G2P Network

Agent Networks at the Last Mile: Implications for Policy Makers

Brian Webster — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 16:42:06 +0000

Rural agent networks are critical to “last mile” financial inclusion. This reading deck for policy makers does two things: (i) it shows how rural Cash-in/Cash-out (CICO) agent network expansion is key to ensuring poor people can capture the benefits of digital financial ecosystems; and (ii) it presents a set of policies that have been effective in enabling rural CICO in a way that benefits vulnerable segments, like rural women, and that reinforces the effectiveness of social programs targeting these segments.

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The Role of Digital in the COVID-19 Social Assistance Response

Brian Webster — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 16:31:14 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in vast numbers of people in need of social assistance, many of whom were not previously covered by social safety nets. To meet this unprecedented level of need, governments quickly scaled social assistance reaching over 1.7 billion people in low- and middle income countries. Scaling up social assistance presented two separate but related challenges: first, adapting targeting and registration to reach individuals not commonly included in social assistance databases, such as urban informal workers, and second, how to deliver government to person (G2P) payments safely and securely in the context of the pandemic. Countries that could leverage pre-pandemic investments in digital public infrastructure (DPI)— identification (ID), payments and trusted data sharing—were better able to implement COVID-response social assistance programs and reach more beneficiaries. This paper, analyzes the role of these DPIs, also called digital stack, in the social protection response to COVID by analyzing data on how COVID-response social assistance programs registered and made payments to beneficiaries across 178 programs and 85 countries. The analysis shows how these digital systems and infrastructure allowed for innovative targeting, registration, and payment approaches that covered a significant portion of the population. This paper uses administrative data on G2P registration and payment methods combined with anecdotal evidence from country case studies to show how pre-pandemic investments in digital databases, digital ID, and digital payments impacted countries’ abilities to reach new beneficiaries and deliver payments safely in the context of the pandemic response. It further details workaround solutions implemented by countries without these assets and infrastructure in place, and how some countries were able to expand their digital infrastructure even amidst the urgency of the crisis response. The analysis concludes with suggestions as to the impact that the social assistance response to COVID-19 can have on the future of social protection payments, in terms of inspiring investments in building and strengthening G2P ecosystems globally.

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Digitalization and Social Protection: Macro and Micro Lessons for Vietnam

Brian Webster — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 21:20:16 +0000

The COVID-19 shock has underscored the importance of digital tools for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of social protection systems. Cross-country evidence suggests that digital IDs linked with bank and/or mobile money accounts can improve the delivery of social protection programs and better reach eligible beneficiaries. Using data from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey, we present micro simulations on the welfare gains of digital social protection during the pandemic. While digitalization offers opportunities, potential risks would need to be carefully managed. Vietnam is advancing on individual pieces of the digitalization puzzle, including full digital IDs and mobile money, and the next step is to put these pieces together.

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Africa’s Journey Towards an Integrated Digital Payments Landscape and How the EU Can Support It

Brian Webster — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 22:31:20 +0000

This policy brief outlines why cross-border interoperability of payment platforms across Africa is important, where the opportunities and challenges lie, and how international partners such as the EU can support African efforts. It traces some of the solutions that are being applied both at the continental and at the regional levels, explores some of the lessons to be learned from these different cases, and proposes initial policy recommendations for the EU on how it could support Africa as it works towards developing inclusive interoperable instant payments systems.

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A Digital Stack for Transforming Service Delivery: ID, Payments, and Data Sharing

Brian Webster — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 18:36:39 +0000

Digital technologies are changing how the world interacts and transacts. From opening bank accounts to parents enrolling their children in school and social safety net programs verifying a new beneficiary, to businesses applying for licenses, day-to-day activities are becoming increasingly automated and integrated. Apart from reducing costs and spurring innovation, this creates opportunities to make better services available to more people, such as by removing the need to physically go to offices during business hours to complete a paper form or to distribute cash for payments. To enable this, countries are reforming institutions, regulations, and processes and building technology and infrastructure to facilitate trust between parties and to exchange information, payments, and other resources.

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Using Social Protection to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

Brian Webster — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 18:34:39 +0000

This case study synthesizes the social protection response to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia in 2020. It is part of six country case studies developed as part of the Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19 Expert Advice Helpline’s (SPACE) learning and documentation approach. By capturing country-level social protection responses to COVID-19, the case studies aim to inform the global audiences as to what has happened, what has worked well and less well and why. The case studies primarily draw upon a review of existing research; government regulations, decrees and policies; news media; and online media such as blogs and webinars. This desk-based review is supplemented by select key informant interviews (KIIs).

The case study is structured as follows: This introductory section presents an overview of the country, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the national social protection system. It is followed by Section 2, which presents the social protection responses to COVID-19 in terms of the design, financing and delivery systems. Finally, Section 3 concludes with a light-touch assessment of the response and its long-term implications for the national social protection system.

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The Digitalisation of Social Protection Before and Since the Onset of Covid-19: Opportunities, Challenges and Lessons

Brian Webster — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 18:30:36 +0000

This paper discusses the main opportunities and challenges associated with digital social protection, drawing on trends pre-Covid and since the onset of the pandemic. It offers eight lessons to help social protection actors capitalize on technology’s potential in a risk-sensitive manner.

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Can Digital G2P Transfers Drive Financial Inclusion and Digital Payments? Evidence from India

Brian Webster — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 16:35:33 +0000

Does channeling government-to-person (G2P) payments through bank accounts encourage financial inclusion and use? This paper explores the factors that have driven the adoption of digital payments in India by beneficiaries of PMGKY, the large-scale COVID-19 relief program launched in May 2020. India’s 2013 move to pay social benefits through direct transfers into bank accounts significantly increased account ownership, but uptake of digital payments has been slower, although it has accelerated more recently through smartphone-based apps. Recipient survey data shows that personal and household attributes influence the likelihood of adopting digital payments. Smartphone ownership and digital literacy improve the odds while being a woman reduces them. The strength of the local digital payments ecosystem also exerts significant influence on household adoption; favorable personal and ecosystem factors are needed for widespread use. The historical progression shows that G2P transfers create an entry point but that widespread access to low-cost mobile telecommunications, interoperability, and the entry of new players offering convenient payments interfaces have been vital to the growth of digital payments.

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Social protection response to COVID-19 in rural LAC: The potential of digitalisation to build back better

Brian Webster — Fri, 27 May 2022 13:25:28 +0000

This policy research brief analyses how digitalisation can facilitate rural populations’ access to effective and adequate social protection
and economic inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. It investigates the region’s social protection response to COVID-19 and
highlights three good practices in providing digitalised social protection to vulnerable rural populations during the crisis. Based on this
analysis and considering the local obstacles to digitalised social protection in rural areas, recommendations are provided to build rural
social protection back better after the pandemic.

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COVID-19 and Social Assistance in the Philippines: Lessons for Future Resilience

Brian Webster — Fri, 20 May 2022 14:02:11 +0000

This note describes the phases of the COVID-19 SP response in the Philippines and assesses the performance with a focus on social assistance. It provides estimates of the coverage, adequacy, targeting accuracy, timeliness, and payment delivery of COVID-19 social assistance in the Philippines based on several household surveys and studies. The note pays special attention to the Philippines’ flagship social protection program, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), and the COVID-19 emergency cash assistance program, the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), which came to rely heavily on digital distribution methods.

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