GSMA, a global
organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver
innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change, has
launched the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation (M4H) Annual Report April 2023
with a call on Mobile Financial Service (MFS) providers to support the
financial inclusion of people affected by crisis, specifically for refugees and
forcibly displaced people.
According to the
report, over the past decade, mobile money has expanded from a niche offering
in a handful of markets to a mainstream financial service, moving millions of
households in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from the informal cash
economy into a more inclusive digital economy; adding that in many crisis
settings, mobile penetration is high enough to capitalise on the potential of
mobile money and broader digital financial services to facilitate financial
inclusion and the financial well-being of people in need of humanitarian
assistance.
The report noted
that as the world becomes increasingly digitised, so too is the humanitarian
sector.
“Digital
technologies are routinely used by humanitarian organisations as part of
disaster preparedness and response, immunisation programmes, migration
management, health interventions and more,” it stated.
It explained
further that through building digital ecosystems, the M4H programme is able to
support digital and financial inclusion, enable effective delivery of digital
assistance and support connectivity for displacement-affected communities and
emergency responders.
The GSMA Mobile
for Humanitarian Innovation programme works to accelerate the delivery and
impact of digital humanitarian assistance. This is achieved by building a
learning and research agenda to inform the future of digital humanitarian
response, catalysing partnerships and innovation for new digital humanitarian
services, advocating for enabling policy environments, monitoring and
evaluating performance, disseminating insights and profiling achievements.
The
programme is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office,
and is supported by the GSMA and its members.
By: Kanto Okanta
