
About the Researcher(s)
Ishita Ghosh is currently a doctoral student in the School of Information at UC Berkeley. She received her M.S. degree in Information Sciences & Technology from the Pennsylvania State University. Previously, she has worked with Sampark, an NGO that nurtures self-help groups towards financial credibility and solvency in India, and AppLab at the Grameen Foundation that uses technology to extended formal financial services to the unserved in Uganda. Her research interests include technology and development, specifically towards financial inclusion strategies.
Researcher 2
Kartikeya Bajpai currently works as a consultant for various non-profits in India. He recently completed his M.S. in Information Sciences & Technology from the Pennsylvania State University. Previously, Kartikeya completed degrees at the University of Florida, and the National Institute of Technology, Trichy. His research interests include collective action, organizational behavior, and new media & technology.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/ghosh.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/ghosh.php#</a>
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A name given to the resource
A Study in Tracking the Shift from Savings to Remittance on the Mobile Backbone: Findings from Eko, India
2012
India
Ishita Ghosh
Kartikeya Bajpai
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
Central Asia
Country
Altai Republic, Russia
Project Description
The proposed project is devoted to an investigation of new money practices among Altaians that have emerged in the post-Soviet period, specifically the use of bank credit and credit cards. The main objective of the project is to research new financial practices related to bank loans and credit cards among the Altaians living in the regional center of the village Ongudai and other villages Ongudai district of the Altai Republicin Russia. Bank loans and credit cards, I suggest, are the first "school of capitalism" for the Altai, who have had no previous experience with monetary credit through the relevant institutions. The use of these banking services is a new phenomenon in the economic and social life of Altaians. In the Altai Republic, as elsewhere in Russia, very few people have their own ?credit history? associated with these services, which along with credit cards and bank credit, includes mobile technology to activate credit cards. The main research questions of this study include how people receive and spend store credit received in cash; how Altaians use the kinship network and other social networks to get cash loans; what is the 'credit history' of individuals who have least once received loans from banks or individuals; and what are the strategies and tactics of monetary behavior of representatives of various social strata.
Researcher(s)
Svetlana Tyukhteneva
About the Researcher(s)
Svetlana Tyukhteneva graduated with an MA in history from Altai State University, Department of Archaeology and Ethnology, Faculty of History, Russia in 1989. She received her PhD in Ethnography, Ethnology and Anthropology, Center for Asia and Oceania Studies, Institute for Ethnology and Anthropology of RAS, Moscow, Russia in 1996. She is currently at the same Institute, continuing to explore the culture of Altai. She is the author of two books (one co-authored), has written more than 50 publications in journals and collections of articles, and is an expert of the Network for Ethnic Monitoring and early warning of conflicts in the Republic of Altai.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/tyukhteneva.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/tyukhteneva.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
"My Credit History": New Monetary Practices among Altaians in the Post-Soviet Period
2012
Altai Republic
Central Asia
Russia
Svetlana Tyukhteneva
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2012
Region
West Africa
Country
Ghana
Project Description
The purpose of this proposed study is to investigate and shed light on an ancient micro-saving operation in West Africa and Ghana in particular, called "Susu". Susu is one of Africa's most ancient forms of informal banking, in which mobile operators collect savings on daily, weekly or monthly basis from market women, artisans, and other low-income earners. These moneys are accumulated and given back to the savers after an agreed-upon period or loaned out in turns to other group members. Though Susu operators facilitate the financial inclusion of the poor in Ghana, their operation is bedeviled with challenges and lacks the application of technological innovation. The proposed study will investigate the willingness of operators and users to accept the use of technologically-mediated mobile money platforms in Susu operations. The study will seek to investigate how mobile money services can be deployed to transform Susu operations; it will also offer an appreciation of Susu operators? monetary cultures and how the adoption of mobile money technology can complement Susu as a means of savings, accumulating, transferring, and storing wealth by the poor in society.
Researcher(s)
Eric Osei-Assibey
About the Researcher(s)
Eric Osei-Assibey is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics, University of Ghana. He holds a PhD in Development Finance from the Nagoya University, Japan. He is also a post-graduate scholar at the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI) at Brown University, where he studied Development and Inequality in the Global South. Eric is a development economist with special interests in small enterprise financing, access to finance, and poverty reduction, as well as tracking progress towards the attainment of MDGs. He has published extensively on financial inclusion and microfinance in internationally reputed journals and has consulted for many international organizations in Ghana.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/osei-assibey.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2012/osei-assibey.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
"E-SUSU" Operation: Can Mobile Money Revolutionise an Ancient Saving System Among Indigenous West Africans?
2012
Eric Osei-Assibey
Ghana
West Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
East Asia
Country
China
Project Description
China, the birthplace of both money and Maoism, has a complex history with value systems. Immense socioeconomic upheaval since 1978 has seen relationships between state, citizen, and their understandings of value evolve abreast. Today, China is set to begin another era of financial innovation. In October 2010, China Mobile - the world's largest mobile operator - acquired a 20 percent stake in the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. With eyes to launching mobile banking nationally in 2011, there is great opportunity to expand financial inclusion to the country's poorest citizens. Yet history reveals the fruits of China?s economic progress have been unequally distributed. Though it boasts the world?s fastest growing group of millionaires, over 60 percent of China?s rural households live without access to financial services.
This study will examine financial inclusion through a service design lens. Using China as an example, it will explore how second-generation banking models and services should be designed to respect the diverse needs of poor users. It will chart how past cultural practices inform value systems today and into the future, seen through the universal fault lines between rural and urban, poor and non-poor, and young and old. Understanding value ecologies in a diverse, pioneering market like China will help identify common lessons for the inclusive design of other emerging banking systems.
Researcher(s)
Panthea Lee, Zack Brisson
About the Researcher(s)
Panthea Lee?s work focuses on the practical applications of design and technology in international development. A design research specialist, she has studied access to information and financial inclusion in countries such as Afghanistan, China, Indonesia, and Malaysia. She is the Creative Director of Reboot. Prior to Reboot, she worked with UNICEF Innovation on technology for development initiatives in Iraq, Suriname, and Palestine. Panthea graduated from McGill University in Canada. She has advised graduate courses at the Interactive Telecommunications Program and the Steinhardt School at NYU, and at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Panthea is also a faculty member at PopTech?s social innovation fellowship program.
Researcher 2
Zack Brisson is President of Reboot and focuses on the role of information and communication technologies in expanding access to critical services, primarily in the fields of government and civic media. Formerly at the Enough Project, Zack utilized ICTs in the practical pursuit of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan. He has examined the use of mapping technologies to monitor conflict and rights abuses and the application of citizen media for greater political accountability. At the Centre for American Progress, he worked with US policy leaders to develop participatory policy planning mechanisms. He also previously led the National Geographic Society?s internal think tank. Zack graduated from William and Mary. His work has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, The Hill, among others.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/lee.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/lee.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Value Systems in China: A User-Centered Approach to Designing Inclusive Second-Generation Banking
2011
China
East Asia
Panthea Lee
Zack Brisson
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
South Asia
Country
Nepal
Project Description
This is a study of the moral communities and practices generated around the use of 'new wealth' in an untouchable caste neighborhood in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. There are both a historical and contemporary social components to the study. I am interested in how the terms of caste, class, and gender inform, and have been affected by, the way local economies of value have intersected with economic liberalization policies and practices since the mid-twentieth century. Economic liberalization has made its mark in two broad categories. On the one hand, broader access to consumer products and practices; on the other hand, the proliferation of development programs and practices in view of Nepal's status as a "least developed country." How does a moral economy of pleasure interact with the political and social exigencies of a moral economy of need? How do these encounters with global modernity adjust and how are they in turn adjusted by alternative logics of economic rationality? I ask these questions in terms of how access to markedly new wealth are placed in exchange and circulation by women in an untouchable caste neighborhood through their initiation and participation in a series of formal and informal, self-initiated and introduced credit and savings programs. What are the social and moral preconceptions about caste, class, and gender that underwrite the availability and use of certain credit and savings options? How do ideas about social, ethical and economic community, risk, and trust inform and become effective of these transactions? What types of consumer practices and desires do these exchanges give rise to?
Researcher(s)
Sepideh Bajracharya
About the Researcher(s)
Sepideh Bajracharya received her PhD from Harvard in Social Anthropology. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher with the Michigan Society of Fellows and an Assistant Professor, Socio-cultural Anthropology.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/bajracharya.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/bajracharya.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Untouchable Wealth: The Moral Exchange of New Wealth among Women in an Urban Nepali Untouchable-Caste Community
2011
Nepal
Sepideh Bajracharya
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Chile
Project Description
The expansion of consumer credits has been one of the most wide-ranging transformations in the last 20 years in Chile. One can argue that Chile has gone through its own process of 'financialization' and that this has taken a very specific and domestic character. Of course, this is not the only country where consumer credits, and particularly, credit cards, have seen a significant growth. However, recent trends in the Chilean case show an important particularity: the access to consumer credits has neither been driven by banks nor by other traditional financial institutions but mainly by retailers such as supermarkets and department stores. In today's Chile, retail credit cards are not merely used to purchase goods in the issuers? stores, but also increasingly as revolving credits cards that are usable in an expanding network of places (including airline tickets, private hospitals, pharmacies, and, certainly, other stores). In a developing country where a large proportion of the population has not traditionally been considered by banks as potential customers, chain retailers are becoming the main access to finance.
The expansion of consumer credits in Chile has recently been the focus of many of the main discussions in social research in Chile. However, little attention has been paid by academic research to credit practices itself. A central issue that has not been studied yet is the consequences of the expansion of retail credit cards to areas of the population and city previously excluded from formal finance services. This research aims at starting to fill this gap.
Researcher(s)
Jose Ossandon Valdes, Tomas Ariztia, Macarena Barros, Filipe Gonzalez
About the Researcher(s)
Jose Gustavo Ossandon Valdes is Assistant Professor Department of Sociology and researcher of Social Science Research Centre (ICSO), Universidad Diego Portales. He received his PhD from the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths University of London, MA (Sociology) Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Licentiate (Sociology, five year degree) Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Minor Certificate (Philosophy) Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.
Researcher 2
Tomas Ariztia is Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in the Sociology Department at Universidad Diego Portales. He has his PhD in Sociology, London School of Economics, MSc Sociology (Hons), Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, BSc Sociology (Hons), Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.
Researcher 3
Macarena Barros received her BA in Anthropology with a major in Social Anthropology (five year degree) from the University of Chile in 2009. In 2005, she completed a Diploma Course (Contability for Administration of Proyects) at Didacta Training Institute. In 2004 she completed a Diploma Course (Traditional Culture) at the Institute of Aesthetics, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.
Researcher 4
Felipe Gonzalez received his 2008 Licenciate (Sociology, five year degree), Universidad Alberto Hurtado.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/ossandon.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/ossandon.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Financial Ecologies and Circuits of Commerce of Retail Credit Cards in Santiago de Chile
2011
Chile
Filipe Gonzalez
Jose Ossandon Valdes
Latin America and the Caribbean
Macarena Barros
Tomas Ariztia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
Central Asia
Country
Altai Republic, Russia
Project Description
Money accompanies the modern human through all stages of life, from birth to death. The proposed project aims to study the daily practices of money residents of Kosh-Agach region of the Altai Republic, with special emphasis on the economy for weddings and funerals-funeral rites, since this is the only issue related to money, which willingly and openly say, both men and women. During the research project "Yesterday's nomads and modern money" (2009-2010), one of my interlocutors, the head of village administration, told me a phrase that I cannot forget. When I asked what amount of money the villagers usually spend on weddings, he said: "The wedding arrangements need to learn from Altaians, and the funeral - the Kazakhs." The overall meaning of his phrase is that the Kazakhs, during weddings, irrationally spend a lot of money while the Altaians spend less. But on the other hand, from the Kazakhs one should learn how to organize the funeral and mourning for the dead.
The research idea is that the daily cash practices can serve as a symbol, marking the boundary between rich and poor, but also ethnic and cultural markers between living in the neighborhood of the two peoples. Their ways of making money, their methods of conservation, storage and use, the Altaians and the Kazakhs are different. The main objective of the project is to investigate and compare the everyday practice of cash in Altaians and Kazakhs in the Kosh-Agach region.
Researcher(s)
Svetlana Tyukhteneva
About the Researcher(s)
Svetlana Tyukhteneva graduated with an MA in history from Altai State University, Department of Archaeology and Ethnology, Faculty of History, Russia in 1989. She received her PhD in Ethnography, Ethnology and Anthropology, Center for Asia and Oceania Studies, Institute for Ethnology and Anthropology of RAS, Moscow, Russia in 1996. She is currently at the same Institute, continuing to explore the culture of Altai. She is the author of two books (one co-authored), has written more than 50 publications in journals and collections of articles, and is an expert of the Network for Ethnic Monitoring and early warning of conflicts in the Republic of Altai.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/tyukhteneva.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/tyukhteneva.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Tell Me How You Earn and Spend Money - And I Will Tell You Who You Are
2011
Altai Republic
Central Asia
Russia
Svetlana Tyukhteneva
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
Middle East
Country
Palestine
Project Description
The Palestinian economy belongs to emerging economies with GDP of 6.5 billion USD. It has unique conditions as a service economy, with a significant role in public sector contribution, including the Palestinian National Authority budget, the UNRWA budget which is allocated to Refugees that live inside the PNA territories, and many NGOs financed by international aids. In addition to that, there are significant annual incoming workers' remittances to the Palestinian economy. Finally, the most unique aspect of this economy, it has no national currency, and instead three official currencies are in use including JD, US$, and NIS. This project aims to examine how clients move from one currency to another in case of saving, loans and conducting business transactions. In addition, this proposal aims to point out to what extent internet-banking, ATMs and other electronic money instruments are used, and what major problems and technical and social issues are attached to such processes. This will cover the financial system including the official banking system, and moneychanger firms. Finally, this proposal aims to point out the practices in closeting the three or more currency positions (short, long and flat) by Banks in each of the end working days.
Researcher(s)
Nidal Rashid Sabri, Diama Abu Laban, Deema Waleed Haniya
About the Researcher(s)
Nidal Rashid Sabri is a Professor and Dean of the College of Commerce and Economics at Birzeit University, Palestine, and received his doctoral degree from the University of Northern Colorado, USA. He served as a consultant on several missions with UN firms including: UN- ESCWA, UNDP, UNIDO, UNCTAD, UN-HABITAT, and ILO. He also served as scholar at the research department in International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC. He has published in various academic journals including: International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, Research in International Business and Finance, Review of Accounting and Finance, International Journal of Commerce and Management, Small Business Economics, International Review of Comparative Public Policy, Middle East Business Review, Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, etc. He is the author of twenty five books including: Stability of International Stock Markets (Nova Science Publishers, NY, 2007) Financial Markets and Institutions in the Arab Economy (Nova Science Publishers, NY, 2008), Arab Financial Institutions (Nova Science Publishers, NY, 2009), and The Role of Arab Funds in Developing Regions. In addition, he served as an editor to International Financial Systems and Stock Volatility (Elsevier Science Publisher, 2002).
Researcher 2
Diama Abu Laban is working as a lecturer of the finance and banking department at the College of Commerce and Economics at Birzeit University, Palestine. In addition, she works as a coordinator with Palestinian Stock Exchange in stock simulation trading program. Her major research interest is International Finance.
Researcher 3
Deema Waleed Haniya is working as a lecturer at the businesses administration department in the College of Commerce and Economics at Birzeit University, Palestine. She also worked as Chairperson Assistant of Business administration Department at Birzeit University.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/sabri.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/sabri.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Money Management and Mechanism in Palestinian Economy in Multi-Currencies Context
2011
Deema Waleed Haniya
Diama Abu Laban
Middle East
Nidal Rashid Sabri
Palestine
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Philippines
Project Description
A frontier area is defined as difficult to reach community with pockets of economically challenged and socially excluded populations. As such, these areas have money ecologies that emerge in a context of distance from centers, poverty and daily coping. The proposed research aims to provide in-depth analysis on the dynamics in the money ecology of a frontier area focusing on the effects of the introduction of mobile money transfer technology on its embedded systems of money relationships particularly on notions of mutual support. Money as a cultural artifact and its uses in everyday life are 'embedded' in systems of structured relationships. As such savings, remittance and other money transactions happen in a context of multiple notions of utilitarian economic gain, social obligations and relationships of power. In a frontier area, these are often in constant tension with household survival. The Philippine financial landscape has recently seen the exponential growth of mobile phone based money transfer technology. Formal and informal agents operate ?cash in cash out? (CICO) services that offer inexpensive and fast money transfer services. The initial success of this innovation has fueled rhetoric of its potential to reach the "forgotten Bottom". However, its utilization and effect in frontier area money ecology remain critically unexplored. The study proposes to utilize qualitative methodology including a modified financial diary tool inspired by Rutherford et al to develop a ?thick description? of the money ecology in frontier areas and gain insight on how access to and use of mobile phone based cash transfer technology has affected local notions and uses of money.
Researcher(s)
Jose L. Estuar
About the Researcher(s)
Jose L. Estuar earned his Masters Degree in Management of Technology (2002) from the University of the Philippines. His previous research grants include the Ateneo Institute of Philippine Culture-Ford Foundation merit research award for research on microfinance and social capital in Eastern Samar, Philippines (2004-2005) and the Nippon Foundation?s Asian Public Intellectuals (API) fellowship for research on microfinance innovations for disadvantaged populations in Malaysia and Thailand (2008-2009). He is founding president of the Eastern Twinstars Foundation (ETSF). The foundation invests in community livelihood and social enterprise development efforts in hard to reach areas with pockets of economically challenged and socially excluded populations. It is in these ?frontier areas? where understanding the local money ecology and emerging technology of mobile phone based cash transfers are increasingly becoming indispensible transformative tools.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/estuar.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/estuar.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Phone Cash In Cash Out Service in a Frontier Area: The Dynamics of New Money Technology and Embedded Systems of Money Relationships
2011
Jose L. Estuar
Philippines
Southeast Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
The primary goal of this research study is to investigate the use and impact of mobile money services (e.g. MPESA and Zap) as a tool for poverty reduction in Eastern Kenya. With support from NEPAD, Vinya wa Aka Group (VWAG) - an urban-based women's group in Nairobi - has trained 21 women's groups in the rural parts of Eastern Kenya on issues of investment, savings, money services and management. As part of that training, each group outlined a strategy for resource mobilization, savings and investment with the aim of reducing poverty within their families and communities. This study will build on that training and investigate each group's level of use and, if any, the impact of the mobile money services.
Researcher(s)
Ndunge Kiiti, Jane Mutinda, Philomena Muiruri
About the Researcher(s)
Ndunge Kiiti has a PhD in Communication from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. with concentration in International Health Policy from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD; a Master of Arts degree in Development Communication from Wheaton College, U.S. through Daystar University, Nairobi; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Houghton College, U.S.
Researcher 2
Jane Wanza Mutinda has a PhD in Environment and Community Development from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya; a Master?s in Education and Environmental Studies from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya; and a Bachelor?s in Education from the University of Nairobi, Kenya (Honors).
Researcher 3
Philomena W. Muiruri has a PhD from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya; a Master of Arts degree from the University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya; and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/kiiti.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/kiiti.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money Services and Poverty Reduction: A Study of 21 Women's Groups in the Rural Region of Eastern Kenya
2011
East Africa
Jane Mutinda
Kenya
Ndunge Kiiti
Philomena Muiruri
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
The proposed study is set against the background of low entrepreneurial attitude and behavior in Kenya and the little exposure to modern banking services among rural communities. The use of banking services is likely to influence personal finance management abilities and skills such as budgeting, saving, investment and risk management which may also contribute to positive entrepreneurial attitude and behavior. Given that in recent past mobile money services (MMS) have spread to rural areas offering transactional and saving services, the question is whether this translates among users? personal finance management abilities and skills as well as entrepreneurship. The study also seeks to understand the influence of demographic and situational variables, impact of MMS use on livelihoods and realization of development goals such as the MDGs, and strategies of accelerating its use.
Researcher(s)
James Karatu Kiemo, Barbara Leseni
About the Researcher(s)
James Karatu Kiemo is a sociologist and currently a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Nairobi. He obtained Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Nairobi (Kenya) and PhD from Uppsala University (Sweden). He has major interest in entrepreneurship research, education and social policy. Specific areas of interest regarding entrepreneurship include ethics and the conduct of business; corporate and white-collar crime; culture, entrepreneurship and development; and proposal writing and fundraising. Kiemo also works in the areas of criminology, psychiatry, gerontology and monitoring and evaluation. He has previously worked as a researcher at the Australian Institute of Suicide Research and Prevention (Griffith University) and the Centre for Corporate Governance (Kenya).
Researcher 2
Barbara Leseni is a specialist in monitoring and evaluation. She is currently a Programme Assistant at the United Nations World Food Programme (Kenya) and a graduate student at Institute of Anthropology, Gender and Development Studies, University of Nairobi. She has a Bachelor?s degree in communication and tourism from the University of Nairobi. At WFP Barbara runs a cash transfer programme which uses cash disbursement to the community as a means of responding to food insecurity especially among marginal agricultural communities in Kenya. Her research interests include the interface between gender, marginal communities and development.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/kiemo.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/kiemo.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money Services and Entrepreneurial Development in Rural Communities: The Case of the Agricultural Kikuyu and Pastoral Maasai Communities in Kenya
2011
Barbara Leseni
East Africa
James Karatu Kiemo
Kenya
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
Financial literacy is now a key factor in poverty alleviation and financial inclusion programs in developing countries. Most discussions of financial literacy imply that it is merely a set of skills, but previous research shows that financial literacy is in fact shaped by social and cultural factors. This research project defines financial literacy as the material practices through which all people manage their resources, including those mediating the relationships between individuals and financial institutions. This suggests that the study of financial literacies among the 'unbanked' can lead to more effective strategies for their financial inclusion. Our research focuses on India, where nearly 80 percent of the population - about 836 million people - lives on a half dollar a day. We will conduct ethnography in two low-income residential areas in Orissa state, one near financial institutions in the state capital and one far from financial institutions in a rural district. Through long, unstructured interviews with residents in each site, observations of daily life, and a subsequent survey, we will track the material objects through which people manage their resources?bank books, ration cards, purses, folders, boxes, shelves, bags, mobile phones, televisions, newspapers, weights and measures?and the ways people use them.
Researcher(s)
Katharine B. Martineau, Pradeep Baisakh, Nishita Trisal
About the Researcher(s)
Katherine B. Martineau is working on her PhD in Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. She holds a M.A. in Anthropology and Women?s Studies, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, and a B.A. from the Residential College, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Researcher 2
Pradeep Baisakh has his MA in Journalism, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India, and a BS in First Class in Physics, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India.
Researcher 3
Nishita Trisal is a PhD student of Cultural Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz. She has an A.B., magna cum laude, in Media Studies, DePauw University.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/martineau.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/martineau.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Material Cultures of Financial Literacy Among Rural and Urban Poor in Orissa, India
2011
India
Katharine B. Martineau
Nishita Trisal
Pradeep Baisakh
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
East Africa
Country
Tanzania
Project Description
With the collaboration of MIC Tanzania Limited, a baseline cross sectional study will be carried out analyzing various MFIs using the mobile money network, first by acting as an agent, then later by using the network to disburse and collect loans. This will be compared against a control group of the same microfinance institution that is out of scope. As MIC has recently been launched, the number of institutions expressing interest in participating in the project continues to grow. At the time of writing, 5 MFIs and 40 SACCOs have agreed to participate. A set of quantitative (financial) and qualitative indicators will be personalized to the methodology of the participating microfinance institution. These indicators will serve to collect, statistically analyze, compare/contrast to the control group and allow for longitudinal tracking. Little research exists on mobile banking and microfinance and no research on this scale exists. It is hoped that the research will be broadened and deepened in time using the same participating institutions, indicators and methodology to view changes longitudinally. If this paper shows that microfinance institutions can generate revenue and reduce operational costs by using mobile banking, institutions may incorporate these services as a means to strive towards sustainability, reducing dependence on external funding - an issue that constrains microfinance institutions worldwide.
Researcher(s)
Casey Conzett, Patricia Pulido, Maricruz LaCalle, Javier Gil
About the Researcher(s)
Casey Marie Conzett holds a degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Schiller International University and is currently postulating for her Master in Microcredits for Development degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. She is a Research Associate at the Fundacion Nantik Lum, a NGO dedicated to microcredit in Spain. She is a co-author of the Overview of the Microcredit Sector in the European Union 2008-2009, published in collaboration with the European Microfinance Network.
Researcher 2
Patricia Rodriguez Pulido holds a degree in Environmental Science and an MBA from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and is currently postulating for her Master in Microcredits for Development degree. Her master thesis is on an impact evaluation of microcredit beneficiaries in the Dominican Republic. She has participated in the Boulder Microfinance Training that took place in Turin, Italy in the summer of 2010. Patricia has an interest in ?green? microfinance - microfinance used to promote environmental issues. She has written about this subject in the Foro Nantik Lum?s Monograph number 12: Glosario Basico sobre Microfinanzas: Reedicion Ampliada.
Researcher 3
Maricruz LaCalle is currently a professor in the Faculty of Structural and Development Economics (Facultad de Estructura Economica y Economia de Desarrollo) at (UAM) where she is the Executive Director of the Master in Microcredits for Development. She is also a Senior Advisor in the Fundacion Nantik Lum, a NGO dedicated to microcredit and a member of the Foro Nantik Lum de MicroFinanzas, a microcredit think tank in Spain. She has written numerous articles on microcredit as well as a book entitled Microcr?ditos y Pobreza: de un sue?o al Nobel de la Paz.
Researcher 4
Javier Alfonso Gil is a tenured professor in the Faculty of Structural and Development Economics (Facultad de Estructura Economica y Economia de Desarrollo) at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM) where he is currently coordinating the Master in Economic Development and Public Policy and is the Academic Director of the Master in Microcredits for Development. He has written a number of books and articles on the issues of economic development and innovation as well as participated as a lead research on various projects under the auspice of the European Union.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/conzett.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/conzett.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Impact of Mobile Money Services on Microfinance Institutions
2011
Casey Conzett
East Africa
Javier Gil
Maricruz LaCalle
Patricia Pulido
Tanzania
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
India has the second largest financially excluded poor population in the world and 51% of the population is underserved. With a low bank accounts penetration, and a rising mobile phone usage, MBanking has potential to offer financial empowerment to the poor because India has attained near universal telecom access with one of the lowest-cost retail distribution networks, which can be leveraged to keep transactions costs very low. Among many M-Banking initiatives currently underway, EKO, a start-up company offers mobile money on a low cost banking platform called "SimpliBank". Eko and State Bank of India launched the 'SBI Mini Savings Bank Account' - on a pilot basis in 2009 in Delhi, Bihar and Jharkhand. Eko partners with a network of agents including chemists, grocers, airtime vendors. While the average cost for every bank transaction is $ 1.45, it costs $ 0.21 for every Eko transaction. Out of 730 million potential mobile users by 2013, Eko is expected to focus substantially on this growing number. The study proposes to explore the impact of Eko?s mobile money on the savings behavior and practices of low income users in the urban metropolis of Delhi and NCR3.
Researcher(s)
Mani A. Nandhi
About the Researcher(s)
Mani A. Nandhi is an Associate Professor at Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, Delhi. Nandhi obtained her Master's in Commerce with specialisation in Industrial Economics, Marketing and Human Relations Management from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and a PhD in Management from the Faculty of Management Studies from University of Delhi. She has collaborated in several research studies for International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. She is associated with Centre for Microfinance- Chennai, India as a participant of Microfinance Researchers Alliance Program (MRAP).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/nandhi.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/nandhi.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Impact of EKO's SimpliBank on the Saving Behaviour and Practices of Low Income Users: The Indian Experience
2011
India
Mani A. Nandhi
South Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
One of the most distinguishing features of third world countries is that they present a unique situation in which agriculture is often done by landless farmers. These farmers often work for the landowners in exchange for produce or money. They remain as tenant farmers and usually till patches of arable land generating enough produce that could suffice for their family. But sometimes, nature plays its tricks and these poor farmers lose whatever they had planned for. This paper tries to uncover how tobacco, which generates huge incomes for multinational companies, is a cause of monetary misery for the farmers.
Researcher(s)
Syed Aiman Raza
About the Researcher(s)
RazaSyed Aiman Raza is an Assistant Professor at Department of Anthropology in Shia Post Graduate College, Lucknow, India. He did his PhD in Social Anthropology from University of Delhi and was also a recipient of a doctoral fellowship from the Indian Council of Social Science and Research (ICSSR), New Delhi. His research interest lies in poverty related issues across urban and rural settings in the third world countries. Questions of everyday money practices, insurance and financial inclusion remains at the heart of his research agenda. Dr. Raza is also a part of the ongoing Microfinance Research Alliance Program of Centre for Microfinance (CMAP),which is being funded by Ford Foundation.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/raza.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/raza.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Harvesting Death: Do Tobacco Growers Need Financial Inclusion? An Analysis into the Monetary Problems and Prospects Enshrouding Farmers Harvesting Tobacco in Basti District, Uttar Pradesh, India
2011
India
South Asia
Syed Aiman Raza
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
Southern Africa
Country
South Africa
Project Description
Amartya Sen conceptualises freedoms as the means and ends to development. Capabilities are essential freedoms however personal characteristics, economic and social circumstances affect the conversion of capabilities into functions that determine use for development purposes. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) that have recognized such capabilities and social and economic issues can affect an individual?s freedom to use ICTs. With governments in the developing world seeking to extend financial services to the poor as a tool for economic development and mobile phone penetration reaching unprecedented diffusion rates of technology, mobile phones have the potential to enhance capabilities of the poor and improve financial services access.
In South Africa, the World Bank claims that despite a well developed financial sector, 40% of the South African population still have no access to formal banking service. However, 60% of the South African population own mobile phones. This has seen the introduction of a mobile banking initiatives aimed at banking the unbanked like Wizzit bank, a subsidiary of SA Bank of Athens that offers payments, transfer and savings facilities through the use of a mobile phone. This proposal recommends the exploration of financial technologies like Wizzit and such applications that are changing livelihoods of the poor in Alexandra, Hammanskraal and Ekurhuleni in Johannesburg, South Africa. Understanding why, when, and to what extent users use the technologies in storing their wealth and facilitating payments and transfers will direct understanding of how mobile banking can impact wealth management, socioeconomic development and consequently economic growth.
Researcher(s)
Mildred Makore
About the Researcher(s)
Mildred Ponesai Makore received her Bsc Honours in Economics from the University of Zimbabwe in 2001. She is currently a Master?s in Development Studies student at the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. Prior to enrolling with the University of KwaZulu Natal she served the Central Bank of Zimbabwe as a Payment Systems Analyst in the National Payment Systems Department for four years. During this period she worked closely with initiatives to bank the unbanked in the Oversight unit and was involved in regulating and supervising payment systems for enhanced financial inclusion. She has also worked with microfinance institutions in the provision of credit facilities to meet the financial needs of the poor, particularly small businesses. Her research interests include financial inclusion, ICT4D, inclusive markets and private sector development.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/makore.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/makore.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Exploring Use of Mobile Banking Services by the Poor: Case of Wizzit Bank in South Africa
2011
Mildred Makore
South Africa
Southern Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
West Africa
Country
Ghana
Project Description
This study will evaluate the impact of mobile banking products on the financial behaviors of Ghana's urban poor one year after their introduction into the country. With the use of semi-structured interviews and a document review, we propose to investigate the cultural perceptions of the use of mobile money (MM), identify its successes, as well as any barriers to its adoption, and ultimately, its impact on Ghana?s urban poor with respect to their access to financial resources, attitude toward saving, storage and wealth transfer.
Researcher(s)
Vivian Afi Dzokoto, Edwin Clifford Mensah
About the Researcher(s)
Dr. Vivian Afi Dzokoto received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Currently an Assistant Professor in African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Dzokoto?s current research interests include culture and emotion, and redenomination experiences in Ghana.
Researcher 2
Dr. Edwin Clifford Mensah, received his Master of Economics and Ph.D. in Economics degrees from North Carolina State University and is currently an Assistant Professor of Economics in the School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, U.S.A. He is also a visiting Professor of Economics at Valley View University-Ghana (West Africa). He is the author of the book, Economics of Technology Adoption: A Simple Approach, and a number of peer reviewed journal publications.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/dzokoto.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/dzokoto.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Does Mobile Money Matter? Exploring Mobile Money Adoption by Ghana's Urban Poor
2011
Edwin Clifford Mensah
Ghana
Vivian Afi Dzokoto
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Philippines
Project Description
MICRA proposes a research project that investigates the financial flows of rural bank micro borrowers who are actively using the m-banking loan repayment solution offered by a rural bank in Mindanao in the Philippines. MICRA proposes to conduct qualitative market research on the attitudes and behaviors of low-income people with respect to managing the flow of their mobile money and carrying out banking transactions, in particular repaying loans and accessing deposits through mobile phones. Qualitative research will be carried out through six focus group discussions with active users, inactive users, and non-users and collection of financial diaries to capture the spending and savings practices of 5 TAP users in a rural community for a period of three months.
The objective of this research study is to gather sufficient information from clients to better understand how adoption and diversification of mobile money use in doing cashless transactions has progressed among active mobile money users, and to suggest how mobile money applications can be designed to better suit the needs and interests of low-income borrowers and savers.
Researcher(s)
Anatoly Gusto, Felicidad Justiniana
About the Researcher(s)
Anatoly "Jing" Gusto leads MICRA Philippines' Research and Innovations Unit whose current agenda focuses on mobile phone banking, housing microfinance, and wholesale lending. Jing's unit designs and carries out research studies, which are typically commissioned by donors, investors, government agencies, microfinance direct providers, and other stakeholders, aimed at addressing the most critical needs of the microfinance industry. Before joining MICRA Philippines, Jing was a microfinance specialist of the MABS program where he focused primarily on market research and product development. Jing also has experience in policy development and analysis having worked as the Chief of Staff at the Office of the Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He was also involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of the gender and development advocacy program of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Jing graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He also has done graduate work towards a master?s degree in computational finance at the De La Salle University, and regularly pursues continuing professional education opportunities, most recently at the 2009 Boulder Microfinance Training Program in Turin, Italy.
Researcher 2
Felicidad Fely Justiniana is a senior member of MICRA Philippines' Research and Innovations team, and is leading the field activities for the Poverty Action Center (PAC), a MICRA initiative created to deepen microfinance's poverty outreach to the lowest income Filipinos. Prior to joining MICRA, Fely was the Microenterprise Development Officer at Ateneo de Naga University's Small and Medium Enterprise Center where she focused on providing technical assistance to farmers and handicraft makers in coordination with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry. She was also a microfinance project officer for CARE Philippines, building the capacity of 15 community-based organizations through the Conservation and Development Project for Mount Isarog. As part of this project, Fely facilitated the development and implementation of diversified savings and lending products, microenterprise initiatives, and financial management systems. She also worked as an accountant for the Bicol Habitat for Humanity Foundation.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/gementera.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/gementera.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Does Microloan Repayment via Cell Phone Increase Client Confidence in Mobile Value Storage? The Case of Green Bank in Mindanao, Philippines
2011
Anatoly Gusto
Felicidad Justiniana
Philippines
Southeast Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
East Africa
Country
Uganda
Project Description
There are five mobile telephone providers (MTN-Uganda, Orange, Zain-Uganda, Warid and Uganda Telecom) out of which MTN-Uganda; Zain (Uganda) and Uganda Telecom, provide mobile money services. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge with regard to the influence of fee structures on service uptake. The social psychological determinants of mobile money technology use and adoption remain not well understood. It is not adequately known how the fees compare with existing costs of value storage and transfer using traditional banking systems.
This study seeks the following goals: (a) examine fee structures of the various mobile money providers in Uganda; (b) relate the fee structure of the various money providers to uptake; (c) examine the social psychological determinants of mobile money technology use and adoption in Uganda; and (d) compare the fees with existing costs of value storage and transfer using traditional banking systems.
Researcher(s)
Bruno L. Yawe, Tinah Nassali
About the Researcher(s)
Bruno Lule Yawe has taught at the Faculty of Economics and Management, Makerere University since 1999. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Economics) Degree of Makerere University, Master of Arts (Economics) and Doctor of Philosophy (Economics) Degrees of the University of Dar es Salaam. He currently teaches Managerial Economics, Research Methodology and Mathematical Economics to undergraduates. At the graduate level, he teaches Health Economics, Macroeconomics for Policy Analysis, Microeconomics, Alternative Health Systems, International Health Care Systems and Managing Health Services. His PhD thesis is titled: ?Technical Efficiency and Total Factor Productivity Growth in Uganda?s District Referral Hospitals?. He has attended several short courses in Econometric and Research methods, Computing Skills and the Measurement of Efficiency in Public Sector Organisations. He has consulted for local and international organisations in various areas. He received advanced training in Quantitative Methods, Economic Theory and elective courses in the fields of Health Economics and Financial Economics. His current research interests include but are not limited to: ICT and financial services; performance measurement (efficiency, equity, quality, effectiveness) in health care and education.
Researcher 2
Tinah Nassali is an economist based in Uganda. Currently, she is the Research Coordination Assistant for the College of Business and Management Science, Makerere University Kampala Uganda. She obtained her bachelor honours degree in Development Economics after obtaining a state scholarship from the Republic of Uganda (2005-2008) and has since been engaged in research on different projects among which; The Economic Evaluation of Neglected- Tropical Diseases (NTD) Integrated Intervention funded by the SCI, Imperial College London (UK) and the Vector Control Division (VCD), Ministry of Health (MoH), Uganda (2008 ? 2010) as a Research Coordinator, ?Needs Assessment for Alternative Power Source for Paediatric Ward at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital? funded by Malaria Consortium, Uganda (2009), The Export Capacity Supply Constraint project funded by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in 2009, The Role of NGOs in Poverty Reduction of Uganda funded by the School of Economics, University of Nottingham, UK (2008 - 2009) as a Research Coordinator for the survey, Administrator for the Endline survey for an Impact Evaluation of water services in peri-urban Kampala funded by The World Bank and field supervision of data collection for a Poultry Value Chain Analysis focusing on identifying opportunities for improvement of the Poultry sector in Uganda funded by FAO (2010).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/yawe.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/yawe.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Differences between Fee Structure of Mobile Money Technologies and Traditional Banking Systems, Social Psychological Determinants and Service Uptake: A Case Study of Uganda
2011
Bruno L. Yawe
East Africa
Tinah Nassali
Uganda
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Uruguay
Project Description
Roughly 25% of Uruguayan MSMEs and households are bancarized. As opposed to that, the country surpassed the 100% mobile-phone penetration mark in 2008. The above facts seem to describe Uruguay as a highly fertile ground for mobile money. In that context, STRO and the Uruguayan government have launched an initiative to introduce C3 in Uruguay by the end of 2010, being C3U an innovative monetary system that will enable MSMEs to have access to cheap capital by combining the idea of a complementary currency as well as the principles of mobile money. This motivates a study that understands the demand of the Uruguayan unbanked for mobile money and that analyzes to which degree difficulties have to be foreseen and overcome to successfully introduce mobile money in the country and to be able to leverage its effects in terms of MSMEs' growth.
Researcher(s)
Magdalena Ramada-Sarasola, Henk van Arkel, Eduardo Tarrago
About the Researcher(s)
Magdalena Ramada Sarasola will lead the research project. She has over ten years of research experience and more than six years of experience in managing research and leading research teams. Magdalena holds a Masters in mathematical Finance and a PhD in Quantitative Economics and Finance from the University of Konstanz, Germany. She is a Senior Economist at Towers Watson, specializing in the internationalisation behavior of multinational firms, and also works as Econometrics professor and associated researcher at ORT University. She is a senior researcher and founding partner of Innovation and Research Multiplier, a research institute devoted to economic and social issues in Latin American countries, which has recently developed research for the Inter-American Development Bank. Her experience in designing, implementing and analyzing surveys, as well as in theoretical and applied econometrics covers several methodological topics. Amongst other topics, she is currently researching the access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Uruguay and tutoring a Master's degree thesis at ORT University on the existence of a market for microfinance in Uruguay.
Researcher 2
Henk van Arkel will provide overall guidance and input as an external consultant to the research team. Van Arkel is the CEO of the Social Trade Organisation (STRO), and one of the leading experts in the world on designing complementary currency systems. Van Arkel is a generalist both in his education as in his publications, which range from environmental topics in the 1970s to economy, money and philosophy from 1980 onwards. He has published several books on complementary currency systems and has developed innovative projects to tackle the underlying economic causes of social and financial exclusion. He specializes in the development of innovative systems that allow developing countries to generated sustainable development through innovative monetary systems. His vision of contributing to a different monetary structure that provides better opportunities for the poor and for the environment has guided him in a journey that dates back to the 1980s. He developed STRO into one of the world?s most prominent organizations on complementary currencies and financial innovations using IT-based networks. He also inspired the development of Cyclos, which is presently the world?s premier open source software for exchange networks. He developed the C3 method and several of its innovations, presently in use in several places in Latin America. Van Arkel has been involved in the development of interest-free financial products and was a speaker on the Fifth International Conference on Islamic Economics and Finance in Bahrain.
Researcher 3
Eduardo Tarrago will provide input as an external consultant to the research team. Tarrago manages the STRO programs in Uruguay, Brazil and Central America. He studied Economics in Montevideo and Marketing at Harvard Business School. He has 40 years of work experience in developing countries. Before he started working at STRO, he was the international director of the UNCTAD's Empretec Program installing one of the biggest international entrepreneurial networks and SMEs development centers in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and almost all Latin American countries. In that function he initiated/organized significant research, both at a country level and at a global level. Tarrago's research mainly focused on the performance of these programs and on the motivation, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of entrepreneurs participating in these initiatives.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/ramada-sara.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/ramada-sara.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Deteriminants of the Demand for Micro-saving Programs in Uruguay: Motivation and Resistance to Join C3U
2011
Eduardo Tarrago
Henk van Arkel
Latin America and the Caribbean
Magdalena Ramada-Sarasola
Uruguay
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
This study is an inquiry into the role of traditional social structures and values in developing, nurturing, and growing business enterprises in Africa, even under drastic conditions of a failed state, a fragmented war-torn society and transnational refugeeism. The study focuses on exploring the dominant patterns of capital mobilization, investment, and entrepreneurship practiced by the bulk of the Somali refugee community in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi, including the efficacy, limitations, challenges, and opportunities of any observed patterns and processes.
Researcher(s)
Kenneth Omeje, John Mwangi
About the Researcher(s)
Kenneth Omeje is Professor of International Relations at the United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya and Coordinator of the UK-government's Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE)-funded Capacity-building Project on Conflict and Development Intervention in the African Great Lakes Region. With over 20 years of professional academic experience, Kenneth holds a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford in England, MA degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European University Center for Peace Studies in Stadtschlaining, Austria, and a Bachelors degree in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Nigeria. Until his present appointment, Kenneth was a Lecturer/Research Fellow in African Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Bradford in the UK. He is the author of High Stakes and Stakeholders: Oil Conflict and Security in Nigeria (Aldershot-England: Ashgate, 2006); State Society Relations in Nigeria: Democratic Consolidation, Conflicts and Reforms (ed. London: Adonis and Abbey, 2007); War to Peace Transition: Conflict Intervention and Peacebuilding in Liberia (ed. Lanham-Maryland: University Press of America, 2009); Conflict of Securities: State and Human Security in Africa (co. ed. London: Adonis and Abbey, 2010), etc. He has more than 60 publications, including contributions to international encyclopedias and articles in well regarded peer-reviewed journals.
Researcher 2
MwangiJohn Mwangi holds an MA degree in International Relations from the United States International University (USIU), Nairobi, Kenya and a BA degree in Communication (Electronic Media) from Daystar University in Kenya. He is a Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE) Project Assistant in the School of Arts and Sciences at USIU and is currently working on a number of funded projects with Prof Kenneth Omeje in USIU.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/omeje.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/omeje.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Beyond the Failed State: Capital Mobilization, Investment and Entrepreneurship Among Somali Refugees in Nairobi, Kenya
2011
East Africa
John Mwangi
Kenneth Omeje
Kenya
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
Southern AfricaEast AfricaSoutheast Asia
Country
Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Philippines
Project Description
Microfinance is a proven tool for fighting poverty on a large scale. It provides very small loans to poor people, mostly women, to start or expand very small, self-sufficient businesses. It is crucial to build upon this success in order to develop innovative solutions that reach the billion unbanked who have yet to benefit (Mary Ellen Iskenderian). MFIs face two very critical barriers to scale service and operational inefficiencies that can be addressed through technology. There are high operational costs associated with the high-touch approach which are generally higher for institutions that focus on the poorest customers. Phones, combined with organizational and social adaptations, can cut the cost of such transactions and make widespread microfinance economically feasible.
Developing a successful mobile initiative for poorer people entails managing a host of interrelated issues: technology, pricing, financial literacy, functionality, partnerships, delivery channels, etc. (Waterfield, 2004). A CGAP survey demonstrated the importance of marketing and of balancing technology with human interfaces in mobile microfinance (Rosenburg, 2008). With the introduction of mobile microfinance, there is much to be learned about business process re-engineering, changing business models, and customer acceptance. Insights today are gained through trial and error, a costly and slow approach that limits innovation. Grameen Foundation (GF) proposes to fund research investigating factors that influence the adoption by microfinance clients and the methodologies and best practices that mobile microfinance institutions have adopted to evolve their models, approach, and products to serve their clients. This study will use a combination of data collection techniques (focus group interviews, online surveys, and individual interviews) and qualitative methodologies.
Researcher(s)
Fatima Yousif, Elizabeth Berthe, Olga Morawczynski
About the Researcher(s)
Fatima Yousif holds a Master?s degree in Economics and Industrial Strategies from the University of Paris- Dauphine and a BSc in International economics from the University of Panth?on-Assas in Paris. She has participated in several studies on SMEs and microfinance in both East and West Africa (Uganda, Senegal, Kenya, Sudan) and is well versed in survey and data analysis techniques.
Researcher 2
Elizabeth Berthe leads the effort in catalyzing affordable communications in rural areas through Village Phone as well as Mobile Money for the Grameen Foundation Technology Center. Prior to Grameen, she worked in various roles in corporate finance, strategic planning, negotiations and consulting in the U.S., China and France. She holds a master?s degree in International Management from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management, and a BA in marketing from USC. She is a member of the advisory council for Youth Assets, a non-profit empowering disadvantaged youth with information through technology in Swaziland, and is a founding member and current co-chair for Women Advancing Microfinance-Pacific Northwest Chapter.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/berthe.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/berthe.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Best Practices in Mobile Microfinance
2011
Elizabeth Berthe
Fatima Yousif
Kenya
Olga Morawczynski
Philippines
South Africa
Southern AfricaEast AfricaSoutheast Asia
Tanzania
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2011
Region
East Africa
Country
Uganda, Tanzania
Project Description
The last two decades have seen many countries undertake major policy reforms to create liberal market-oriented economies that aim at developing competitive financial systems. This has allowed the infiltration of commercial financial institutions and the proliferation of mobile phones in developing countries has changed the money landscape with the fast adoption of mobile money services. Scholarly research on the adoption and use of mobile money services in the developing world is scant. Even less attention has been paid to the social and cultural contexts surrounding the adoption and use of these services. Much has been written about mobile money services in Africa, particularly since the success of M-PESA in Kenya and MTN?s mobile money services in Uganda, but there is a paucity of studies on why mobile money services in Tanzania are not garnering the same level of media, scholarly and customer attention. Despite the close proximity of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, the mobile money service landscape in each is quite different. There appears a compelling reason to systematically investigate the adoption behavior in view of the variability in the rate of adoption of mobile money services in Tanzania and Uganda. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study seeks to examine: 1) the phenomenon and pace of adoption and use of mobile money services and delves further into social cultural factors that nurture positive and/or negative intentions toward mobile money service adoption and use in Uganda and Tanzania; and 2) the effects of a customer's mobile experience and how this builds trust and loyalty/support for mobile money services.
Researcher(s)
Batilda Moshy, Paul Mukway
About the Researcher(s)
Paul Isolo Mukwaya has just completed his PhD in Geography from Makerere University Kampala Uganda. He has been working on ?Reducing the carbon footprint from transportation in growing cities: Application of city planning approaches in Kampala City.? For the last six years, he has also been lecturing in the Department of Geography Makerere University. He is a Ugandan and received his B.A. in Geography from Makerere University and a Master?s of Philosophy degree in Social Change, specializing in Geography, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim Norway. For the last five years, his research has focused on infrastructure and local economic development; institutional aspects of global environmental change; carbon emissions and energy use in transportation; and urban health and livelihoods.
Researcher 2
Batilda Moshy is an Assistant Lecturer at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. Currently she leads the Network for the Study of Rural Livelihoods and Inequalities in East Africa [NERLIEA] region. She completed her Masters in Tourism Management at the University of Westminster in London and holds a Bachelor?s Degree in Tourism from Makerere University. She has been trained in Innovation management by the Centre for Innovation Management at the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom. Batilda has been involved in research and teaching for almost four years. Her key research interest is on innovation in the service sector particularly tourism, banking and finance, information services and transport sector.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/moshy.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2011/moshy.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
An Assessment of Adoption and Use of Mobile Money Services in East Africa: Case Studies from Uganda and Tanzania
2011
Batilda Moshy
East Africa
Paul Mukway
Tanzania
Uganda
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
South Asia
Country
Bangladesh
Project Description
The financial budget of Bangladesh is heavily dependent on the remittances received from 7 million migrant workers abroad. In the last five years from 2005, more than 8,000 Bangladeshi workers returned as dead bodies from abroad. Most migrants who died abroad left some portion of their savings there and none took responsibility to recover and remit them to their families, as these often remain unknown and unsent. This research attempts to discover how many (of the 8000 bereaved families) so far were able to recover their money and get remitted. This research will further look into the government's involvement in the recovery process and how efficient it was, and finally, see how the recovered money was handed over to the bereaved family and how it was used.
Researcher(s)
AKM Ahsan Ullah
About the Researcher(s)
AKM Ahsan Ullah, PhD is Assistant Professor at The American University in Cairo and Associate Director of Centre for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS). He received his PhD from the City University of Hong Kong in International population Migration and his Master of Sciences (MSc) in Regional and Rural Development Planning (RRDP) from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand. He also has a Master of Social Sciences (MSS) in Public Administration from the University of Dhaka. In his home country of Bangladesh, he was the Research Coordinator of Plan International, an international organization focusing on child and rural development in 68 countries around the world. His tasks involved developing research materials for the Dhaka-based BRAC, one of the largest national NGOs in the world with more than 120,000 staff. Dr. Ullah has also conducted and headed several research projects including a rural poverty alleviation program, city dwellers and rural to urban migration programs, and knowledge and awareness sessions for HIV/AIDS of commercial sex workers and their clients. He has also been active in the lives of street children, under the auspices of the Association for Rural Development and Studies (ARDS) in Bangladesh.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/ullah.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/ullah.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Unknown remittances of the migrants died abroad: A study on the recovery and dynamics of usage of remittances
2010
AKM Ahsan Ullah
Bangladesh
South Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
East Africa
Country
Ethiopia
Project Description
This study has the aim of exploring the effect of new technologies (like card-based payments, mobile payments, online payments, e-cash, mobile banking etc.) on social payments (payment for marriage, death, graduation, mahiber1, edir2, ekub3, birthday celebrations, etc.) by the poor people living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The study will address the common social payments and what determines them; the new technologies that affect such payments (i.e. can ICT reduce the poverty level by affecting their saving, storing, and spending practice?); the challenges and opportunities for such technologies in Ethiopia now and in the future; their attitude towards technology mediated financial products and services.
Researcher(s)
Woldmariam Mesfin Fikre
About the Researcher(s)
Woldmariam Mesfin Fikre is a lecturer at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He received his first degree in Business Management from Jimma University 2001, and a Master's degree in Information Science from Addis Ababa University 2005. He is currently enrolled in the IT-PhD school of the University in the Information Systems Division. He is interested in interdisciplinary areas, mainly: ICT4D, e-services, technology diffusion, IT-organizations-environment and virtual organizations. Currently, Woldmariam Mesfin Fikre is working on the one laptop per child project.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/fikre.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/fikre.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Impact of New Technologies on Social Payments
2010
East Africa
Ethiopia
Woldmariam Mesfin Fikre
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
West Africa
Country
Nigeria
Project Description
This study will focus on the importance of the role of livestock in the lives of households residing in rural areas of Nigeria. Livestock (especially small ruminants) provide the easiest and most readily accessible source of credit available to meet immediate household obligations. In southwest Nigeria, rural women are involved in the raising or rearing of small ruminants ? sheep and goats especially around homes. This study examines the extent to which these small ruminants have assisted in meeting financial obligations of these women with a view to ensuring sustainability and possibly improving on the status quo.
Researcher(s)
Isaac B. Oluwatayo, Titilayo B. Oluwatayo
About the Researcher(s)
Isaac Busayo Oluwatayo is a Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services, University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. He is an agricultural/development economist with extensive experience in rural welfare analysis, development policy, gender studies and social protection issues. He obtained his PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Isaac has been awarded a number of grants and fellowships (academic and research) both locally and internationally. He has conducted research and published extensively on poverty studies, food security, vulnerability and risk. His current research interest spans climate change, rural livelihood, child and youth studies and food policy analysis.
Researcher 2
Mrs. Titilayo B. Oluwatayo holds a BSc and MSc in Animal Science from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She likes raising poultry and small ruminants and has worked as a research assistant in a number of poultry units within the Ibadan metropolis. As a teacher and researcher, she enjoys practical demonstration in poultry enterprises and formulation of low-cost feed. Mrs. Titilayo Oluwatayo is currently an employee of the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Oyo State Government, Nigeria.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/oluwatayo.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/oluwatayo.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Small Ruminants as a Source of Financial Security: A Case Study of Rural Women in Southwest Nigeria
2010
Isaac B. Oluwatayo
Nigeria
Titilayo B. Oluwatayo
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
West Africa
Country
Ghana
Project Description
This study seeks to analyze the impact of Ghana's recent currency redenomination on its urban poor. This study proposes that the redenomination of the cedi may have had a unique impact on Ghana's poor with respect to money management, saving behavior, and financial literacy; the project will look at some of the coping strategies that those living on less than a dollar a day have adopted to enhance their literacy of the new currency in order to avoid fraud and exploitation. With the use of semi-structured interviews and document review, the study will explore the saving habits, financial literacy, and the process of adoption to the new currency among the poor living in Accra, Ghana's capital city.
Researcher(s)
Edwin Clifford Mensah, Vivian Afi Dzokoto
About the Researcher(s)
Dr. Edwin Clifford Mensah, received his Master of Economics and Ph.D. in Economics degrees from North Carolina State University and is currently an Assistant Professor of Economics in the School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, U.S.A. He is also a visiting Professor of Economics at Valley View University-Ghana (West Africa). He is the author of the book, Economics of Technology Adoption: A Simple Approach, and a number of peer reviewed journal publications.
Researcher 2
Dr. Vivian Afi Dzokoto received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Currently an Assistant Professor in African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Dzokoto's current research interests include culture and emotion, and redenomination experiences in Ghana.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/mensah.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/mensah.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Post Redenomination and Money Management among Ghana's Urban Poor
2010
Edwin Clifford Mensah
Ghana
Vivian Afi Dzokoto
West Africa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Australia/Oceania
Country
Papua New Guinea
Project Description
The project will explore individual, family, household, and kin-group sources of income and expenditures as well as commodity aspirations, experiences with monetary institutions, and local notions of budgeting. It will map networks of monetary relationships to see the relationships and tensions between money, traditional kinship and morality, changing notions of the family, and modern individualism. Additionally, the project will investigate the symbolism of money, and the ways that Eastern latmul correlate money with traditional magic and esoterica. The study will also probe patterns of gender differences in the use, sharing, and perception of money as well as financial literacy and the utilization of banks. Most uniquely, the project will explore local perceptions of the cost of parenting and childhood. The goal is to formulate conclusions that will enhance the scholarly understanding of money among formerly stateless peoples who are now incorporated into the postcolonial nation-state, conclusions that will also be useful to policy-makers and agencies seeking an ethical incorporation of these communities into the global economy.
Researcher(s)
Eric Silverman
About the Researcher(s)
Eric Silverman is Associate Professor of Anthropology in the American Studies and Human Development departments at Wheelock College in Boston, USA. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Women?s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. Since the late 1980s, Eric has conducted research among the Iatmul people in Papua New Guinea, studying ritual, identity, gender, families, children, and modernization, among other topics. Eric received his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota. He has published many articles, chapters, and one book about the Iatmul. His study about money is part of a wider project titled ?Modernizing Men and Families in Postcolonial Papua New Guinea."
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/silverman.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/silverman.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Moni, Marginality, and Modernization in Postcolonial Papua New Guinea
2010
Australia/Oceania
Eric Silverman
Papua New Guinea
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Southern Africa
Country
Zambia
Project Description
The objective of the study is to explore some of the characteristic practices and attitudes toward money in the family, and the nature of conflict around money in the family, as experienced by Zambian female students from rural backgrounds. This study will explore familial conflict around money and the organization of money in the Zambian rural family from a descriptive, sociocultural and temporal aspect; the intention is to draw out detailed understandings of the role of real or practical issues (e.g. purchasing food and clothing or paying school fees) involving money as well as those described as value laden or symbolic (e.g. values, morals, power relations) and changes that may have occurred as a result of moving away from home and attending university.
Researcher(s)
Robert Tembo
About the Researcher(s)
Robert Tembo is a Lecturer/Researcher and Head of the Department in social development studies at the University of Zambia. His research interests include health issues, particularly HIV/AIDS, social protection, gender, and child welfare issues. He has over 15 years work experience in a wide range of research activities. These include social policy analysis, as well as institutional and program evaluation. Mr. Tembo has conducted consultancies for various clientele in Zambia and abroad such as Commonwealth Youth Programme, IDRC, SIDA, USAID, UNICEF, UNDP UNFPA, and the World Bank. He has also published in international journals and books particularly on HIV/AIDS in Zambia.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/tembo.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/tembo.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Money, Conflict, and Reciprocity in Rural Families in Zambia: The Case of Female University Students
2010
Robert Tembo
Southern Africa
Zambia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Haiti
Project Description
In November 2010, Digicel and VoilËœboth made mobile money services publicly available in Haiti. Building upon our previous research on domestic remittances and financial practices, we returned to Haiti from December to April to identify mobile money's potentials and challenges given the specific characteristics of the mobile money services offered and the needs of the Haitian population. This report presents our analysis of how the new mobile money services fit into Haiti's existing socioeconomic environment, and how customers are adapting and using the services. We identify six key insights and make recommendations for the development of mobile money in Haiti.
Researcher(s)
Heather Horst, Erin Taylor, Espelencia Baptiste, Hermes Baez
About the Researcher(s)
Dr. Heather Horst is a sociocultural anthropologist at the UC Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine. She studies the relationship between place, space and new media in the Caribbean and North America. She is the co-author of The Cell Phone: An Anthropology of Communication (Horst and Miller, 2006), the first ethnography of new communication technologies and poverty in the developing world, and Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media (Ito, et. al. 2009). Heather holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology (Material Culture Studies emphasis) from University College London.
Researcher 2
Dr. Erin Taylor is a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her edited book, Fieldwork Identities in the Caribbean (2010, Caribbean Studies Press), explores the complexities involved in researchers? negotiations of their identity in the field. Taylor's research concerns the politics of place and poverty in a squatter settlement in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Her article, "Poverty as Danger: Fear of Crime in Santo Domingo" (2009, International Journal of Cultural Studies) discusses how the material appearance of Santo Domingo's squatter settlements contributes to their criminalization, and how residents respond to this discourse of fear. A second article, From el campo to el barrio: Memory and Social Imaginaries in Santo Domingo, analyses how rural to urban migrants draw upon their former identities as rural dwellers to construct a place of belonging in the city. Her website is: http://erinbtaylor.com.
Researcher 3
Dr. Espelencia Baptiste is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Kalamazoo College. She is author of a book (under contract) titled Africa's Paradise: Creole Citizenship in Post-Colonial Mauritius. Haitian by birth, she speaks and writes four languages, and her areas of specialization include anthropology of education, ethnicity and nationalism, Diasporas, Creole societies, and language and culture.
Researcher 4
Hermes Baez is researcher in social anthropology from the School of History at the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo with field work practice at the Dominican Republic. He has designed surveys studies and qualitative research for universities, non-gubernamental and privates companies. He also has visited all 32 provinces of the Dominican Republic, letting him to know by first hand the way of life of the dominican society. He has colaborated on research teams about sexual behavior of young population, and dominicans living in bateyes from haitian descendents. He has colaborated in the design of resettlement of rural communities with World Bank standards and have co-organized two research forum for professors of the Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/horst.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/horst.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Mobile Money in Haiti: Potentials and Challenges
2010
Erin Taylor
Espelencia Baptiste
Haiti
Heather Horst
Hermes Baez
Latin America and the Caribbean
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Philippines
Project Description
This study seeks to examine the financial and economic lives of Philippine indigenous peoples, particularly their gendered utilization of new technologies, such as money as a form of exchange, in ways such as saving, storing, and spending, giving special analytical attention on indigenous women's economic (in) dependency from men. In addition, this study will investigate the IP?s perceptions about, and experiences with, the burgeoning micro-financial institutions in their communities, with emphasis on the contribution of micro-finance on women's economic empowerment.
Researcher(s)
Mary Janet Arnado
About the Researcher(s)
Mary Janet Arnado earned a PhD in Sociology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She is the founding president and CEO of Research Institute for Gender and Women, Inc. Dr. Arnado is the recipient of the REPUBLICA Regional Award in Social Sciences given by the Commission on Higher Education. She also won the Miguel Febres Cordero Research Award in Social Sciences, the highest research honor bestowed by De La Salle University to its faculty. Arnado has held teaching appointments at De La Salle University, Virginia Tech, Xavier University, and Bukidnon State University. She has received grants from national and international organizations, such as the Ford Foundation, Social Science Research Council, and Asian Scholarship Foundation. Her research work has been presented in various conferences in Asia, North America, Europe and Australia.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/arnado.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/arnado.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Gender and Money: Case Studies from Philippine Indigenous Communities
2010
Mary Janet Arnado
Philippines
Southeast Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Mexico
Project Description
As a direct continuation of IMTFI's original project in 2008-2009, the team will move to the next phase of the design process: prototyping financial tools and service models with cooperative farmers and their stakeholders with the intention of creating scalable innovations for financial management and the securing of much-needed funds. Their approach is to utilize the sustainable trade industry's connections to thousands of farmers and consumers to build robust m-banking services with ICT's. The goal of these services will be financial inclusion, infrastructure support and the development of a culturally customizable platform that scales.
Researcher(s)
Melissa Cliver, Catherine Howard, Rudy Yuly
About the Researcher(s)
Melissa Cliver holds a Masters of Design from Carnegie Mellon where she studied interaction and service design with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship and HCI. She is currently researching and developing financial services for farmers and workers in rural Oaxaca, Mexico in association with the Financial Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST).
Researcher 2
Catherine Howard holds a M.Sc. in Material Anthropology and Museum Ethnography from Oxford University, and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is an ethnography practitioner and strategy and innovation consultant at Jump Associates interested in the role of design in creating experiences and mediating relationships between people and communities. Her recent academic work examines the role of photography in self-representation among indigenous communities.
Researcher 3
Rudy Yuly is a Seattle-based writer, editor, communications consultant and biographer who has served a wide range of clients with an emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR), higher education, and not-for-profit organizations.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/cliver.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/cliver.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Follow the Bean: Navigating Value Exchange and Vulnerability for Cooperative Coffee Farmers and their Stakeholders
2010
Catherine Howard
Latin America and the Caribbean
Melissa Cliver
Mexico
Rudy Yuly
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Brazil
Project Description
This doctoral dissertation research aims to study the potentials of carbon credit payment as an emergent top-down international financial mechanism claimed to mitigate global climate change and to reduce rural poverty in developing countries. It intends to investigate the pilot project of REDD (Reduced Emissions through Deforestation and Degradation) in Juma Forest Reserve in the State of Amazonas, Brazil. This proposed study is to explore the potentials of the carbon credit payment mechanism in global financial inclusion of this poorest population, as well as in environmental political restriction to local development, in Brazil.
Researcher(s)
Shaozeng Zhang
About the Researcher(s)
Shaozeng Zhang received a B.A. in sociology and a M.A. in anthropology from Peking University, China. He was admitted to the PhD program of anthropology in University of California, Irvine, USA, in September 2009 and is currently working on his dissertation project about the ongoing process of making carbon credit payment policy in the Brazilian Amazon based on the new CO2 emission reduction scheme of REDD (Reduced Emission through Deforestation and Degradation), (to be) approved by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2009. Shaozeng's research looks at the coproduction of expert knowledge and politics in Brazil's REDD policymaking in the shifting context of global climate change politics.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/zhang.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/zhang.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Financial inclusion or developmental exclusion? The carbon credit payment to forest inhabitants in Brazilian Amazon
2010
Brazil
Latin America and the Caribbean
Shaozeng Zhang
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
South Asia
Country
Sri Lanka
Project Description
The major aim of this research is to ascertain the current status of financial inclusion in Sri Lanka, and to identify the constraints and prospects in the financial inclusion process with specific focus on the individuals who receive less than a dollar a day. The key objectives of the project include (a) to assess the initiatives taken by the authorities and financial service providers to foster financial inclusion by using innovations with respect to the financial system, financial institutions, business processes and financial products, and (b) to collate information on the accessibility of the poor to financial services emanating from the financial innovations. The proposed study will be an extension of the ongoing IMTFI sponsored study conducted by the key investigator on new banking technology usage among the poor.
Researcher(s)
Sirimevan S.S. Colombage
About the Researcher(s)
Sirimevan S.S. Colombage received his PhD in Economics at the University of Manchester in 1985. He is currently the Chair of Social Studies at the Open University, Sri Lanka. Prof. Sirimevan S. Colombage served the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Ministry of Finance as a Senior Executive in research and policy planning departments for thirty-one years, was formerly the Director of the Department of Statistics of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and has worked closely with the Department of the Census and Statistics.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/colombage.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/colombage.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Financial Inclusion in Sri Lanka: Constraints and Prospects
2010
Sirimevan S.S. Colombage
South Asia
Sri Lanka
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
This proposed study will conduct a comparative study of the financial diaries of the housemaids in the urban areas and farm laborers in the rural areas (those who make less than $2 a day) of Tamil Nadu which will yield insights into their financial behavior and will help financial institutions serve them better.
Researcher(s)
Lakshmi Kumar
About the Researcher(s)
Lakshmi Kumar has a doctorate in economics from IIT Madras. She is also a graduate in mathematics and in a postgraduate program in econometrics from the University of Madras. She has over 15 years of experience in research and teaching. Prior to joining IFMR, Lakshmi Kumar worked in The Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry as an economist for about three years. She has taught economics in the graduate program in Rizvi College and Sophia College in Mumbai, and worked on several research projects in SP Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai as a Research Associate. Her research interests include efficiency, benchmarking, and general equilibrium model in banking and gender dynamics in microfinance and developing micro insurance products for rural health insurance in development.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/kumar.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/kumar.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Evaluation of Money Management strategies between the urban and rural ultra poor
2010
India
Lakshmi Kumar
South Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Central Asia
Country
Afghanistan
Project Description
Afghanistan highlights the potential and challenges of mobile money services: a rapidly growing mobile phone penetration; limited access to fixed banking infrastructure; in a flux of change; high levels of textual, numerical and technical illiteracy; variable access to mains electricity. What impact will the introduction of mobile money services, and in particular M-Paisa, have on consumers in Afghanistan? How do mobile money services work alongside existing money practices? And are there lessons that can be drawn for the design of mobile money services around the world? Drawing on insights from users, agents and other eco-system stakeholders, this project will document the impact of the introduction of mobile money services in Afghanistan, through interviews and photo-documentation in three distinct locations.
Researcher(s)
Jan Chipchase, Panthea Lee
About the Researcher(s)
Jan Chipchase graduated with a Masters in User Interface Design from London Guildhall University. He is Executive Creative Director of Global Insights of Frog Design, one of the world's leading strategic-creative consulting firms. He writes about design and innovation at http://janchipchase.com/.
Researcher 2
Panthea Lee works on technology for development initiatives in various sectors. Currently at the Innovation Unit UNICEF, she focuses on leveraging communications and information technology to improve UNICEF programming and service delivery. She graduated from McGill University in Montreal, and has research experience in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Jordan and Suriname.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/chipchase.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/chipchase.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Emerging Mobile Money Practices in Afghanistan
2010
Afghanistan
Central Asia
Jan Chipchase
Panthea Lee
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Chile
Project Description
This project suggests that studying the successful experiences of inclusion in the Chilean pension system and comparing the experiences of failure from the perspective of the actors themselves can obtain knowledge that will allow reforms to make effective solution to the inclusion independent of the poorest and most vulnerable to the mechanisms of saving for old age.
Researcher(s)
Aldo Madariaga, Nicolas Perez, Rodrigo Figueroa
About the Researcher(s)
Aldo Madariaga is a sociologist at the University of Chile, where he has taught economic sociology. He is currently obtaining a diploma (PGDip) in Public policy analysis at the same university. He has carried several funded research oriented towards public policy and pension systems. At the present he is a research assistant in the Social Development Division at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Researcher 2
Nicolas Perez has a degree in sociology from the University of Chile and a diploma (PGDip) in advanced social data analysis by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He is currently working as Director of Studies in a local private consultant agency where he has participated in research related to the field of finance, telecommunications and small business.
Researcher 3
Rodrigo Figueroa has a degree in sociology from the University of Chile (1998) and a master in Labor Economy and Work Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University in Peru. He has developed an academic and research experience in the fields of economic development, small business and rural economy, poverty, middle classes and the performance of labor institutions. He received a doctoral fellowship from the Fulbright Commission, and is currently a doctorate student at the University of Connecticut.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/madriaga.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/madriaga.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Consumption smoothening, financial literacy and old age vulnerability: Experiences of success and failure with a private pension system in Chile
2010
Aldo Madariaga
Chile
Latin America and the Caribbean
Nicolas Perez
Rodrigo Figueroa
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
East Africa
Country
Rwanda
Project Description
This project will use a dataset, a log of all phone calls and transfers made over the Rwandan phone network over the past five years, to better understand how mobile banking is being used, and what the potential impacts on its users will be. By combining this dataset with data from structured phone interviews, the project seeks a deeper understanding of (i) how mobile banking fits into the existing landscape of formal and informal lending, (ii) how existing social networks facilitate the flow of mobile money; and (iii) how different subgroups of the population differentially benefit from access to mobile banking.
Researcher(s)
Joshua Blumenstock
About the Researcher(s)
Joshua Blumenstock is a doctoral candidate at UC Berkeley's School of Information, and a Master?s candidate in the Department of Economics. His current research focuses on the economic impact of mobile phones in East Africa. More generally, his research aims to understand how different information and communications technologies are impacting the lives of those living in developing countries. Prior to enrolling at UC Berkeley, Joshua worked in industry and academia on a variety of projects involving the quantitative analysis of large datasets, and served as a 2003-2004 Watson Fellow in Africa and Asia. Joshua holds Bachelor?s degrees in Physics and Computer Science from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/blumenstock.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/blumenstock.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Banking on the Phone: Using Novel Sources of Data to Understand the Impact of Mobile Banking in Rwanda
2010
East Africa
Joshua Blumenstock
Rwanda
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Brazil
Project Description
This research focuses on new policies and programs in Brazil such as family grants, popular banking and credit initiatives, correspondent and mobile banking, microcredit, credit cooperatives and credit guarantee programs since price stability and transition from military rule in the 1990s. Interviews with bank correspondent institutions and clients in poor areas of Sao Paulo city will expand research underway at the CFGV-EAESP Center for Studies in Microfinance and inform articles to be submitted to scholarly journals.
Researcher(s)
Kurt von Mettenheim, Lauro Gonzalez, Eduardo Diniz
About the Researcher(s)
Dr. Kurt von Mettenheim is Professor of Political Sociology, Chair of the Social and Legal Sciences Department, and Faculty Member in the Doctoral Program in Public Administration and Government at the Getulio Vargas Foundation Sao Paulo Business School (Escola de Administratoro de Empresas de Sao Paulo, Funded o Getulio Vargas, FGV-EASP). Formerly University Lecturer in Brazilian Studies at the University of Oxford and Fellow, St. Cross College, he has taught at Columbia University, the University of Pittsburgh, the Universidade de Sao Paulo, and Universidade de Brasilia. Dr. Mettenheim is author of The Brazilian Voter: mass politics in democratic transition, 1974 ? 1986 (1995), editor of Government Banking: New Perspectives on Sustainable Development and Social Inclusion from Europe and South America (2008) with Maria Antonieta Del Tedesco Lins, Presidential institutions and democratic politics: comparing regional and national contexts (1997) and, with James Malloy, Deepening democracy in Latin America (1998). Dr. Mettenheim is currently completing two book manuscripts, Federal Government Banking in Brazil and Financial Statecraft in Brazil. He was founding editor of the FGV Brazil Forecast - GVprev?, former Brazil desk officer for Multinational Strategies Inc., and is currently senior consultant on Brazil at the Gerson Lehrman Group Councils.
Researcher 2
Lauro Gonzalez holds a PhD in Economics from FGV-EESP. He was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in 2004 and a fellow of the Microfinance Management Institute (MFMI) in 2005. Currently, he is Professor of Finance at FGV-EAESP and head of the Center for Microfinance Studies at the same institution. He has been lecturing and presenting research in Brazil and other countries, such as China (University of Beijing, 2008 and 2009) and the United States (Stanford University, 2008).
Researcher 3
Professor Eduardo Diniz holds a bachelor's degree in Electronic Engineering (EESC/USP), and a Master's and a doctorate in Business Administration (FGV-EAESP). He was a visiting scholar at University of California, Berkeley (1996-1998) and at HEC Montreal (2007). He served in the Systems Management Department at FDE - Funda??o para o Desenvolvimento da Educa??o, no Governo do Estado de Sao Paulo (1995). He has been a professor at FGV-EAESP since 1999 where he was the coordinator in several research projects. He has articles on technology applied to banking business and electronic government published in Brazil and abroad. At present he is the chief editor of Revista de Administrator??o de Empress (RAE) and executivo.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/gonzalez.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/gonzalez.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Banking and Microfinance in Brazil
2010
Brazil
Eduardo Diniz
Kurt von Mettenheim
Latin America and the Caribbean
Lauro Gonzalez
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
Southern Africa
Country
Malawi
Project Description
This study will ascertain how Care International in Malawi (CIM) has adapted the accumulating savings and credit association (ASCA) model of mobilizing savings to serve the needs of the poorest people in Malawi. CIM is helping poor people to establish village savings and loan associations (VS & LAs) which operate on the same principles as ASCAs, but which are specifically designed for those whose incomes are lower, who live on less than $1 a day, and who need to be guided and trained on how to run their associations. The study will also investigate how CIM has devised the VS & LA model, how it has disseminated it, the successes and setbacks that it is experiencing, and how people are interpreting it and using or not using it.
Researcher(s)
Chinyamata Chipeta
About the Researcher(s)
Professor Chinyamata Chipeta, a Malawian national, has a PhD degree in economics obtained from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, in 1976. Until he retired in 1995, he was a professor of economics at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. Currently, he is the Executive Director of the Southern African Institute for Economic Research, an independent non-profit research institution based in Zomba, Malawi. Among other subjects, he has researched and published articles on commodity and modern fiat money and on informal, micro and formal finance.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/chipeta.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/chipeta.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Adapting and extending the use of accumulating savings and credit associations through village savings and loan associations: The case of Care International in Malawi
2010
Chinyamata Chipeta
Malawi
Southern Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2010
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
This study will investigate the financial flows of selected tribal communities in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat in India. An understanding of the saving pattern and the demand for credit will enable better design savings and credit mechanisms. This should include mapping the credit profile of individual families to know the nature of credit needs in the family over a period of time as well as that of the community at large.
Researcher(s)
Veena Halwe
About the Researcher(s)
Veena Halwe has a post graduate degree in Human Nutrition and is working as a Program Coordinator for Microfinance and Women Empowerment Program at BAIF Development Research Foundation, a voluntary organization at Pune, India. She has 15 years of varied experience in working with organizations popularly known as Self-Help Groups, Federations in both tribal and non-tribal population across various states of India in aspects related to savings, credit, microfinance, community development programs and gender-related issues. She has also written and published books related to Self-Help Groups.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/halwe.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2010/halwe.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
A study to understand the saving pattern and credit needs of the tribal families of Maharashtra and Gujarat State of India
2010
India
South Asia
Veena Halwe
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Central Asia
Country
Altai Republic, Russia
Project Description
The project aims to study the social practices and relationships involving money and non-monetary objects used as money or in exchange for money among contemporary Altaians, semi-nomadic pastoralists in the remote Altai province on the Russian side of the Mongolian border. Despite socio-economic modernization, which started in the 19th century and intensified during the Soviet period, livestock continues to maintain a dominant position today. Farming, hunting, and gathering provide Altaians with additional resources. According to official statistics in 2008, monthly wages in agriculture in the Altai Republic was three thousand rubles or about $100. Almost 90% of unemployed residents of the Altai Republic are rural dwellers. Thus, the vast majority of Altaians live in poverty. Despite this, a significant number of Altai villagers use mobile phones, one of the uses being to activate credit cards with commercial banks to get cash. This study seeks to document ethnographically daily life among the Altaians: living in villages, working in schools, health facilities and other institutions, as well as the unemployed and pensioners, as they begin to participate in a monetized economy.
Researcher(s)
Svetlana Tyukhteneva
About the Researcher(s)
Svetlana Tyukhteneva graduated with an MA in history from Altai State University, Department of Archaeology and Ethnology, Faculty of History, Russia in 1989. She received her PhD in Ethnography, Ethnology and Anthropology, Center for Asia and Oceania Studies, Institute for Ethnology and Anthropology of RAS, Moscow, Russia in 1996. She is currently at the same Institute, continuing to explore the culture of Altai. She is the author of two books (one co-authored), has written more than 50 publications in journals and collections of articles, and is an expert of the Network for Ethnic Monitoring and early warning of conflicts in the Republic of Altai.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/tyukhteneva.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/tyukhteneva.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
Yesterday's Nomads and Modern Money
2009
Altai Republic
Central Asia
Russia
Svetlana Tyukhteneva
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
This study focuses on the financial behavior of rickshaw pullers, many of whom come from rural areas to work in the city, and are chronically poor. The study will survey 125-150 rickshaw pullers in Delhi through intensive and detailed questionnaires (to be developed). In addition, 25 key informants drawn from those relating to the rickshaw pulling sector (rickshaw owners/contractors, mechanics, and users of rickshaws) will be interviewed.
Researcher(s)
Mani A. Nandhi
About the Researcher(s)
Mani A. Nandhi is an Associate Professor at Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, Delhi. Nandhi obtained her Master's in Commerce with specialisation in Industrial Economics, Marketing and Human Relations Management from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and a PhD in Management from the Faculty of Management Studies from University of Delhi. She has collaborated in several research studies for International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. She is associated with Centre for Microfinance- Chennai, India as a participant of Microfinance Researchers Alliance Program (MRAP).
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/nandhi.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/nandhi.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Poor and their Money: Rickshaw Pullers in Delhi
2009
India
Mani A. Nandhi
South Asia
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
South Asia
Country
Sri Lanka
Project Description
This project involves the administration of a survey in Sri Lanka. The objectives of the study are to ascertain how poor people in Sri Lanka spend, save and store their money; how the introduction of mobile banking might alter these practices; how people perceive modern technology-based banking; the potential for the expansion of communications technology to benefit the poorest people; and policy actions needed to enhance financial inclusion. The research involves a survey instrument and an experienced co-researcher who will rely on an established network of enumerators trained by the government's Department of Census and Statistics. The case at hand is Sri Lanka, an island country in the Indian Ocean characterized by a large rural population, a significant portion of whom live on plantation estates. Mobile telephone penetration is 38% and Rural Community Information Centers have been initiated by the government to try to bring information and communications technologies to villages throughout the country.
Researcher(s)
Sirimevan S.S. Colombage
About the Researcher(s)
Sirimevan S.S. Colombage received his PhD in Economics at the University of Manchester in 1985. He is currently the Chair of Social Studies at the Open University, Sri Lanka. Prof. Sirimevan S. Colombage served the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Ministry of Finance as a Senior Executive in research and policy planning departments for thirty-one years, was formerly the Director of the Department of Statistics of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and has worked closely with the Department of the Census and Statistics.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/colombage.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/colombage.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Impact of New Technology on the Use of Money as a Means of Spending, Saving and Storing by the Poor
2009
Sirimevan S.S. Colombage
South Asia
Sri Lanka
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Northern Africa
Country
Sudan
Project Description
This proposal studies microfinance in the post-conflict context. It involves fieldwork including interviews and participant observation with microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Juba, the newly established capital of semi-autonomous South Sudan. This is a timely project about a pressing problem: the lack of well-implemented solutions for repatriating refugees' access financial services. The pressing financial and political conditions especially relating to extreme inflation, mass in-migration, and peace between previously warring factions make this research site important for timely knowledge production about the issue. This project will ask participants how they make sense of microcredit.
Researcher(s)
Crystal Murphy Morgan
About the Researcher(s)
Crystal Murphy Morgan is currently a PhD student at the University of California, Irvine in the Department of Planning, Policy and Design. She has a BA in Spanish and Anthropology from Vanguard University, and a master?s degree in Urban Planning from the University of California, Irvine. She worked for a community-based organization in Lira, Uganda and is a research affiliate for the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs and the Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/morgan.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/morgan.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Tabula Rasa? Conceptions of Microfinance in Juba, Sudan
2009
Crystal Murphy Morgan
Northern Africa
Sudan
-
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
This project will attempt to study how the poorest of the poor are able to survive and manage their monetary resources with minimal risk. It consists of ethnographic research among conducted among the Shia Zardozi (embroidery) workers in old city area of Lucknow, India, who invest in Beesi networks. Beesi networks are informal groups of 20 women who pool their resources to manage risk.
Researcher(s)
Syed Aiman Raza
About the Researcher(s)
Syed Aiman Raza has his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Delhi in Delhi, India. He received a doctoral fellowship from the Indian Council of Social Science and Research (ICSSR) and lectures at the Shia Degree College.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/raza.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/raza.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Network Linkages and Money Management: An Anthropological Purview of the Beesi Network amongst the Urban Poor Muslims in Old City Area of Lucknow, India.
2009
India
South Asia
Syed Aiman Raza
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Southeast Asia
Country
Indonesia
Project Description
This study will explore the practice of poor people in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to protect against theft, fraud and other form of risk. Although the underlying protection processes are similar, the ways in which household smooth consumption are highly contextual, i.e. depend on the particular institutional, social and economic context they live in. Specifically, the study will describe what practice commonly observed in the poor household to protect against theft, fraud, and other form of risk; what type of assets held; and analyze factors determine the type of assets held. This research improves our understanding on the income and consumption smoothing behavior of the poor.
Researcher(s)
Catur Sugiyanto, Sri Yani Kusumastuti, Duddy Roesmara Donna
About the Researcher(s)
Catur Sugiyanto has his PhD in Agricultural Economics University of Illinois, UIUC, USA in 2001, received his MA in Economics University of Alberta, Canada in 1992. He is currently Senior Researcher, Center for Economic and Public Policy Studies, Gadjah Mada University and associate professor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Gadjah Mada University.
Researcher 2
Sri Yani Kusumastuti is currently a doctorate student in the doctoral program in Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. She received her Magister Science (MSi), Graduate Program in Economics and Development Studies, Faculty of Economics and Business, Gadjah Mada University, in 1995.
Researcher 3
Duddy Roesmara Donna has a Master?s degree Master of Science in Economics from Gadjah Mada University in 2006. His major was Islamic Banking. He is currently a researcher and trainer at Center of Economic and Public Policy (PSE-KP UGM) Gadjah Mada University.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/sugiyanto.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/sugiyanto.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Managing risks: what do poor households in Yogyakarta do to smooth their consumption?
2009
Catur Sugiyanto
Duddy Roesmara Donna
Indonesia
Southeast Asia
Sri Yani Kusumastuti
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Paraguay
Project Description
This dissertation project examines the relationship in social practice between forms of commercial capitalism and microcredit based economic development in Paraguay?s free trade zone of Ciudad del Este. This project is an effort to triangulate the modes of social regulation that produce forms of obligation and attachment through debt instruments as well as the modes of social differentiation that separate and distinguish different forms of credit in Ciudad del Este for businesses that face pervasive economic exclusion.
Researcher(s)
Caroline Schuster
About the Researcher(s)
Caroline Schuster is a doctoral candidate in the Sociocultural Anthropology department of the University of Chicago. Her research interests center on microcredit-based poverty alleviation programs, which build on training in Development Studies at Stanford University, where she completed her undergraduate degree in 2005.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/schuster.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/schuster.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Making Good Money: Microcredit, Commercial Financing, and Social Regulation in Paraguay's Tri-Border Area
2009
Caroline Schuster
Latin America and the Caribbean
Paraguay
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Brazil
Project Description
The primary aim of this project is to investigate the potential of 'Local Money Systems' (LMS) as an innovative instrument to reduce poverty. The project intends to investigate the evolution of a particular Brazilian experience: the case of Banco Bem (Bem Bank). In 2005, an exploratory research on Banco do Bem was carried out. The project intends to return to that locality and to analyze that experience after 3 years of previous research to do a longitudinal comparison of this experience. The study will identify the profile of the beneficiaries; measure the economic gain derived from the use of a local money and the degree of satisfaction of the population that use the local money; to detect possible constrains to the development of the system; and to identify what is a possible role for the State in this context.
Researcher(s)
Marco Crocco Afonso, Fabiana Santos
About the Researcher(s)
Marco Crocco Afonso received his PhD in Economics from the University of London. He is an associate professor at Center for Regional Development and Planning (CEDEPLAR) ? Federal University of Minas Gerais; Vice Director of the Faculty of Economics at Federal University of Minas Gerais; and Director of Graduate Studies at Center for Regional Development and Planning.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/crocco.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/crocco.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Local Money Systems: financial inclusion and reduction of poverty
2009
Brazil
Fabiana Santos
Latin America and the Caribbean
Marco Crocco Afonso
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
South Asia
Country
India
Project Description
This proposal is a continuation of a PhD study on the Konda Reddis, who are classified as a "Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group" by the Government of India. It will examine the process of use of different forms of money that operate with the Konda Reddis and examine the social fabric of money and financial services they use. By utilizing established relationships and previously collected ethnographic data, this study will further research using the extended case method and situational analysis as it performs an inquiry into the process of use of different forms of money that operate with the Konda Reddis.
Researcher(s)
Thanuja Mummidi
About the Researcher(s)
Thanuja Mummidi holds a PhD (2006) in Social Anthropology from the University of Madras, India. She is Assistant Professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy in Pondicherry University. In 2006 she was awarded the Royal Anthropological Institute?s, Urgent Anthropology Fellowship for continuing her research on the Konda Reddis. Thanuja Mummidi is also affiliated to the French Institute of Pondicherry in the programme on Labour, Finance and Social Dynamics and teaches at the Department of Anthropology, Pondicherry University, India.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/mummidi.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/mummidi.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Forms of Money: An inquiry into the processes of use and adaptation among the Konda Reddis of south India
2009
India
South Asia
Thanuja Mummidi
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Latin America and the CaribbeanEast Africa
Country
Mexico, Guatemala, Tanzania
Project Description
This project proposes to investigate how individuals earning as little as a dollar a day manage and consider value systems. By using photography, interviews, observation and video recordings to create detailed surveys of objects of value, the proposal will study alternate methods for the exchange of goods and services, and emotional experiences around specific value systems of individuals in poverty. Design implications will inform the development of a financial service prototype derived from the findings in the field. This research is inspired by the growing need for interactive technology that addresses diverse dialects and varying levels of illiteracy.
Researcher(s)
Melissa Cliver
About the Researcher(s)
Melissa Cliver is a researcher and designer based in Seattle Washington. Melissa holds a Masters of Design from Carnegie Mellon where she studied interaction and service design with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship and HCI. She is currently researching and developing financial services for coffee farmers and workers in rural Oaxaca, Mexico in association with the Financial Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST). She also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University. Melissa is particularly interested in designing technology and systems supporting everyday experiences in the financial and health care sectors.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/cliver.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/cliver.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Follow the Bean: Navigating Value Exchange and Vulnerability with Farmers and their Stakeholders
2009
Guatemala
Latin America and the CaribbeanEast Africa
Melissa Cliver
Mexico
Tanzania
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
East Africa
Country
Kenya
Project Description
This research will investigate potential for using m-banking among the poor in Kenya as an MDG strategy based on three research questions: what is the nature of m-banking practices, what are prospects for m-banking in Kenya, and how can m-banking transform the economic experience of the poor to enhance MDGs? It will be based on interviews with key stakeholders in mobile banking in Kenya and representatives from two groups of m-banking clients.
Researcher(s)
Francis Wambalaba, Akosa Wambalaba, Philip Machoka
About the Researcher(s)
Francis Wambalaba is the Director of Academic Research and Academic Programs Development at the United States International University, Kenya. He has a PhD in Urban Studies and Regional Science, Portland State University, Portland OR.
Researcher 2
Akosa Wambalaba completed some work toward the PhD 1993 -94 in Education Administration. She is a Lecturer at the United States International University, Kenya.
Researcher 3
Philip Machoka holds an MBA from International University, Nairobi, Kenya and teaches as a lecturer at USIU-A, Nairobi, Kenya.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/wambalaba.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/wambalaba.php#</a>
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Title
A name given to the resource
E-money for Enhancing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at Bottom of the Pyramid: A Case Study for m-Banking in Kenya
2009
Akosa Wambalaba
East Africa
Francis Wambalaba
Kenya
Philip Machoka
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Mexico, Guatemala
Project Description
This project investigates how new technologies are reshaping the provision of micro loans to the poor by focusing on the work of kiva.org, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that uses the Internet to establish person-to-person digital lending networks. The study will conduct ethnographic among poor women?s lending groups in Chiapas, Mexico, and Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, who receive money from kiva lenders to expand their small businesses in the areas of food preparation and sales, retail and crafts.
Researcher(s)
Anke Schwittay, Paul Braund
About the Researcher(s)
Anke Schwittay is the co-founder and Director of Research of RiOS Institute. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley, where she also has been lecturing on capitalism, development, technology and social entrepreneurship. She is the author of Silicon Valley's Emerging Markets: Global Corporate Citizenship and Entrepreneurship in the IT Industry, which is based in several years of ethnographic research among high-tech corporations in Silicon Valley, as well Latin America and India. She is currently conducting research on social innovation in Silicon Valley and Central America.
Researcher 2
Paul Braund is the co-Founder and Executive Director of RiOS Institute, a partnership organization of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development. Mr. Braund began his career in Design and technology development with a leading international consulting group in Silicon Valley, Europe and Asia, and worked for 20 years with startups, multinationals and government agencies. He is a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on ICT and Development and Social Entrepreneurship, and an adviser to the World Bank Institute. Mr. Braund has an MA and MPhil from the Royal College, London, England.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/schwittay.php">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/schwittay.php</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Democratizing Capital': Digital Lending Networks, Mobile Technologies and Women's Solidarity Groups in Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala
2009
Anke Schwittay
Guatemala
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mexico
Paul Braund
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Cuba
Project Description
This project takes its title from a 2008 art exhibition at the Galeria Habana, in Havana, entitled Cubanos Convertibles (Convertible Cubans). The exhibit referenced Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz?s concept of Cubanidad (Cubanness), as a transculturation of different elements, to highlight the shifts in cultural values with the advent of the Cuban Convertible Peso currency during the Special Period. This project seeks to understand how ideas of Cubanidad are preserved or 'converted' as articulated in economic exchange. It will assess how ideas of Cubanidad are embedded in economic networks of trust and solidarity that affirm and/or challenge historically constituted discourses (such as Ortiz?s account) of Cuban cultural identity contextualized in material and economic practice. This will provide an integrated socio-economic and cultural understanding of contemporary notions of morality and Cubanidad as well as reciprocal/hierarchical relationships of economic exchange.
Researcher(s)
Mrinalini Tankha
About the Researcher(s)
Mrinalini Tankha is a PhD Student in anthropology at Brandeis University. She has a BA (honors) in economics and an MA in sociology from the University of Delhi, India. She does fieldwork in Havana and has traveled to Cuba in 2007 and 2008 for preliminary dissertation research.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/tankha.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/tankha.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Cubanos Convertibles: Meanings of Multiple Currencies in Cuba
2009
Cuba
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mrinalini Tankha
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
West Africa
Country
Nigeria
Project Description
This study derives from a concern with traditional credit institutions in Africa, an area of research that has come under increasing focus in the study of local economies in transitional societies. The study focuses on the role of oracular deities as traditional sources of credit among the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria. Borrowing from the gods, as the study conceptualizes the phenomenon, is a seemingly dynamic autochthonous tradition among a limited number of local communities of the ethnic Igbo noted for their powerful ancestral deities. The central objective of the study is to use the experiences of three ethnic Igbo local communities to enhance the understanding of the history, operation, opportunities and externalities of the relatively unknown fetish divinity credit institution.
Researcher(s)
Kenneth Omeje
About the Researcher(s)
Kenneth Omeje is a Professor of International Relations at the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi, Kenya and has 20 years of professional academic experience. His educational qualifications include: PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, MA degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European Peace University in Burg/Schlaining, Austria; as well as M.Sc. degree in International Relations and B. Sc. (Second Class Upper Division) in Political Science and Sociology both from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/omeje.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/omeje.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Borrowing from the Gods: Oracular Deities as Traditional Sources of Credit among the Igbo of Nigeria
2009
Kenneth Omeje
Nigeria
West Africa
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Mexico
Project Description
The proposal aims to analyze the various types of financial practices that are commonly carried out between indigenous artisans from the region of Los Altos de Chiapas to identify the social mechanisms that come into play and determine the frameworks of calculation by which value is attributed to natural resources and trade. The particularity of the cases to be analyzed is that women are concerned that a high percentage have not attended school and do not know the basic operations of arithmetic, yet they make significant contributions to the economy of their families through the production and marketing crafts (and other goods). For this resort to some practices such as cooperation with other artisans to join to purchase inputs in bulk and lower costs, or organized group to market its products, which are unlikely to demand due to market saturation.
Researcher(s)
Maria Eugenia Santana, Magdalena Villareal
About the Researcher(s)
Maria Eugenia Santana received her doctorate of Social Sciences with a major in Social Anthropology Research Center and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology, CIESAS-West in 2008. She is a professor of social anthropology and researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Chiapas State University at San Cristobal de Las Casas. Nowdays, her research is focused on issues of ?Economy of the Solidarity?, gender, popular finance and social money from an anthropological perspective.
Researcher 2
Magdalena Villarreal is senior researcher and professor at the Mexican Center for Advanced Studies and Research in Social Anthropology (CIESAS Occidente) and member (level II) of the National Research System. In 1994 she graduated Cum Laude at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Her research has focused on issues of development, poverty, gender, migration, popular finance and money from an anthropological perspective.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/santana.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/santana.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Analysis of Financial Practices Among Families in Two Cities Indigenous to the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico
2009
Latin America and the Caribbean
Magdalena Villareal
Maria Eugenia Santana
Mexico
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
South Asia
Country
Sri Lanka
Project Description
This project will explore whether mobile phones help smoothen consumption expenditure among the poor with irregular income streams. It intends to do a qualitative study in Sri Lanka to assess adoption and impact of such services within the economic, social and cultural context of the identified group. It is a qualitative project based on a comparison among people living in three different social settings: one urban, one rural, and one plantation/residential agricultural estate.
Researcher(s)
Harsha de Silva
About the Researcher(s)
Harsha de Silva holds a PhD in economics from the University of Missouri, Columbia with a focus on development finance. He is a development economist focusing on leveraging information and communications technology [ICT] in creating efficiencies in agricultural and financial markets in Asia. As lead economist of regional think tank LIRNEasia and as consultant with International Development Research Centre and several other multilateral development agencies, Harsha is involved in a number of regional studies to advance the knowledge and understanding of the role of ICT and related infrastructure in connecting the poor with markets. Harsha has also worked for the Government of Sri Lanka, co-founded Sri Lanka's largest market research agency now referred to as Nielsen Lanka and been the chief economist of Sri Lanka's premier development bank.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/desilva.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/desilva.php#</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
A study on m-finance and consumption smoothening among the poor with irregular income streams
2009
Harsha de Silva
South Asia
Sri Lanka
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
IMTFI Funded Research Projects
IMTFI Research Projects
Project Year
2009
Region
Southern Africa
Country
Botswana
Project Description
This paper proposes a study to understand what perceptions, values and uses are attached to money and other forms of wealth among the poor in Botswana. Further, the study seeks to understand the means, traditionally or otherwise by which money is generated, preserved and transferred. The study will also establish what patterns of saving, investment and financial services exist among the poor and whether new ICTs such as mobile phones could be used to provide access to financial services to the poor. Finally, the study will make recommendations on locally-tailored methods of providing financial services to the poor. Methodologically, a multiple case-study approach will be employed by targeting seven poor communities in both rural and urban Botswana. A semi-structured interview questionnaire will be designed to collect views of thirty key informants from seven carefully selected poor community settlements. A focus group meeting in form of a workshop will be conducted to investigate and make recommendations on suitable and locally tailored methods of providing financial services to the poor. Data collected will be analyzed using a qualitative software package. This study is significant because it provides an in-depth analysis of how the poor use money and what intervention methods, with ICTs or otherwise, can be used to make them financially secure.
Researcher(s)
Beatrice Magembe, Alice Shemi
About the Researcher(s)
Beatrice Magembe holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in Accounting from the University of Nairobi, Kenya and a Master of Business Administration degree from Colorado State University. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Accounting and Finance at the University of Botswana.
Researcher 2
Alice Shemi has a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Zambia and Master of Business Administration in Information Systems from University of Hull, UK. She is a Senior Lecturer in Business Information Systems, Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Botswana.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
<a href="http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/shemi.php#">http://www.imtfi.uci.edu/research/2009/shemi.php#</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
A Study of Money and Financial Services and the Impact of ICTs Among Poor Communities in Developing Countries: The Case of Botswana
2009
Alice Shemi
Beatrice Magembe
Botswana
Southern Africa