User journeys of women receiving mobile money in Somalia
Illustrator: Noel Keserwany/GTS
In collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), Ground Truth Solutions explored the lived experiences or user journeys of women receiving mobile money in Somalia.
Mobile money has enabled rapid assistance to reach millions in crisis, but it does not always suit everyone. Evidence and anecdotes usually point to specific barriers for women. WFP’s global partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ‘enabling Digital Financial Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment through cash-based humanitarian assistance’, sought to address this through three principles: digitising programmes, directing the payments into women’s accounts, and designing programmes to expand opportunities for women. The user journeys captured in this research sought to test these ‘D3’ principles, exploring women’s experiences of the Shock Responsive Safety Net for Human Capital Project (SNHCP) and implemented by Somalia’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Urban Safety Net (USN) programme carried out by the Banadir Regional Administration in Mogadishu. Findings were used to help the Somali government and WFP achieve greater impact for women through large-scale government-to-person payments while exploring the entire delivery chain of cash-based safety net programmes.
“ If you can read, you will understand things. If you can’t read, you are blind and can’t understand anything. Unfortunately, I don’t understand how mobile money works. I have to ask people to send it for me. I don’t even know how to check my balance so when I go to the market, I have to ask people to check my balance after I paid for something. I may be cheated by them and will only know when I speak to someone I trust.”
