All Resources

Digital Development Training - Module 5 - Digital Economy 

1. • • Online, self-paced training, < 60 minutes The module is broader than digital financial services as it also addresses other aspects of a digital economy.

A Systemic Approach to Financial Inclusion - Module 1 

1. • • Online, self-paced training; 2 hours. The full training is broader than only digital financial services.

UN Principles for Responsible Digital Payments 

1. • • Online, self-paced training, 3-4 hours

Toolkit for Using Digital Payments in Development Programs 

1. • • Self-paced reading with links to videos. Specific to digital payments, not all digital financial services.

Digital Frontiers Institute

1. • • Variety of online, instructor-led classes at different prices, some free, offerings change regularly

Digital Financial Services Impact on the Journey to Self-Reliance

1. • • One-pager on brief examples of digital financial services’ impact in different economies around the world.   

Igniting Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Progress Through Digital Financial Inclusion (2018)

1. • • Country examples, snapshots, and infographics about digital financial inclusion’s contributions to health, education, clean energy, water, etc. 

Digital Financial Services Contributions to International Development (2019)

1. • • Slide deck with infographics and case studies

Mission Critical: Enabling Digital Payments for Development

1. • • Guide for USAID employees to engage with policymakers and regulators in emerging markets to advance enabling environments for digital financial services and digital payments.

Inclusive Digital Economy Scorecard (IDES) latest 2020

1. • Framework to better understand the level of development of a digital economy with four main development stages (inception, start-up, expansion, and consolidation), and also highlights the priorities relevant to each stage to prioritize interventions (expanding countries in 2022).

Global Microscope for Financial Inclusion  latest 2020

1. • Country-level profile and ranking

Global FinDex Database latest 2021

1. • Country-level database for financial inclusion including use of digital payments and receiving government payments digitally.

Financial Access Survey latest 2021

1. • Country-level database used to track the use and access to basic financial services worldwide.

Gender Data in Financial Inclusion latest 2021 - See Annex

1. • The annex provides a list of publicly available financial inclusion gender data sources with information on coverage, level of disaggregation, and frequency of data collection. 

World Bank Global Payment Systems Survey (GPSS) 2018, 2022 pending

1. • Survey of national and regional central banks and monetary authorities on the status of payment systems.

Mobile Money Metrics latest 2021

1. • Country-level statistics on mobile money prevalence, services, and regulatory index.

(These are overviews of the sector; USAID specific procurement examples including scopes of work are given below in a separate section)

New Funder Guidelines: Market Systems Approach to Financial Inclusion (2015) 

• These guidelines are intended to provide guidance for funders promoting financial inclusion or pro-poor financial services markets as part of their development mandate. 

Digital Financial Services (2020) 

1. • • This report provides an overview of the role of DFS in alleviating constraints to financial access in emerging and developing economies, as well as insights into establishing necessary DFS regulatory and infrastructure systems. The report also explores select country-specific approaches and lessons learned for DFS. 

The UN Principles for Responsible Digital Payments (2021) 

1. • • This report articulates how digital payments might better serve their users and become truly responsible. The Principles advocate for responsible practices in the digitization of payments and are not intended to provide a technical analysis of what each Principle means in practice. 

Incorporating Gender-intelligent Design in Financial Services (2022)

1. • • This guide brings together a wide scope of resources that address gender-intelligent design: research, case studies, toolkits, and best practice guidelines. It is structured to allow users to easily mine the most relevant resources on gender intelligent design in women’s financial inclusion. 

Building Faster Better: A guide to inclusive instant payments systems (2021)

1. • • This technical guide describes how to build an instant payment system that is interoperable and facilitates the type of small dollar, mobile payments often used by low-income customers. It details key components of a system—oversight, scheme, switch, and settlement—and explains the basic steps to achieving interoperability. Along the way, it highlights examples of how various countries have approached these challenges.

Interoperability and Digital Finance: Emerging guidance for funders (2021)

1. • • This technical note explains how funders can support instant payments systems that are interoperable and facilitate the type of small-dollar, mobile payments often made by low-income customers. It helps funders to understand the concept of interoperability, how instant payments systems can advance financial inclusion, and what funders can do to support their development. It builds on the more detailed CGAP Technical Guide, “Building Faster Better: A Guide to Inclusive Instant Payment Systems.”

Elevating the Collective Consumer Voice in Financial Regulation (2021)

1. • • This paper explores the potential impact of incorporating the collective voice of consumers into financial sector policy and regulation, and opportunities for funders to help elevate these voices.

How Regulators Use Sex-Disaggregated Data and Reg-tech to Enhance Financial Inclusion (2021)

1. • • This study examines how regulators are using, or could use, sex-disaggregated data to enhance women’s access to and use of financial products and services. The study also explores how new technologies could help foster financial inclusion.

Gender Diversity & Leadership Development in Financial Services

1. • • This guide brings together a selection of the most relevant practical resources, tools, and proven solutions to increasing gender diversity in the financial services industry leadership and workforce organized into the following categories: Leadership, Workforce Development, Diversity and Representation, Institutional Gender Gap Assessment and Training.

Improving the Use of Digital Payments in Humanitarian Response (2018)

1. • • This guide provides an overview of how digital payments and digital financial services can deliver better cash and voucher assistance in humanitarian response.

Financial Service Provider Assessment tool that includes links to USAID NetHope E-payment tool kit , Mercy Corp E-Transfer Implementation Guide and more for cash and voucher assistance in humanitarian assistance

1. • • This assessment tool is part of a broader Programme Quality Toolkit that covers the entire program cycle from situation analysis, program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; and is broader in scope than just digital. 

Digital Cash Transfers: Expanding the Effectiveness of Nutrition Activities Through Digital Tools in Bangladesh (2020) and Boosting Nutrition in Cambodia with Digital Cash Transfers (2020) 

1. • • These project briefs provide snapshots of how to expand the effectiveness of nutrition activities through digital tools. 

ECommerce Marketplaces for Agriculture (2021)

1. • • This brief report provides an overview of the benefits and risks of e-commerce marketplaces for agriculture. 

Expanding Mobile Phone Access and Ownership (2021)

1. • • This brief report provides insights into various approaches that can be used to expand mobile phone access and ownership. 

Technology Inequality: Opportunities and Challenges for Mobile Financial Services

1. • • This report offers a primer on the technology that enables digital financial services to operate on different types of cell phones—basic, feature, and smartphones—and reminds us to not exclude potential users by making assumptions about their access to technology.

USAID Connectivity Data Tool

1. • • This is a framework for assessing the commercial opportunity and social impact of mobile and internet connectivity (beyond just payments).

Better Connectivity, Better Programs: How to Implement a Demand Aggregation Program

1. • • This How-to Guide enables USAID personnel to understand and document the cost of internet and mobile services for USAID activities and determine where connectivity coverage gaps and affordability gaps exist. 

USAID Malawi, Mobile Money Acceleration Program (MMAP) (2015) - Results framework on page 31

1. • • This program’s results framework focuses entirely on improving the mobile money ecosystem in Malawi.  

EPESO Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (2020) - Results framework on page 16 & EPESO Final Report (2021)

1. • • The EPESO program in the Philippines focuses on strengthening digital payment ecosystems.  

EPESO Performance Evaluation Inception Report (2021) & EPESO Expost Performance Evaluation Final Report (2022)

1. • • The evaluation of the EPESO program in the Philippines focuses on strengthening digital payment ecosystems. 

Transforming a Digital Landscape: Seven years of learning from the mSTAR project Bangladesh (2019) & mSTAR Performance Evaluation (2017)

1. • • The report and evaluation include information about activities implemented over the seven-year life of the mSTARproject. This project covered a range of activities — digital inclusion, digital financial services, development informatics, and digital tools in agriculture and knowledge sharing — and accomplished a wide-range of successes that helped propel the digital development sector forward. 

Assessing the Impact of Digitally-Enabled Microcredit for Smallholder Farmers (2017) & Project write up

1. • • This evaluation is of the mSTAR Bangladesh component using debit cards for micro-credit in agriculture. This project was the result of a co-design with the private sector (note documents do not discuss that process in any detail).

Colombia Rural Finance Initiative Final Report (2022) & Colombia Rural Initiative Impact Evaluation (2021)

1. • • The Rural Finance Initiative project had dedicated activities around working with financial institutions and others to design, test, and scale digital innovations to expand rural financial inclusion. 

Guideline Note on Sex-Disaggregated Data Report Templates (2020)

1. • • The objective of this guidance note is to provide guidance to financial institutions on the different elements that should be required for periodic financial data reporting for a sex-disaggregated data approach.

Key Issue Narrative compilation FY2020

1. • • This is a summary of key issue narratives from Missions that used digital payments and DFS to facilitate sharing. It also provides examples of reporting from Missions. 

The first resource is a slide deck recommended for all staff. While we may not have an activity implementing digital financial payments, USAID staff should be aware of the evolving digital context and how it is impacting our clients—and be an advocate for inclusion, respect for privacy, cybersecurity and consumer protections.

The Evolution of the Nature and Scale of DFS Consumer Risks: A Review of Evidence slide deck (2022) webinar

1. • • This presentation outlines risks and proactive measures that stakeholders can take to mitigate them.

Is It Possible to Estimate Financial Stress Before It Harms Borrowers? (2021)

1. • • This blog offers a discussion of credit burden and how to create a financial stress early warning system.

Algorithm Bias in Credit Scoring: What’s Inside the Black Box? (2019)

1. • • This article summarizes how the growing use of algorithms opens up opportunities but also the possibility for unfair bias and discrimination.

It’s Time to Change the Equation on Consumer Protection (2019)

1. • • This blog presents a discussion of a customer-outcomes approach to digital financial services that will empower consumers and increase services.

Market Monitoring for Financial Inclusion: toolkit (2022)

1. • • This toolkit shows that market monitoring is a supervisory activity and takes a broad look at an industry, sector, or market (e.g., the credit market) as opposed to focusing on individual financial services providers (FSPs). This toolkit and case studies are written for market monitors themselves.

Equitable AI for Inclusive Finance (2023)

1. • • This report gives an overview of the use cases of AI in inclusive finance and some of the drivers of harmful AI bias towards women. It also presents a snapshot of the state of practice in bias identification and mitigation and then provides a user-friendly checklist with an actionable set of questions to help impact investors understand the use of AI among their investee companies.

Philippines E-PESO RFP (2014)

1. • • This program’s objective is to accelerate the shift to digital payment, by (1) driving transaction volume of large payment streams; (2) promoting retail and market-level infrastructure; (3) improving the enabling environment for e- payments including policies that will promote consumer protection and security measures; and (4) addressing gaps in the broader e-payment ecosystem.

Philippines SPEED SOO (2021) [follow on to E-PESO]

1. • • This activity's primary goal is to provide technical advisory services and commodities support to enable greater participation of Philippine small and medium enterprises (SME) in the digital economy. To expand the participation of the SME sector, this activity will: (1) improve SME capacity and access to e-commerce platforms; (2) expand and increase the use of e-payment systems and other FinTech innovations; (3) improve the integration of e-commerce platforms with logistical supply chains; and (4) increase consumer awareness and protections.

Colombia Equitable and Resilient Finance RFI (2021)

1. • • This activity has a dedicated Intermediate Result (IR) to “increased provision of digital services by financial service providers” with suggestions for illustrative activities around (1) incentivizing new digital solutions and inclusive digital finance products; (2) working with FinTech and financial service providers; and (3) improving financial service providers’ readiness to manage and mitigate cyber security risks. 

RDMA Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity (2021) 

1. • • Through this regional activity, USAID aims to foster an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure digital ecosystem in the Pacific Islands by (1) improving broadband access; (2) strengthening digital policy and regulations; (3) advancing digital platforms and solutions for the delivery of public services; and (4) upgrading of digital skills and literacy.

Washington, Digital Invest: Mobilizing Private Capital for Internet Connectivity and Digital Financial Services in Emerging Markets (2022) See Addendum “Digital Invest 2022…”, pp. 7-9

1. • • This opportunity is for a Washington Global Development Alliance (GDA) Annual Program Statement (APS) Addendum to finance innovative digital financial services.

Addressing Sustainability in Alternative Development Value Chains in Peru (2022)

1. • • This is a larger agriculture award that references digital in a subtle way.

Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership (DCCP) - Pacific (2022) see J.1

1. • • This is an example of an opportunity that integrates digital financial services into a much larger connectivity/digital award

Digital Financial Services in Rural Areas of Colombia (2019)

1. • • This document incorporates findings from a  series of studies that seek to determine the characteristics, conditions, and financial habits of the inhabitants of Colombia´s rural areas; and to study the financial products and services, and determine their money management behaviors and habits and their relationship with the digital transactional channels that are available today.

Digital Solutions for Agriculture Market Systems Responding to COVID-19 (2021)

1. • • In an effort to support market system actors as they navigate the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation in the age of COVID-19, USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security commissioned a rapid analysis that focused on three key objectives: (1) identify and analyze trends driving the adoption of digital tools in agriculture market systems in response to the global pandemic; (2) provide examples of such digital solutions across market system actors; and (3) provide concrete and actionable recommendations for USAID Missions and implementing partners to ensure that digital tools can be used effectively to increase resilience in the face of future threats.

Digital Agriculture Ecosystem Assessments: Bangladesh,Burkina Faso,  Honduras, Haiti, Malawi, Niger, Nepal, Uganda, Tajikistan - Click on middle tab “Resources” in middle of page

1. • • This series of assessments were conducted in coordination with various USAID Missions to help each to better understand, work with, and support digital agriculture ecosystems to their respective development objectives. 

India Digital Financial Inclusion: Journey Map Report (2019)

1. • • This report highlights major trends and drivers in digital finance, key actors, and roles played, and also presents a roadmap for the next phase of digital financial inclusion in India.

Assessment of Potential Opportunities for Use of Digital Payments for Smallholder Farmers in Northern and Central Senegal (2020)

1. • • This assessment explores the role that DFS can play in the financial inclusion of smallholder farmers in Senegal. It also summarizes key findings, and proposes recommendations and stakeholders who could implement them.

Assessment of Potential Opportunities for Use of Digital Payments for Smallholder Farmers in Guatemala’s Western Highlands (2020)

1. • • This assessment explores the role that DFS can play in the financial inclusion of smallholder farmers in Guatemala. It also summarizes key findings, and proposes recommendations and stakeholders who could implement them.

Assessment of the Gender Gap in Access to Digital Financial Services in Burkina Faso (2020)

1. • • This assessment explores the role that DFS can play in making female entrepreneurs more resilient and suggests conditions that permit greater DFS access and use among women.

Exploring the Use of Mobile Money Services among Tea SACCOs in Rwanda (2021)

1. • • This report explores the challenges and opportunities that emerged from automation as well as potential spillovers of transitioning agricultural cooperatives to a mobile money payment system.

The Role of Digital Financial Services in Accelerating USAID’s Health Goals (2019)

1. • • This guide examines how USAID health goals can be improved through the integration of digital financial services.

Digital Technology and Nutrition (2022)

1. • • This brief illustrates how digital technology can serve multiple purposes for strengthening nutrition within the food system. 

Digital Technology and WASH (2022)

1. • • This brief illustrates how digital technology can serve a myriad of purposes in monitoring and strengthening WASH systems and practices. 

Testing the Waters: Digital Payments for Water and Sanitation (2019)

1. • • This research documents the experiences for water providers in emerging markets who may be considering digital payments across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Digital Finance for the Real Economy: Water  (2018)

1. • • This research highlights promising ways for digital finance to help make universal access to clean, affordable water a reality. 

Digital Financial Services for Health: A Global Evidence Review (2021)

1. • • This report identifies evidence of the impact of digital financial services on health service access, health service quality, efficiency, and performance. 

Digital Financial Services for Health Programmatic Case Studies: Experience from Kenya and Rwanda (2021)

1. • • Examines the role of DFS in advancing financial protection in accessing health services and supporting improved health system performance through two programmatic case studies in Rwanda and Kenya. 

The Role of Digital Financial Services in Accelerating USAID Education Goals (2018)

1. • • This guidance provides examples and ways that digital financial services and digital payments can bring a positive impact to USAID education programming. 

Digital Finance for the Real Economy: Education (2018)

1. • • This research highlights promising ways for digital finance to address development challenges in education and provide a better customer experience to make education services that are essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Digital Technology and Agriculture-led Growth (2022)

1. • • This brief illustrates the primary ways this digital technology is used to support digitally enabled agriculture-led growth. 

Digital Technology and Resilience

1. • • This brief illustrates how digital technology has multiple applications within resilience; it can strengthen shock preparation, crisis response, and change measurement, while offering new tools for weathering difficult times.

Guide to the Use of Digital Financial Services in Agriculture (2018)

1. • • This guide provides insights on how digital payments and digital finance can contribute positively to global food security objectives.  

What Works for Digital Financial Services in Agricultural Development? (2019)

1. • • Digital Development for Feed the Future (FTF) was focused on integrating a suite of coordinated digital tools and technologies into FTF activities to accelerate agriculture-led economic growth and improved nutrition. This case study was part of a series that highlighted the integration of digital technologies into agricultural programs over the past decade. 

State of the Digital Agriculture Sector in Low and Middle Income Countries (2023) 

1. • • The digitalization for agriculture ‘D4Ag’ sector in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) is rapidly evolving and given appropriate policy, practice, and support – can transform global development outcomes through improved environmental, social, economic, and food security outcomes.

Inclusive Digital Design Toolkit: Practical guidance for Feed the Future activities (2023) 

1. • • The toolkit provides guidance to staff from donor organizations and implementing partners on how to design inclusive digital technology interventions. Recognizing the diverse backgrounds of smallholder farmers, producers, and micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) owners, including their gender, age, education, and social norms, this toolkit emphasizes support for marginalized groups, intersectionality, and robust local engagement.

Breaking Silos in Digital Development (2023) 

1. • • This note aims to help USAID mission staff, advisors and implementing partners deliver digital solutions that holistically meet a variety of program participant needs, by breaking persistent silos in digital solutions design, deployment and delivery. 

Digital Guidance: Are Partners on the Right Track with Digital (2023) 

1. • • This tool is meant to be used by anyone who is responsible for overseeing the work of a partner that is implementing a digital solution. 

Digital Foundations: Digital transformation and our fight against hunger (2021)

1. • • An overview of how digital innovation, technology and data analysis are foundational to WFP’s work in action—from the COVID-19 response to climate change, social protection, and conflict.

The Digital Lives of Refugees (2019)

1. • • This qualitative research helps readers understand the ways that refugees are using mobile phones  to help guide digital interventions by humanitarian organizations and mobile network operators.

Payment Solutions for CVA Implementers (2024)

1. • • This report explores how cash and voucher assistance (CVA) implementers can leverage developments in payment technology to empower recipients, offering them a choice of CVA delivery mechanisms.

The Fight for Light: Improving energy access through digital payments (2017)

1. • • This report examines new business models and government initiatives for energy access that rely upon digital payments.

Digital Finance for the Real Economy: Energy (2018)

1. • • This research highlights promising ways for digital finance to address development challenges in energy and provide a better customer experience to make energy services that are essential for achieving the SDGs. 

Pay-As-You-Go Solar as a Driver of Financial Inclusion (2017)

1. • • Assessment providing overview of five key considerations to best leverage mobile money as a key enabler to scale solar off-grid energy.

The Impacts of Digital Financial Services on Women’s Economic Empowerment (2021)

1. • This presentation highlights important DFS features that improve women’s economic empowerment through mechanisms that enable women to enact their preferences, lower transaction costs, and improve safety.

Digital Finance and Women's Economic Empowerment [in agriculture] (2022)

1. • This report is on the outcomes of women’s increased access to digital finance, the lending policies, practices and regulations that are necessary to extend digital finance to women, and the enabling environment necessary for women’s increased economic empowerment.

Addressing Gender Norms to Increase Financial Inclusion: Designing for Impact (2021) 

1. • This guide advocates for funders to use the market system development approach and proactively take gender norms into account when working to increase women’s financial inclusion.

How Digital Financial Services are Empowering Women (2019)

1. • This blog highlights how donors and foundations can help women unleash their power to control their own economic futures by investing in financial inclusion. 

Kirana for Women Training Manuals (2023)

1. • This manual is designed to conduct financial and digital literacy trainings;  three manuals (financial and digital literacy, enterprise development, gender sensitization) 

Brief: Advancing Gender Equality While Driving Business Growth (2023)

1. • This brief outlines why financial service providers (FSPs) should advance gender equality in financial inclusion and how they can approach this process. 

FinEquity Gender Equity Knowledge Guides (2022)

1. • These guides provide information on gender data analysis, gender diversity, and gender-intelligent design for DFS. 

FinEquity Gender Equity Knowledge Guides (Span) (2022)

1. • These guides provide information on gender data analysis, gender diversity, and gender-intelligent design for DFS, in Spanish.

Opportunities to Foster Digital Financial Services Market Development in Guatemala (2023)

1. • This report provides an overview of the Guatemalan digital financial services (DFS) market, the financial lives and needs of some low-income and marginalized populations, especially women, and offers recommendations on how to better serve these populations and grow the DFS market in the country. 

USAID’s Examining Virtual Currencies: Risks and uncertainties of a novel payment technology in international development (2021)

• This exploratory brief discusses the implications that virtual currencies, and to a lesser extent central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDCs), might pose for stakeholders in international development contexts. 

Primer on Blockchain (2018). 

1. • • This primer aims to equip international development agencies and partners to assess whether and how distributed ledger technology (DLT), such as blockchain, might apply to their work.

Equitable AI for Inclusive Finance (2023)

1. • • This report gives an overview of the use cases of AI in inclusive finance and some of the drivers of harmful AI bias towards women. It also presents a snapshot of the state of practice in bias identification and mitigation and then provides a user-friendly checklist with an actionable set of questions to help impact investors understand the use of AI among their investee companies.

The Potential of Cryptocurrency for Kenya’s Youth (2023)

1. • • This report gives an insights on a pilot program by Mercy Corps Ventures for Stablecoin Micropayments for Digital Workers

FinTech Partnerships Playbook (2019) & Fintech Partnership Checklist (2017)

1. • • This is a tool for brainstorming during program design and PSE in the context of digital finance/FinTech.

Mobile money in emerging markets: The business case for financial inclusion (2018)

1. • • This article outlines the economics of mobile money to understand from a private sector viewpoint how digital payments providers can capture opportunities [profit] while benefiting those without access to financial services. 

Mastercard activities in partnership with USAID

1. • • These are profiles of Mastercard Project Kirana in India and Mastercard Start Path Empodera in Latin America, two programs in which USAID is partnering with Mastercard to support women entrepreneurs.