USAID’s Digital Financial Services (DFS) Team’s vision is to support secure, inclusive, and sustainable digital ecosystems in USAID partner countries. This vision is centered on the USAID Digital Strategy, the Agency’s commitment to improve development outcomes through the use of digital technology and to strengthen digital ecosystems. The DFS team pursues this vision by focusing on two objectives: (1) integrating DFS into USAID programs, to accelerate development and humanitarian objectives, and (2) broadening sector- and program-specific efforts to foster inclusive enabling environments, private sector investment, and demand for inclusive financial services.

Core to the efficacy and efficiency of the team’s model is evaluating its work to ensure continuous learning, adaptation, and application of best practices that result in sustained market level change. To this end, the team engages in an annual effort to identify models or examples of success that demonstrate the achievement of DFS team objectives and lessons learned for replication and scale. This case study is one of the bright spots identified and evaluated in 2021, substantiating outcomes achieved through the team’s engagement in global alliances including the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the Better than Cash Alliance (BTCA), and the RegTech for Regulators Accelerator (R2A).

For the sake of this case study, global alliances refer to multi-member partnerships focused on promoting a common agenda. The DFS team, on behalf of USAID, is an active member in the broader digital finance community of practice and collaborates with industry leaders and governments to support inclusive policies that expand relevant digital financial services to customers at the base of the economic pyramid. Demonstrating USAID’s commitment to this global community, the DFS Team is an executive committee member for the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and co-founder of the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) and the RegTech for Regulators Accelerator (R2A).