Jenny C. Aker, Tufts University Robert Asambobillah, Catholic Relief Services Kim Wilson, Tufts...

Jenny C. Aker, Tufts UniversityRobert Asambobillah, Catholic Relief Services

Kim Wilson, Tufts UniversityMarch 2013

Aker, Asambobillah and Wilson

Mobiles for Savings?Mobile Money and Savings in Ghana

Savings in Ghana

Catholic Diocese of Wa

Savings in Ghana

Savings in Ghana

Mechanism Advantage RiskUnder the mattress Readily available for

emergenciesCan be stolen, lost,

burntSavings clubs (SILCs) Safe, promotes group

collaboration and can save larger amounts

Isn’t readily available for emergencies (“share-

out” occurs at particular periods)

Susu collecter Enforced savings Fees, theftRemittances Share risk across

different geographic areas

High transaction costs to sending/receiving

remittances (time, bus fare, etc)


Mobile Money

Savings in Ghana

• Allows users to send and receive money via simple SMS messages and codes

• Relatively secure (linked to phone number and PIN number)

• High mobile coverage in Ghana60 percent of the population with coverage, 50 percent

with access to a mobile phone

• M-money introduced since 2009 (five operators)Adoption and usage still low – 2 percent of the population


Research Goals

• Can m-money can promote financial inclusion of the world’s poor, particularly those living in rural areas?

• If some of the barriers to m-money adoption are addressed, can it be used to:

Provide cash transfers to extremely vulnerable populations? (Tufts and Concern Worldwide Niger)

Facilitate savings within rural areas, either by allowing individual members of savings groups to save, facilitating savings among different savings or promoting savings objectives?

Allow households to more easily receive remittances from migrants? (Aker, Clemens, Ksoll 2012)

Research Questions

Savings in GhanaAker, Asambobillah and Wilson

Research Goals

• Target: Savings group members in four villages in the Jirapa district of Upper West region (Zaghe, Nyenvaare, Tigboro, Kuchen)Rural areas with mobile phone coverage, all within 10 km

of Jirapa town (MTN m-money agent), part of CRS and Catholic Diocese’s SILC program

• Four interventions provided (designed to partially address the barriers to m-money adoption)Each village received a slightly different combination of

interventionsVillages were randomly assigned to each intervention

(fairness and limited differences between groups)

Action-Oriented Research


Research Goals

• Treatment 1: Mobile phone raffle. Five savings group members won a mobile phone via a public raffle. The concept of m-money and savings was discussed, but detailed information on the product and how to use it was not provided.

• Treatment 2: Mobile phone sensitization. Savings group members received a sensitization module on m-money. The training used posters with illustrations of a mobile phone, an explanation on the link between savings groups and mobile phones, and a short skit.

• Treatment 3: Mobile phone raffle plus sensitization. Five savings group members won received a mobile phone via a raffle, plus the sensitization program.

• Treatment 4: Mobile phone to group leaders plus sensitization. In this group, mobile phones were provided to the savings group leaders (presidents and treasurers) and members received the sensitization.

• All groups received a visit from the MTN mobile money agent and access to free m-money SIM (worth 1 cedi).

Action-Oriented Research: Interventions


Research GoalsAction-Oriented Research:

Sensitization


Data

• 100% registration (163 individuals) Free SIM cards but time and willingness to give national

health insurance ID card or voter ID cardOpen acceptance of the product

• 40% using the service Sending money to pay school feesReceiving money from migrants Saving money (especially after share-out)

8Savings in Ghana

Findings


Data

9Savings in Ghana

Findings

NYENVAAREMobile raffle

56% use, 10% save

KUCHENSensitization only23% use, 2% save

ZAGHEMobile raffle + sensitization

33% use, all save

TIGBOROMobile to leaders +

sensitization33% use

Kuchen’s usage is lower....but is it because of the “sensitization

only” or because they are farther away from Jirapa with poorer

mobile phone coverage?


“I used m-money to send money to pay my child’s school fees…”

Savings group member in Zaghe, December 2012“My brother sent me money and I bought fences to fence

my seedlings…’’Savings group member in Tigboro, December 2012“Saving on the phone is safer…it is not with me!”

Savings group member in Kuchen, December 2012“The phone is better, because sometimes the person

delays…or “eats” the money.”Savings group member in Nyenvaare, December 2012

Motivation


• Initial registration took time (delays in MTN agent’s visit to the village)

• Time to register once in the village was long (poor service in villages, only one mobile phone)

• To resolve this, the savings agent and MTN collected the IDs to register them – but in some cases MTN had the IDs for 1-2 months (voter IDs, national health insurance) Very risky for MTN, CRS, DDO, program recipients…

• Given delays, some individuals afraid to use it If I save, will I get it back?

• Dependence on us (DDO) to make transfers, deposit money, etc• Not all households own mobile phones – constrains usage

11Savings in Ghana

Challenges


• Current expansion into twelve villages in Wa with funding from Mastercard Worldwide

• Catholic Diocese implementing, with partnerships with the University of Wa for data collection and Tufts for design and analysis

12Savings in Ghana

Expansion


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