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In a world where borders matter less and where seemingly faraway threats can become immediate problems, the fight against poverty is no longer a matter of just doing the right thing – it is a matter of doing the smart thing to ensure security at home and abroad. As seen across the globe, by exhausting institutions, depleting resources, weakening leaders and crushing hope, extreme poverty fuels instability that often leads to armed conflict and can be a breeding ground for terrorists. The reverse is also true: insecurity stemming from conflict and demographic and environmental challenges makes it harder for leaders, institutions and other stakeholders to address poverty. Simply put, poverty is both a cause of insecurity and a product of it.

To explore this tangled web, in August 2006 the Brookings Blum roundtable discussed the challenges and possible solutions with a diverse group of leaders, including policymakers, business executives and academics, and developed recommendations for change.

2006 Brookings Blum Roundtable: Related Materials
	Read the roundtable report - Ending Poverty, Promoting Peace: The Quest for Global Security »  View related conference book »  Download the participant list » (PDF)  Download the scene setter » (PDF)

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2006 Brookings Blum Roundtable Agenda:

1. Global Poverty, Conflict and Insecurity

• Susan Rice, The Brookings Institution, "Global Poverty, Weak States and Insecurity"
• Edward Miguel, University of California, Berkeley, "Global Poverty, Conflict and Insecurity"

2. Operating in Insecure Environments

• Jane Nelson, Harvard University, "Operating in Insecure Environments"

3. Keynote Address: "Achieving Peace in an Inequitable World"

• James D. Wolfensohn, Chairman of Citigroup International Advisory Board and Former President of the World Bank

4. The Role of Leadership in Overcoming Poverty & Security in Africa
   Chaired by: Mary Robinson, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative

• Robert Rotberg, Harvard University, "The Role of Leadership in Overcoming Poverty & Insecurity in Africa"

Leadership Presentations:

• Mohammed Ibrahim, Chairman, Celtel International
• John Kachamila, Former Minister, Mozambique
• Ketumile Masire, Former President of Botswana

5. Resource and Environmental Insecurity

• Colin Kahl, University of Minnesota, "Demography, Environment and Civil Strife"
• Anthony Nyong, University of Jos, Nigeria, "Resource and Environmental Security"

6. Keynote Address

• Kemal Dervis, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme

7. Youth and Conflict

• Henrik Urdal, The International Peace Research Institute, "The Demographics of Political Violence: Youth Bulges, Insecurity and Conflict"
• Marc Sommers, Tufts University, "Embracing The Margins: Working with Youth Amidst War and Insecurity"
• Jane Nelson, Harvard University, "Operating in Insecure Environments: The Youth Demographic"

8. Transformational Diplomacy and the Route to Security

• Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House, "Breaking the Poverty-Insecurity Nexus: Is Democracy the Answer?"

Presentations:

• Philip Zelikow, United States Department of State
• Madeleine Albright, 64th Secretary of State
• Mary K. Bush, Chairman, HELP Commission
• Lael Brainard, The Global Economy and Development Program, The Brookings Institution

       

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From a bureaucratic backwater in the waning days of the Cold War, the fight against global poverty has become one of the hottest tickets on the global agenda. The cozy, all-of-a-kind club of rich country officials who for decades dominated the development agenda has given way to a profusion of mega philanthropists, new bilaterals such as China, "celanthropists" and super-charged advocacy networks vying to solve the world's toughest problems. While philanthropic foundations and celebrity goodwill ambassadors have been part of the charitable landscape for many years, the explosion in the givers' wealth, the messaging leverage associated with new media and social networking, and the new flows of assistance from developing country donors and diasporas together herald a new era of global action on poverty. The new scale and dynamism of these entrants offer hopeful prospects for this continuing fight, even as the new entrants confront some of the same conundrums that official aid donors have grappled with in the past.

On August 1-3, 2007, the Brookings Blum Roundtable gathered representatives reflective of this dynamic landscape to discuss these trends. Through robust discussion and continuing cross-sector partnerships, the conference hopes to foster lasting and widespread improvements in this new field of development.

2007 Brookings Blum Roundtable: Related Materials
	Read the roundtable report - Making Poverty History? How Activists, Philanthropists, and the Public Are Changing Global Development »  Download the participant list » (PDF)  Download the scene setter » (PDF)

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2007 Brookings Blum Roundtable Agenda:

1. Fighting Global Poverty: Who'll Be Relevant In 2020?
   • Matthew Bishop, The Economist, "Fighting Global Poverty: Who'll Be Relevant In 2020?"
   • Homi Kharas, The Brookings Institution, "The New Reality Of Aid"
   • Jane Nelson, Harvard University, "New Development Players And Models"
2. Angelina, Bono, And Me: New Vehicles To Engage The Public
   • Darrell M. West, Brown University, "Angelina, Mia, And Bono: Celebrities And International Development"
   • Joshua Busby, University of Texas, Austin, "Is There A Constituency For Global Poverty? Jubilee 2000 And The Future Of Development Advocacy"
   • Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, The Brookings Institution, "Nigeria's Fight For Debt Relief: Tracing The Path"
3. Leveraging Knowledge For Development
   • Ashok Khosla, Development Alternatives Group, "Leveraging Knowledge To End Poverty"
   • Eric Brewer, University of California, Berkeley, "Development And Engineering"
4. Social Enterprise And Private Enterprise
   Chaired by: Mary Robinson, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative
   • J. Gregory Dees, Duke University, "Philanthropy And Enterprise: Harnessing The Power Of Business And Entrepreneurship For Social Change"
5. Africa's Economic Successes: What's Worked And What's Next
   Moderated by: Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada
   Panelists
   • Donald Kaberuka, African Development Bank
   • Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, The Brookings Institution
6. Effecting Change Through Accountable Channels
   • Jane Nelson, Harvard University, "Effecting Change Through Accountable Channels"
   • Simon Zadek, AccountAbility, "Accountability Compacts: Collaborative Governance For The 21^stCentury"
7. Global Impact: Philanthropy Changing Development
   • Mark R. Kramer, FSG Social Impact Advisors, "Philanthropy, Aid, And Investment: Creating A Common Language"
   • Joseph O'Keefe, The Brookings Institution, "Aid - From Consensus To Competition?"
8. Keynote Address
   • Former Vice President Al Gore, Generation Investment Management

       

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Global poverty and climate change are two of the most pressing challenges for global policymakers today, and require policy prescriptions that address their interrelated issues. Effective climate solutions must empower development by improving livelihoods, health and economic prospects while poverty alleviation must become a central strategy for both mitigating emissions and reducing the poor’s vulnerability to climate change.

2008 Brookings Blum Roundtable: Related Materials
	Read the roundtable report - Double Jeopardy: What the Climate Crisis Means for the Poor? »  Read the related book »  Download the participant list » (PDF) Download the scene setter » (PDF) Download the full roundtable agenda » (PDF)

In its fifth annual gathering, led by Lael Brainard and co-chaired by Strobe Talbott and Richard C. Blum, the Brookings Blum Roundtable addressed the challenges of climate change and development and convened leaders from both the development and climate change communities from August 1-3, 2008, to discuss and debate policy ideas that could benefit both fronts. By examining common challenges—accountability, effective deployment of resources, agenda-setting, mobilizing the public and financial resources, and achieving scale and sustainability—the Roundtable established a solid foundation for collaboration among the climate change and development communities and fostered ideas for policy action.

Keynote Sessions

Keynote Panel: “Noble Nobels: Solutions to Save the Planet”

• Steven Chu, University of California, Berkeley
• Al Gore, Generation Investment Management; 45^th Vice President of the United States

Keynote Panel: Legal Empowerment of the Poor

• Mary Robinson, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative
• Madeline Albright, The Albright Group; Former U.S. Secretary of State

Keynote Panel: “How Do We Achieve Climate Justice?”

• Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty
• Mary Robinson, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative
  
  

       

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In the midst of a global economic downturn, the world’s climate change negotiators will descend on Copenhagen in December to craft a post-2012 climate regime. But with the timing and impacts of climate change still uncertain—not to mention the ongoing transitions brought about by globalization and the increased cost of capital investment due to weak financial markets—tensions across countries are evident. Policy-makers must now think creatively to realize their goal of revitalizing the global economy through low carbon growth models.

2009 Brookings Blum Roundtable: Related Materials
	Read the roundtable report - Climate Crisis, Credit Crisis: The Quest for Green Growth »  Read the conference policy briefs »  Download the participant list » (PDF) Download the scene setter » (PDF) Download the full roundtable agenda » (PDF)

In its sixth annual gathering, led by Kemal Derviş and co-chaired by Strobe Talbott and Richard C. Blum, the Brookings Blum Roundtable convened leaders from the climate change and global development communities from July 30 through August 1, 2009 to discuss and debate policy options to stimulate green, pro-poor growth. By examining the challenges and opportunities policymakers face, the roundtable forged sustainable solutions to solve the climate crisis in a way that revitalizes the global economy and lifts the lives of the poor.

Lunch Briefing: 

“Towards a Global Climate Agreement: Key Insights from Project Catalyst”

Keynote Sessions:

“A Blueprint for Transatlantic Climate Cooperation”

“Compounding Crises: How Can and How Are the Poor Protecting Themselves?”

“Greening Business: Engaging the Private Sector in Climate Change Solutions”

Hal Harvey, ClimateWorks Foundation

Thomas Heller, Stanford Law School

Moderator: William Antholis, Brookings

John Podesta, Center for American Progress

Cem Özdemir, German Green Party

Moderator: Timothy Wirth, United Nations Foundation

Ernest Aryeetey, University of Ghana and Director, Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings

Helen Clark, United Nations Development Program

Raymond Offenheiser, Oxfam America

Moderator: Karen Kornbluh, Center for American Progress

Meg McDonald, Alcoa Foundation

Jane Nelson, Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Glenn Prickett, Conservation International

Mark Tercek, the Nature Conservancy

       

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Lifting an estimated 1.2 billion people from extreme poverty over the next generation will require robust and broadly-shared economic growth throughout the developing world that is sufficient to generate decent jobs for an ever-expanding global labor force. Innovative but affordable solutions must also be found to meet people’s demand for basic needs like food, housing, a quality education and access to energy resources. And major investments will still be required to effectively address global development challenges, such as climate change and child and maternal health.  On all these fronts, the private sector, from small- and medium-sized enterprises to major global corporations, must play a significant and expanded role.

On August 4-6, 2013, Brookings Global Economy and Development is hosting the tenth annual Brookings Blum Roundtable on Global Poverty in Aspen, Colorado. This year’s roundtable theme, “The Private Sector in the New Global Development Agenda,” brings together global leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners and public intellectuals to discuss how the contribution of the private sector be enhanced in the push to end poverty over the next generation and how government work more effectively with the private sector to leverage its investments in developing countries. 

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Roundtable Agenda

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Welcome: 8:40AM - 9:00AM MST
Brookings Welcome
• Strobe Talbott, Brookings

Opening Remarks
• Richard C. Blum, Blum Capital Partners, LP and Founder of 
the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley
• Julie Sunderland, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Kemal Derviş, Global Economy and Development, Brookings

Session I: 9:00AM - 10:30AM MST
Framing Session: Reimagining the Role of the Private Sector
In this opening discussion, participants will explore the overarching questions for the roundtable: How can the contribution of the private sector be enhanced in the push to end poverty over the next generation? What are the most effective mechanisms for strengthening private sector accountability? How can business practices and norms be encouraged that support sustainable development and job creation? How can business build trust in its contributions to sustainable development?

Moderator
• Nancy Birdsall, Center for Global Development

Introductory Remarks
• Homi Kharas, Brookings Institution
• Viswanathan Shankar, Standard Chartered Bank
• Shannon May, Bridge International Academies


Session II: 10:50AM - 12:20PM MST
Private Equity
Participants will explore the following questions for the roundtable: What are the constraints to higher levels of private equity in the developing world, including in non-traditional sectors? How can early-stage investments be promoted to improve deal flow? How can transaction costs and technical assistance costs be lowered?

Moderator
• Laura Tyson, University of California, Berkeley

Introductory Remarks
• Robert van Zwieten, Emerging Markets Private Equity Association
• Runa Alam, Development Partners International
• Vineet Rai, Aavishkaar

Dinner Program: 6:45PM - 9:15PM MST
Aspen Institute Madeleine K. Albright Global Development Lecture

Featuring
• Dr. Paul Farmer, Chief Strategist and Co-Founder, Partners in Health

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Monday, August 5, 2013

Session III: 9:00AM - 10:30AM MST
Goods, Services and Jobs for the Poor
Participants will explore the following questions for the roundtable: In what areas are the most promising emerging business models that serve the poor arising? What are the major obstacles in creating and selling profitable, quality, and beneficial products to the poor and how can they be overcome? What common features distinguish successful and replicable solutions?

Moderator
• Mary Robinson, Mary Robinson Foundation

Introductory Remarks
• Ashish Karamchandani, Monitor Deloitte
• Chris Locke, GSMA
• Ajaita Shah, Frontier Markets
• Hubertus van der Vaart, SEAF

Session IV: 10:50AM - 12:20PM MST
Blended Finance
Participants will explore the following questions for the roundtable: Can standard models of blended finance deliver projects at a large enough scale? How can leverage be measured and incorporated into aid effectiveness measures? Should governments have explicit leverage targets to force change more rapidly and systematically?

Moderator
• Henrietta Fore, Holsman International

Introductory Remarks
• Elizabeth Littlefield, OPIC
• Ewen McDonald, AusAID
• Laurie Spengler, ShoreBank International 

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Tuesday, August 6, 2013 

Session V: 9:00AM - 10:30AM MST
Unlocking Female Entrepreneurship
Participants will explore the following questions for the roundtable: How is the global landscape for female entrepreneurship changing? What types of interventions have the greatest ability to overturn barriers to female entrepreneurship in the developing world? Who, or what institutions, should lead efforts to advance this agenda? Can progress be made without a broader effort to end economic discrimination against women?

Moderator
• Smita Singh, Independent

Introductory Remarks
• Dina Powell, Goldman Sachs
• Carmen Niethammer, IFC
• Randall Kempner, ANDE

Session VI: 10:50AM - 12:20PM MST
U.S. Leadership and Resources to Engage The Private Sector
Participants will explore the following questions for the roundtable: How can U.S. foreign assistance be strengthened to more effectively promote the role of the private sector? How can U.S. diplomacy support private sector development in the emerging economies and multinational enterprises investing in the developing world? What can the US do to promote open innovation platforms?

Moderator
• George Ingram, Brookings

Introductory Remarks
• Sam Worthington, InterAction
• John Podesta, Center for American Progress
• Rajiv Shah, USAID

Closing Remarks
• Richard C. Blum, Blum Capital Partners, LP and Founder of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at Berkeley
• Kemal Derviş, Global Economy and Development, Brookings

Public Event: 4:30PM - 6:00PM MST
Brookings and the Aspen Institute Present: "America's Fiscal Health and its Implications for International Engagement"
Global Economy and Development at Brookings and the Aspen Institute will host the 66th U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development Rajiv Shah for a discussion on the current state of the U.S.'s fiscal health and its impact on American diplomatic and development priorities. Moderated by Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Director, Aspen Strategy Group.

Moderator
• Nicholas Burns, Director, Aspen Strategy Group

Panelists
• Condoleezza Rice, 66th United States Secretary of State
• Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development

 

Event Materials

• BBR Participant List 2013_FINAL

       

Event Information

The start of the 21st century has been an auspicious period for global economic development. In the 1990s, a mere 13 emerging economies succeeded in growing at a speed at least twice that of the OECD countries, enabling rapid convergence on Western living standards. By the first decade of the 2000s, this number had mushroomed to 83. Accelerated rates of economic growth lay behind many of the recent success stories in global development, not least the fulfilment of the first Millennium Development Goal to halve the global poverty rate, five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Yet in a number of places, growth has failed to take off, has undergone periodic reversals, or has benefited a few while leaving the majority short-changed.

On August 7-9, 2014, Brookings Global Economy and Development is hosting the eleventh annual Brookings Blum Roundtable on Global Poverty in Aspen, Colorado. This year’s roundtable theme, “Jump-Starting Inclusive Growth in the Most Difficult Environment,” brings together global leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and public intellectuals to discuss what strategies exist for promoting inclusive economic growth in settings where standard prescriptions are not feasible or sufficient as well as what the comparative advantages are of different actors seeking to improve the prospects for inclusive growth and how can they most effectively collaborate with each other to increase their impact. 

This event is closed, but you can follow along on Twitter using #Blum2014.

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Roundtable Agenda

Event Materials

• PArticipant list

       

Event Information

The emergence of a new digital economy is changing the ways in which businesses and development organizations engage in emerging and developing countries. Transaction costs have been radically driven down, enabling greater inclusion. And technology is driving efficiency improvements, and permitting rapid scaling-up and transformational change.

On August 5-7, 2015, Brookings Global Economy and Development is hosting the twelfth annual Brookings Blum Roundtable on Global Poverty in Aspen, Colorado. This year’s roundtable theme, “Disrupting development with digital technologies,” brings together global leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and public intellectuals to discuss three trends in particular have the potential to redefine how global development occurs and how efforts will support it over the next 10 years: (1) the growing adoption of digital payments serving people everywhere with near-frictionless transactions; (2) the spread of internet connectivity and digital literacy; and (3) the harnessing of data to better serve the poor and to generate new knowledge.

This event is closed, but you can follow along on Twitter using #Blum2015.

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Roundtable Agenda

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Welcome and opening remarks - 8:40-9:00 a.m.:

• Richard C. Blum, Blum Capital Partners
• Mike Kubzansky, Omidyar Network
• Kemal Derviş, Brookings Institution

Session I - 9:00-10:30 a.m.: Realizing the potential of the digital economy

The digital revolution presents profound opportunities for global development. By integrating poor people into digital networks, the revolution can redefine what it means to be poor, and forge new pathways to prosperity for both individuals and countries.

What are the challenges in making the digital revolution fully inclusive and scalable—and how can they be lifted? In a full-fledged digital economy, which constraints facing the poor will diminish and which will remain? What risks does the digital economy pose?

Moderator:

• Kemal Derviş, Brookings Institution

Introductory remarks:

• Michael Faye, GiveDirectly, Segovia Technology
• Tunde Kehinde, African Courier Express
• Christina Sass, Andela
• Tariq Malik, National Database and Registration Authority

Session II - 10:50 - 12:20 p.m.: Global money

Between 2011 and 2014, 700 million people started a bank account for the first time, representing a giant step toward the World Bank goal of universal financial inclusion by 2020. Meanwhile, the digitalization of payments, spurred in part by 255 mobile money services across the developing world, is pushing the cost of basic financial transactions down toward zero.

How will an era of global money transform formal and informal business? Which sectors, product markets, and government services have the most to gain and lose from increased market efficiency? What are the consequences for financial regulation?

Moderator:

• Henrietta Fore, Holsman International

Introductory remarks:

• Ruth Goodwin-Groen, Better than Cash Alliance
• Luis Buenaventura, Rebit.ph, Satoshi Citadel Industries
• Tayo Oviosu, Paga
• Loretta Michaels, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Lunch - 12:30-2:00 p.m.

Cocktail reception and interview - 5:00-7:00 p.m.:

During the reception, Richard Blum will lead a short discussion with Walter Isaacson and Ann Mei Chang on the topic “Silicon Valley and Innovation for the Developing World,” followed by questions. Remarks begin at 5:30 and will end at 6:15 p.m.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Session III - 9:00-10:30 a.m.: Global connections

Numerous ventures are competing today to bring internet connectivity to the furthest corners of the planet, while low-cost, user-centered-designed platforms are expanding the spread of digital literacy. Social media and crowdsourcing offer efficient ways for people to share information, solve problems, and act collectively.

To what extent can internet connectivity overcome isolation and empower poor communities that are socially, economically, and politically disenfranchised? Do the benefits of global connectivity for the world’s poor rely on issues like net neutrality, and what has been learned from recent battles to uphold this paradigm?

Moderator:

• Anne-Marie Slaughter, New America Foundation

Introductory remarks:

• Ross LaJeunesse, Google
• Andy O’Connell, Facebook
• Maria Ressa, Rappler
• Chris Locke, Caribou Digital

Session IV - 10:50-12:20 p.m.: Global knowledge

The creation of a universal digital network will provide the poor with greater access to the information they need, and generate new knowledge that can be used to serve poor people more effectively. Digital inclusion can expand possibilities for targeting, verification, and analysis, while big data from biometric registries, satellites, phones, payments, and the internet can unlock insights on individual needs and preferences. In addition, open source platforms and MOOCs have the potential to be powerful accelerators for technology and skill transfer.

What kinds of new personalized services can be developed using improved capacity for targeting and tailoring? How might the reduction of barriers to information affect social mobility and economic convergence? How should big data be regulated?

Moderator:

• Smita Singh, President’s Global Development Council

Introductory remarks:

• David Soloff, Premise
• Rebecca Taber, Coursera
• Jonathan Hakim, Cignifi
• Deepak Mishra, World Bank

Friday, August 7, 2015

Session V - 9:00-10:30 a.m.: Opportunities and challenges for business

The digital economy promises to disrupt many existing markets and generate new business opportunities that employ and serve the poor.

How can businesses employ digital technologies to expand their presence in poor and emerging countries? According to businesses, what is an effective regulatory framework for the digital economy? To what extent can strong digital infrastructure compensate for deficiencies in physical infrastructure or governance?

Moderator:

• Laura Tyson, Blum Center for Developing Economies

Introductory Remarks:

• Jesse Moore, M-KOPA Solar
• Anup Akkihal, Logistimo
• V. Shankar, formerly Standard Chartered Bank
• Barbara Span, Western Union

Session VI - 10:50-12:20 p.m.: Opportunities and challenges for development cooperation

The U.S. government sees itself as a leader in harnessing technology for global development. Meanwhile, aid agencies have been identified as a possible target for disintermediation by the digital revolution.

How can development organizations, both government and non-government, accelerate the digital revolution? How might traditional aid programs be enhanced by employing digital knowledge and technologies? Does U.S. regulatory policy on the digital economy cohere with its global development agenda?

Moderator:

• Mary Robinson, Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice

Introductory remarks:

• Neal Keny-Guyer, Mercy Corps
• Michael Anderson, Children's Investment Fund Foundation
• Helen Clark, United Nations Development Program
• Ann Mei Chang, USAID

Closing remarks:

• Richard C. Blum, Blum Capital
• Mike Kubzansky, Omidyar Network
• Kemal Derviş, Brookings Institution

Event Materials

• Participant List 731

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

The mobile economy in China and India has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade. Mobile technology has the potential to shrink the broadband gap, improve financial inclusion, and support humanitarian efforts. A recent report from the Boston Consulting Group adds another interesting perspective into the existing conversation about the impact of mobile technologies. India appears poised to eschew building up its fixed broadband infrastructure and jump directly to mobile. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India appeared poised to take advantage of this amazing change.

Mobile innovation lower costs and improve performance

Source: Boston Consulting Group

Maximum download speeds have risen greatly when comparing second generation networks with current fourth generation technology. 2G networks were capable of reaching 20 kilobits per second and 4G technologies can reach 250 megabits per second, which is about 12,000 times faster. At the same time the actual cost of network infrastructure per megabyte is falling dramatically: a 95 percent decrease from 2G to 3G and 67 percent decrease from 3G to 4G. Subsequently, the consumer cost of data per megabyte decreased sharply. From 2005 to 2013, the average cost of a mobile subscription relative to the maximum data speed dropped about 40 percent each year or 99 percent in an 8 year period. Higher speeds and lower costs make mobile a viable development platform for SMEs. In America this had led to the growth of the app economy. In India this effect is even more pronounced.

Widespread use of mobile technologies fuels the leap

In 2013 India reached 900 million mobile connections and became the second largest market in terms of mobile connections and unique subscribers. Indians spend 45 percent of their incomes on mobile technologies and platforms whereas Americans only spend 11 percent.

Source: World Bank Indicators

For the average Indian, mobile is the only point-of-entry to the Internet. Mobile devices are much more common than computers. The PC penetration rate in India of 5 percent stands in stark contrast to the 75 percent rate for mobile devices. Rates of fixed broadband Internet usage increased at a snails pace in India and at the same time mobile cellular subscriptions soared. More and more people in India are choosing to access Internet solely through mobile devices. Currently about 34 percent of people in India access the Internet exclusively from mobile devices. Flipkart an Indian e-commerce company predicts that 75 to 80 percent of their customer’s traffic will come on mobile platforms. The proliferation of mobile technologies in India provides incentives for SMEs to focus on developing mobile oriented business models.

Existing mobile focused SMEs lead the leap

SMEs in India place a greater emphasis on mobile platforms compared to companies in other countries. About 25 to 35 percent of surveyed SMEs in India are identified as mobile leaders, firms that use mobile productivity tools, operational tools (real-time job tracking or mobile data analytics) and sales and marketing tools. In developed countries such as Germany, only 14 percent of the surveyed SMEs are mobile leaders. Further, mobile oriented SMEs are thriving in India in a variety of fields. India’s largest E-commerce marketplace Flipkart Sidesteps has seen its traffic grow twice as face on mobile when compared with PC. Anti-violence apps such as FightBack and mobile health initiatives such as Swasthya Samvedana Sena are also experiencing great success.

India is in the midst of a mobile revolution that is categorically different than other parts of the world. Without existing complex legacy systems, businesses in India are now in the unique position to leapfrog terrestrial Internet technologies and reap the full benefits of a truly mobile economy.

Yikun Chi contributed to this post

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During the height of the Ebola crisis in September 2014 there were 21 confirmed cases of the virus and 8 deaths in Nigeria. The African nation has the continent’s largest population, a high poverty rate, and the government spends relatively little on health care. At the time many were worried about a scenario where the virus spread throughout Nigeria. But, the Nigerian Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu disagreed with that assessment. He commented to Forbes, “Nigeria will be as clean as any other country as far as Ebola virus disease is concerned.” His comments were proven to be accurate in the coming months. There were a variety of factors that contributed to Nigeria’s success at combating the disease. One important factor was the use of mobile electronic health records programs.

How mobile fights disease

1. Training Healthcare Workers

Training health care providers was a priority at the beginning of the Ebola outbreak. A survey found that 85 percent of health care workers in the country believed you could avoid Ebola by abstaining from handshakes or touching. Correcting these myths about the disease was a critical part of the response effort, especially for health care workers.

2. Rapid Deployment

One of the virtues of mHealth is its speed and flexibility. Mobile allows officials to quickly disseminate the latest information to front line health care workers. Increasing the speed of communication is a general boon to any large public health response.

3. Virtual Records

Ebola Treatment Units (ETU) greatly benefitted from using digital rather than paper records. Paper records cannot be removed from an ETU. Deborah Theobald co-founder of Vecna Technologies that created the mHealth platform in Nigeria has pointed out that, “If the patient is isolated, so is their paperwork”. Electronic records are easy to share and also lower the risk of infection for health care workers.

Mobile health policy challenges

Despite the potential benefits of mHealth, barriers in some countries prevent the full positive impact of these technologies from coming into effect. Many developing nations lack the electrical infrastructure that is necessary to power mobile devices. Health care regulations are often too overly bureaucratic and burdensome. This makes it difficult for innovators to develop and equip workers with mobile tools and applications. It often takes an emergency situation like the Ebola crisis to make substantive changes. Success in the long term is only possible if leaders create an environment that is more hospitable to mHealth.

Mobile interventions have also demonstrated potential to address important public health issues. Recently experts gathered at the Brookings Institution to discuss how mHealth can improve health outcomes. Apps like Mobile Midwife and Text4Baby can encourage healthy pregnancies by providing valuable tips to expecting mothers. Mobile health platforms are successful because they directly inform caregivers. The proliferation of mobile phones through the developing world presents a health opportunity to communicate with the people who need help.

      

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The last time policymakers substantially reviewed federal communications policy, it was the early 1990s. At that time, the Internet was only beginning to reveal itself to be the dynamic technology seen today. Mobile devices and services, such as 100 megabit broadband, smartphones, applications, social networks, tablets, and digital streaming, were barely imagined, let alone factored into policy discussions. As the recent debate around net neutrality highlights, policymakers today can be hamstrung in efforts to fit today's communications technologies and services into last century's communications law. Given that most major communications laws are out of step with today’s advanced mobile capabilities, what shape would smart, updated legislation and regulatory changes take? What are the major changes to U.S. communications law that most need to be addressed and implemented?

On March 24, the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings hosted a conversation with Craig Silliman, general counsel and executive vice president for public policy at Verizon, to examine what 21st century communications polices might look like.

Video

• Updating communications law and regulations for the mobile era

Audio

• Updating communications law and regulations for the mobile era

Transcript

• Uncorrected Transcript (.pdf)

Event Materials

• 20150324_communications_law_transcript

      

Choosing a health plan on one of the new public or private exchanges is no easy task. That’s especially true for those with medical conditions who want to be very sure the plan they enroll in will provide the services they need.

This challenge is not unique to buying health plans, however. It’s always hard for consumers to buy complex and technical services or products when they have little or no expertise in the field. Health insurance can be especially daunting, with so many factors to consider, and even the terminology can be confusing.

Standardizing choices and terms can be helpful to a point. Grouping health plans according to premiums and out-of-pocket costs – bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans – has worked well in the public exchanges. But standardization will always be in tension with innovation, and the reality is that most exchanges will carry a larger inventory of plans than what the typical consumer wants to scroll through. So the question of “choice architecture” – how the plans are filtered or screened – will come to the fore. 

Consumers will have many questions.  What is the price? How do I assess the trade-off between lower premiums and higher cost sharing? Is my doctor in the plan’s network? Are the drugs I take in the formulary (whatever that is)? Things can get real complicated real fast, and it can feel like there are too many, not too few, choices. No wonder some call that “choice anxiety”.

But that view overlooks how technology is likely to reduce choice anxiety in health care, just as it has for other complicated searches.  It used to take a librarian to find an obscure article or a travel agent to plan a vacation. Today a few keystrokes on Google locates the article, and Travelocity makes vacation planning a cakewalk, with everything from on-time flight arrival data to pictures of hotel rooms and customer reviews arranged by star ratings.

Expect technology to have the same dramatic impact on buying health coverage in the near future. There are several reasons for this:

The presentation of consumer information will get better. When large new markets for products and services are created and the demand for buyers’ information rises sharply, the incentive for entrepreneurs – both for-profit and nonprofit – to provide customer-friendly information also rises. We’ve already seen this in parts of the health care market where there has been plenty of choice. Millions of federal employees have for many years been able choose among a wide range of plans with differing benefits.  Many have turned to the highly regarded Consumers’ Checkbook to help them understand and readily compare plans in the federal program.

Checkbook has launched a similar comparison tool for the  Illinois exchange and recently won the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) first "Plan Choice Challenge," a nationwide competition to design a technology application that helps people choose their best health plan options.

Navigation technology will make searches simple and quick.  Most consumers don’t want to spend a lot of time comparing plans; they want to find the best buy for their situation as quickly as possible.  That’s why brokers have traditionally encouraged employers to offer their employees a carefully limited set of shopping choices, but we expect plan navigation technology to constantly improve the shopping experience in ways that will help customers search a larger inventory and still make choices more easily.   Stride Health, a San Francisco startup and finalist in the RWJF Challenge, has developed a recommendation technology that searches massive data sets on networks and formularies in seconds to help consumers find a “match” that fits their budget and health care needs.  (Full disclosure – author Joel Ario is an investor).  

Stride is one of more than 40 “web brokers” that has met federal consumer protection and privacy standards enabling it to work with the federal exchange to enroll subsidy-eligible individuals in coverage.  Expect increasing collaboration between public exchanges and private vendors, with a surge of apps and gadgets to make navigation easier and easier in health exchanges.

Technology will allow choices to be tailored to medical history.  Advances in technology won’t just make it technically easier to pick and choose by price and reputation. These advances will also empower Americans to base their choices on their likely medical needs. Today, tailoring your coverage to your medical condition usually means trying to get a doctor– or several doctors– to help you figure out what you should look for in a plan. Even with that help, for the average person it’s still a hit-or-miss proposition. But new forms of choice technology are beginning to utilize questions about medical history to guide buyers towards the plans that are most suited to their condition.  

Checkbook and Stride already allow consumers to enter more detailed health histories and get more sophisticated assistance, and this will only improve as exchanges publish more data in machine readable formats.   Expect more and increasingly sophisticated customized navigators, especially as patients get more access to their electronic medical records.  Also expect sellers to respond with products than bundle services to meet the new demand.

Does this mean that an iPhone app will be all that’s needed to ensure that every consumer can find his or her perfect plan? Not quite.  Health insurance marketplaces will continue to present thorny regulatory challenges.  Insurance regulators will need to guard against unfair practices, such as insurers’ designing benefit plans to drive away applicants with certain health conditions; privacy concerns will be raised whenever apps ask for medical history; and new forms of provider integration will test antitrust doctrine.

But one thing is clear. Improving technology will soon make picking the right health plan a far more precise and simple process – easy enough for many of our children to do on their smart phones or whatever gadget comes next.

      

Mobile devices are making a big difference in the lives of billions of people around the world who use them every day. Internet-enabled smartphones and tablets provide access to information and a channel of communication for users. Building wireless networks to support mobile devices requires large capital investments from wireless carriers who must purchase wireless spectrum and infrastructure. To ensure that mobile services are reliable and affordable, national governments must allocate enough wireless spectrum to commercial carriers to satisfy demand. This is the subject of a new paper from Shamika Ravi and Darrell M. West titled “Spectrum Policy in India."

A scarce resource

Mobile devices typically operate on frequencies from 30 kHz to 300 GHz on the radio spectrum. Unless spectrum is allocated efficiently, the scarcity of available frequencies leads to poor quality and high costs for mobile broadband. The growing demand for mobile service in India currently exceeds the amount of spectrum available to wireless carriers. The scarcity of wireless spectrum limits reliable Internet access for mobile subscribers who have no alternative point of access. According to the Cellular Operators Association of India, nearly 60 percent of Internet users only have access through their mobile phones.

Mobile service in India is relatively expensive for many consumers because the Indian military reserves so much spectrum for their own use. Much of this spectrum goes underutilized, even as commercial carriers plead for more spectrum to be released. When the Indian government does release spectrum, it is typically through auctions with high starting bids. Setting high starting bids for blocks of spectrum can lead to high selling prices that force wireless carriers to take out large loans. Higher prices for spectrum raise costs for consumers and reduce private sector investment in wireless infrastructure. Rather than make spectrum artificially scarce, the Indian government should work with wireless carriers to lower the prices for consumers. 

Investing in India’s future

Reliable mobile service has the potential to greatly enhance economic growth in India. Analysis from the Boston Consulting Group found that the India’s mobile sector grew at 12.4 percent annually from 2009-2014; it now accounts for 2.2 percent of India’s gross domestic product. Potential growth comes from filling gaps in educational and health care spending in rural communities. Innovative mobile applications provide a low cost method of sending education and health care resources to underserved rural communities that lack physical infrastructure. In India’s rapidly growing cities, mobile services are seen as a way to improve the quality of government services and promote entrepreneurship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently designated 100 “smart cities” that would use technology to overcome the challenges of India’s rapid urbanization.

India could free up spectrum by adopting the “NATO Band” of spectrum for military uses and auctioning off the remaining spectrum.  The NATO band is used by the militaries of NATO member countries and several of their allies, and it already overlaps with much of the Indian military’s spectrum.  Furthermore, the Indian government must lower the minimum bids at spectrum auctions and lower taxes so that wireless carriers have enough profits to build their networks.  Mobile technologies are rapidly evolving, and each new generation has greater demands for spectrum. Regulators in India will not only have to maintain affordable prices for the current generation of mobile technology, but also anticipate upgrades that will deliver more data at faster speeds.

      

Education is at a critical juncture in many nations around the world. It is vital for student learning, workforce development, and economic prosperity. For example, research in Turkey has found that raising the compulsory education requirement from five to eight years increased the percentage of women having eight years of school by 11 percentage points, and had a variety of positive social consequences.

Yet despite the emergence of digital learning, most countries still design their educational systems for agrarian and industrial eras, not the 21st century. This creates major problems for young people who enter the labor force as well as teachers and parents who want children to compete effectively in the global economy.

In this paper, Darrell West examines how mobile devices with cellular connectivity improve learning and engage students and teachers. Wireless technology and mobile devices:

• Provide new content and facilitate information access wherever a student is located
• Enable, empower, and engage learning in ways that transform the environment for students inside and outside school
• Allow students to connect, communicate, collaborate, and create using rich digital resources, preparing them to adapt to quickly evolving new technologies
• Incorporate real-time assessment of student performance
• Catalyze student development in areas of critical-thinking and collaborative learning, giving students a competitive edge

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Abstract

New and emerging work relationships arising in the “online gig economy” do not fit easily into the existing legal definitions of “employee” and “independent contractor” status. The distinction is important because employees qualify for a range of legally mandated benefits and protections that are not available to independent contractors, such as the right to organize and bargain collectively, workers’ compensation insurance coverage, and overtime compensation. This paper proposes a new legal category, which we call “independent workers,” for those who occupy the gray area between employees and independent contractors.

Independent workers typically work with intermediaries who match workers to customers. The independent worker and the intermediary have some elements of the arms-length independent business relationships that characterize “independent contractor” status, and some elements of a traditional employee-employer relationship. On the one hand, independent workers have the ability to choose when to work, and whether to work at all. They may work with multiple intermediaries simultaneously, or conduct personal tasks while they are working with an intermediary. It is thus impossible in many circumstances to attribute independent workers’ work hours to any employer. In this critical respect, independent workers are similar to independent businesses. On the other hand, the intermediary retains some control over the way independent workers perform their work, such as by setting their fees or fee caps, and they may “fire” workers by prohibiting them from using their service. In these respects, independent workers are similar to traditional employees.

Evidence is presented suggesting that about 600,000 workers, or 0.4 percent of total U.S. employment, work with an online intermediary in the gig economy. Although there are probably many more workers who currently work with an offline intermediary who would qualify for independent worker status than there are who work with an online intermediary, the number of workers participating in the online gig economy is growing very rapidly.

In our proposal, independent workers — regardless of whether they work through an online or offline intermediary — would qualify for many, although not all, of the benefits and protections that employees receive, including the freedom to organize and collectively bargain, civil rights protections, tax withholding, and employer contributions for payroll taxes. Because it is conceptually impossible to attribute their work hours to any single intermediary, however, independent workers would not qualify for hours-based benefits, including overtime or minimum wage requirements. Further, because independent workers would rarely, if ever, qualify for unemployment insurance benefits given the discretion they have to choose whether to work through an intermediary, they would not be covered by the program or be required to contribute taxes to fund that program. However, intermediaries would be permitted to pool independent workers for purposes of purchasing and providing insurance and other benefits at lower cost and higher quality without the risk that their relationship will be transformed into an employment relationship.

Our proposal seeks to structure benefits to make independent worker status neutral when compared with employee status, as well as to enhance the efficiency of the operation of the labor market. By extending many of the legal benefits and protections found in employment relationships to independent workers, our proposal would protect and extend the social compact between workers and employers, and reduce the legal uncertainty and legal costs that currently beset many independent worker relationships.

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Recent developments in the U.S. economy present opportunities and challenges for how to effectively promote widely shared economic prosperity in a changing labor market. The proliferation of nontraditional and contingent employment relationships, fostered in part by new technology platforms, creates new opportunities, but also new regulatory, legal, and public policy challenges. Consumers and workers alike now use online technology and apps to contract for specific, on-demand services such as cleaning, handiwork, shopping, cooking, driving, and landscaping. These developments constitute what has been referred to as the “online gig” or “on-demand” economy, where work is taking place in a series of one-off gigs, rather than in an ongoing relationship with a single employer. The emergence of the online gig economy has increased policy interest in the issue of contingent work arrangements, which broadly include independent contractors as well as part-time, temporary, seasonal, or subcontracted workers.

In some respects, these on-demand gigs benefit both workers and the economy, and help to support job growth and household incomes in the post–Great Recession labor market recovery. Such gigs often feature flexible hours, low or no training costs, and generally few barriers to worker entry. These features have enabled gig-economy workers, including those with other jobs, to generate new income or to supplement their primary incomes during difficult times in a strained job market. Moreover, customers purchasing such on-demand services have benefited from the convenience and availability of services as well as the low cost at which they are often offered.

However, other aspects of the gig economy have raised some concerns. First, these jobs generally confer few employer-provided benefits and workplace protections. This stands in contrast to traditional employer–employee relationships that often come with manifold assurances and protections, such as overtime compensation, minimum wage protections, health insurance, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity and paternity leave, employer-sponsored retirement plans, workers’ compensation for injuries, paid sick leave, and the ability to engage in collective action. Second, technological developments occurring in the workplace have come to blur the legal definitions of the terms “employee” and “employer” in ways that were unimaginable when employment regulations like the Wagner Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 were written. The evolution of the work relationship over time has led to important regulatory gaps. Some observers perceive that the online gig economy is leading to a rise in the share of work arrangements that are precarious, as compared to traditional employer–employee arrangements, and that the enhanced flexibility of the marketplace has come at a cost of economic security for many workers. In fact, systematic and timely data on contingent work arrangements are hard to come by so economists are still trying to figure out how common and widespread they are and what their impact on workers’ economic security might be. The absence of systematic data makes it all the more difficult to analyze the costs and benefits of contingent work arrangements for workers and businesses, and thus inform the appropriate policy and regulatory response. While the online gig economy is bringing this challenge to the fore, the broader issues surrounding classification and protection of contingent workers are not new or isolated. Importantly, the use of subcontracted and temporary workers, and workers with irregular or on-call shifts, also may require new regulatory frameworks.

In this framing paper, The Hamilton Project describes the broader economic context of contingent employer–employee relationships and where the emerging on-demand gig economy fits in this context. It also highlights the regulatory and measurement gaps that need to be resolved.

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The 2015 Brookings Blum Roundtable was convened to explore how digital technologies might disrupt global development.

Our intention was to imagine a world 10 years from now where digital technologies have become ubiquitous. In this world, how would we expect digital trends and innovations to affect the work of business and development organizations? What policy challenges and risks will the new digital economy pose? And what are the constraints on making digital innovations fully inclusive and scalable?

In 10 years, the world will look very different from today. The number of people worldwide who own a telephone, have access to the Internet, have registered their biometric identity, and own a bank account is rising by between 200 million and 300 million a year. These technologies are spreading at such a high speed that an era of digital inclusion beckons, characterized by universal connectivity and the frictionless movement of money and information.

History attests to the transformative effects of technology. And there is every reason to believe that the impact of digital technologies will be especially profound. The spread of mobile telephones already represents perhaps the most conspicuous change for life in the developing world over the past generation. However, the impact of digital technologies on people’s well-being can be both positive and negative. The onus is on developing countries and the broader global development community to maximize the upside of digital inclusion, while managing its downside, in navigating this exciting future.

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	Paying the Way for the Digital Money Revolution  This essay discusses the opportunities provided through increased financial inclusion, cashless payments and the application of other payment technologies as well as the possible obstacles that stand in their way. It finds that customers are more likely to use digital services if there is also a human component, such as an agent or a calling center, to boost trust. Read the essay (PDF) | Overheard at the roundtable (PDF)
	Fulfilling the Promise of Internet Connectivity This essay describes the positive and negative impacts of Internet connectivity for societies, and examines why so many people who live in places with access to the Internet are not users, and what possible options are to get more people online. Read the essay (PDF) | Overheard at the roundtable (PDF)
	Expanding Knowledge Networks Through Digital Inclusion   This essay explores how digital inclusion increases knowledge by providing access to information, generating big data, and by expanding access to online education. It describes how to use this knowledge to maximize benefits for the poor. Read the essay (PDF) | Overheard at the roundtable (PDF)

       

Last month, we experienced yet another breakthrough in the epic battle of man against machine. Google’s AlphaGo won against the reigning Go champion Lee Sedol. This success, however, was different than that of IBM’s Deep Blue against Gary Kasparov in 1987. While Deep Blue still applied “brute force” to calculate all possible options ahead, AlphaGo was learning as the game progressed. And through this computing breakthrough that we can learn how to better leverage the data revolution.

In the game of Go, brute-force strategies don’t help because the total number of possible combinations exceeds the number of atoms in the universe. Some games, including some we played since childhood, were immune to computing “firepower” for a long time. For example, Connect Four wasn’t solved until 1995 with the conclusion being the first player can force a win. And checkers wasn’t until 2007, when Jonathan Schaeffer determined that in a perfect game, both sides could force a draw. For chess, a safe strategy has yet to be developed, meaning that we don’t know yet if white could force a win or, like in checkers, black could manage to hold on to a draw.

But most real-life situations are more complicated than chess, precisely because the universe of options is unlimited and solving them requires learning. If computers are to help, beyond their use as glorified calculators, they need to be able to learn. This is the starting point of the artificial intelligence movement.  In a world where perfection is impossible, you need well-informed intuition in order to advance. The first breakthrough in this space occurred when IBM’s Watson beat America’s Jeopardy! champions in 2011. These new intelligent machines operate in probabilities, not in certainty.

That being said, perfection remains important, especially when it comes to matters of life and death such as flying airplanes, constructing houses, or conducting heart surgery, as these areas require as much attention to detail as possible. At the same time, in many realms of life and policymaking we fall into a perfection trap. We often generate obsolete knowledge by attempting to explain things perfectly, when effective problem solving would have been better served by real-time estimates. We strive for exactitude when rough results, more often than not, are good enough.

By contrast, some of today’s breakthroughs are based on approximation. Think of Google Translate and Google’s search engine itself. The results are typically quite bad, but compared to the alternative of not having them at all, or spending hours leafing through an encyclopedia, they are wonderful. Moreover, once these imperfect breakthroughs are available, one can improve them iteratively. Only once the first IBM and Apple PCs were put on the market in the 1980s did the cycle of upgrading start, which still continues today.

In the realm of social and economic data, we have yet to reach this stage of “managed imperfection” and continuous upgrading. We are producing social and economic forecasts with solid 20th century methods. With extreme care we conduct poverty assessments and maps, usually taking at least a year to produce as they involve hundreds of enumerators, lengthy interviews and laborious data entry. Through these methods we are able to perfectly explain past events, but we fail to estimate current trends—even imperfectly.

The paradox of today’s big data era is that most of that data is poor and messy, even though the possibilities for improving it are unlimited. Almost every report from development institutions starts with a disclaimer highlighting “severe data limitations.” This is because only 0.5 percent of all the available data is actually being curated to be made usable. If data is the oil of the 21st century, we need data refineries to convert the raw product into something that can be consumed by the average person.

Thanks to the prevalence of mobile device and rapid advances in satellite technology, it is possible to produce more data faster, better, and cheaper. High-frequency data also makes it possible to make big data personal, which also increases the likelihood that people act on it. Ultimately, the breakthroughs in big data for development will be driven by managerial cultures, as has been the case with other successful ventures. Risk averse cultures pay great attention to perfection. They nurture the fear of mistakes and losing. Modern management accepts failure, encourages trial and error, and reaches progress through interaction and continuous upgrading.

       

Electronic money, or e-money, emerged in the countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) following the adoption, in 2006, of a Central Bank Instruction establishing a flexible regulatory framework aimed at encouraging e-money business. The activity expanded in 2009 with the involvement of telecommunications operators in the provision of mobile telephone-based financial services, which increased the number of users and the volume of transactions.

A growing business

At the end of September 2015, 22 million people, or nearly a quarter of the people in the union, subscribed to financial services via mobile phone. Approximately 30 percent of those subscribers carried out at least one transaction per 90-day period.

Some 500 million transactions took place over the first nine months of 2015. The cumulative value of the transactions was 5 trillion CFA francs ($8.5 billion) by the end of September 2015, a growth of 142 percent from September 2014. Between September 2013 and September 2014, this value grew from CFA 1 trillion to CFA 2.068 trillion, an increase of 107 percent.

The mobile phone financial services distribution network followed a similar upward trend, rising from 93,621 points of services in 2014 to more than 132,658 at the end of September 2015.

Figure 1. Trends in the value of transactions

The socioeconomic environment in the union goes a long way to explaining the success of mobile telephone payment services. Indeed, this method of providing money transfer or payment services is particularly well suited to people who lack access to the mainstream banking system, and also affords non-bank institutions the opportunity to offer users non-cash money against cash deposits, which can then be used for a variety of financial transactions.

The growing involvement of telecommunications operators

The market is increasingly dominated by partnerships between banks and telecommunications operators, which represented 25 of the 33 licensed or authorized e-money issuers at the end of December 2015. In the framework of this model, known as the bank model, the bank has responsibility for issuing the e-money.

The other seven non-bank institutions, under the non-bank model, are authorized to issue electronic money as “Electronic Money Institutions” (EMIs) [1].

In WAEMU, e-money issuers are supported by a regulatory framework that was revised in 2015 to ensure increased security and quality of payment services backed by electronic money.

Figure 2. E-money issuers in WAEMU

Note: DFS denotes microfinance institutions.

A revised regulatory framework

With the expansion of mobile phone financial services and the growing involvement of telecommunications operators, the Central Bank has revised its regulatory framework with the aim of enhancing the security and quality of payment services backed by electronic money. The most salient improvements must focus on:

• Increasing issuer accountability by clarifying users’ roles in partnerships with technical service providers. With this goal in mind, the activities of technical service providers have been restricted to technical processing or the distribution of e-money under the responsibility of the issuer. In addition, issuers are responsible for the integrity, reliability, security, confidentiality, and traceability of all transactions carried out by all of their distributors; Stimulating competition through transparent pricing with an obligation for issuers to publish their rates;


• Specific requirements in terms of governance and internal and external audits for electronic money institutions, standards of integrity on the part of the management, professional secrecy and regular infrastructure audits;


• Increased protection for bearers of electronic money, including keeping funds in dedicated accounts, requiring a constant equivalence between the amount of e-money and the balances in the dedicated accounts, and mandatory creation of a mechanism to take in and deal with complaints by bearers of electronic money;


• Reinforcement of the supervisory mechanism by reducing deadlines for reporting on issuers’ activities to the Central Bank and adopting sanctions for violations of regulatory provisions.

Provision of mobile-phone-based financial services

Mobile-phone-based financial services provided in WAEMU include three categories of services, namely services involving the use of cash (banknotes and coins), e-money services, and so-called “second generation” services.

The first type of service essentially involves deposits of cash or refilling of electronic wallets, as well as withdrawals. This type of service represents 24 percent of user transactions. Cash deposits predominate; they allow customers to provision their electronic money accounts.

Seventy-six percent of the funds deposited into e-money accounts are used, above all, for purchases of telephone credit, payment of bills, person-to-person money transfers, and money transfers from individuals to businesses and from individuals to government agencies. The main payment services found in WAEMU pertain to payment of water or electricity bills, payment of satellite television subscriptions, and purchases of goods in supermarkets or fuel at service stations.

Payments of taxes or income taxes to government agencies and payments of micro-loan installments are also made through mobile phone financial services, but are much less common.

So-called “second generation” services, namely micro-insurance, micro-savings, and micro-credit, are currently emerging in WAEMU. Their development could be an opportunity to provide access to the banking system for the users of the services.

Finally, interoperability is just beginning to be implemented based on bilateral agreements between stakeholders, particularly with a view to offering cross-border payment services between member states of the union.

Challenges

A review of the development of mobile phone financial services in WAEMU reveals some obstacles to the rapid development of this type of financial service within WAEMU. They include:

• a low number of active users, due to the high cost of the services;
• the fact that the services are not well known due to inadequate financial education;
• the low rate of digitization of government agencies’ payment systems; and
• insufficient partnerships between bank and non-bank issuers with a view to developing a more inclusive range of “second-generation” services.

In collaboration with all stakeholders, the Central Bank has developed a financial inclusion strategy to continuously improve, access to and use of diverse, tailored and affordable financial services. The implementation of these actions as described in the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) financial inclusion strategy should support the challenges mentioned above.

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[1] EMI: any legal entity, other than a bank, financial payment institution, or decentralized financial system, that is authorized to issue payment instruments in the form of electronic money and whose business activities are restricted to electronic money issuing and distribution.