Feed the Future Malawi Mobile Money Quarterly Report October 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015

The project name was changed to Feed the Future Malawi Mobile Money to acknowledge its deeper emphasis on achieving results that contribute to Feed the Future goals. The USAID Forward Initiative includes mobile money as one of its strategies to accelerate financial inclusion and achieve broader USG goals, such as increasing financial inclusion, improving transparency, and rooting out corruption. During this reporting period, Feed the Future Malawi Mobile Money made steady progress to support the transition to digital payments, especially among other USAID implementing partners. A major focus was on implementing the pilot with RTI under its Early Grade Reading Project (EGRA), which offered financial literacy training to teachers in various schools in Lilongwe and ensured that agents were located in the pilot areas. The project also organized a workshop for USAID implementing partners to help them understand how to transition away from cash in their organizations. Additionally, the project continued to assist the Government of Malawi under the Ministry of Finance in drafting strategy documents, including the Finance Sector Development Strategy for 2015-2025. Feed the Future Malawi Mobile Money provided technical assistance to analyze digital finance services (DFS) interoperability, including an assessment of the current situation in Malawi, case studies from other markets, and recommendations on a way forward that maximizes financial inclusion and the utility of DFS to the broader economy. The project team completed desk research on alternative approaches to the interoperability issue, and a comprehensive action plan to develop interoperability recommendations for Malawi will be completed in January 2016. The Payments Bill and the Credit Reference Bill were presented to Parliament, with the Payments Bill being referred back to the Legal Committee for review. Capacity building was a key focus area, with Feed the Future Malawi Mobile Money organizing the final Mobile Money Coordinating Group (MMCG) meeting of the year. The meeting recommended that the MMCG should be driven by the private sector rather than the donor-funded partner, which is expected to provide more sustainability moving forward. The project also organized a 3-day workshop to support other USAID implementing partners to understand how they can transition away from cash payments in their organizations and project implementation activities. The project issued a sub-grant to CARE International for approximately $75,000 to pilot the integration of mobile money in village savings and loan associations in Lilongwe Rural. Mobile money and financial literacy trainings were conducted targeting 3,800 people, and a comprehensive action plan to develop interoperability recommendations for Malawi will be completed in January 2016. The project also continued to provide public awareness and financial literacy to Save the Children beneficiaries under the social cash transfer.