April 12th, 2012

 

 

Mobile Communications Technologies for Development

 

Kenya: TSF sets up Cash Transfer activities in pastoral areas

          

Mobile payments systems in support of food security and environmental development actions

 

 

CONTEXT

 

After nearly two years of drought, the situation in northern Kenya worsened critically in August 2011, with 2011 being the driest period in the Eastern Horn of Africa for 50 years. Drought remains a major threat.
The number of people facing an acute livelihood/food security crisis in the region is currently estimated at around 3.5 million in Kenya and this number is expected to increase in the coming months.
Due to long-term drought, pastoralists have migrated in search of water and pasture (both scarce), sometimes crossing international boundaries. Trekking for long distances has led to a significant deterioration in the condition of livestock, reducing their market value and income potential. Poor pastoralists have few livestock still alive.

 

On 15th October 2011, Télécoms Sans Frontières, in collaboration with Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Germany, launched the RAPID M-PESA pilot project, financed by GIZ, whose objective is to improve food security of vulnerable households in pastoral areas of Kenya, and reduce the effects of famine on their living conditions.

 

The M-PESA pilot project is part of Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Germany’s emergency response program in Kenya and more particularly of its “Response in Arid-lands for Pastoralists in Drought affected Kenya (RAPID) project”, funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

 

The objective for VSF-Germany is to conduct Cash for Work activities and thanks to TSF’s expertise, to remunerate the beneficiaries of these activities – vulnerable pastoralists, through the M-PESA system.

 

The project is being implemented in four towns of the Marsabit South District, Marsabit County, Northern Kenya (Laisamis, Merille, Logologo and North Horr) and in Lokichoggio in the Turkana District (North-western Kenya).

 

This is a seven-month collaboration initiative; the TSF-VSF program will end in June 2012.

OBJECTIVES

 

Through the implementation of the M-PESA system with regular payments as part of Cash for Work activities, the project will enable the evaluation of the impact of M-PESA in pastoral areas and possibilities to widen its use for Cash for Work or cash transfer activities in all the regions where VSF-Germany operates.
Regular payments via the M-PESA system will enable the reduction of the beneficiaries’ vulnerability to recurrent food crises in the country.

M-PESA is an agent-assisted, mobile phone-based, payment and money transfer system with over 14 million users in Kenya as of April 2011. (M for mobile, pesa is Swahili for money)

 

It is a simple and practical solution, particularly in rural areas where banking facilities can be scarce and many people don’t have bank accounts. This system enables people to send money in electronic form, store money on a mobile phone in an electronic account, and deposit or withdraw money in the form of hard currency at any of the 30,000 nationwide M-PESA agent locations.The mobile phone payment system M-PESA is implemented in Kenya by Safaricom.

 

The possibility to use these kinds of payment for cash transfer programs in the future could reduce the logistical costs of such operations, and avoid a majority of the security concerns associated with them. Using mobile networks and technology for transferring money is more secure than carrying cash; and the money goes directly into the pockets of the beneficiary without the risk of relying on intermediaries.

 

ASSESSMENT PHASE

 

In November 2011, TSF carried out different assessment missions in several districts, particularly in the Marsabit South district, in order to determine the feasibility of using the M-PESA system and the number of beneficiaries for the TSF-VSF G RAPID M-PESA pilot project.

 

In Laisamis city (total population of 4,978), TSF’s head of mission met with local authorities. Meetings also took place with the representatives of the main villages in the Marsabit South district.

 

Specific indicators were brought out: mobile network coverage, mobile phone availability/ownership among beneficiaries, M-PESA account hold-ers, M-PESA agents’ availability, estimates of their means for providing cash, level of literacy in the districts, and number of people having an ID card.

 

 

BENEFICIARIES IDENTIFICATION

 

The beneficiaries are pastoralists. VSF-G chose them according to vulnerability criteria such as: household where the head is a single mother, household with a herd of less than 20 heads of cattle, household where the head takes care of orphans. In each village, a support committee helped VSF-G to select the beneficiaries. This committee also helped TSF to choose the M-PESA beneficiaries, with at least one person with literacy and/or knowing how to use a mobile phone per village.

 

CASH FOR WORK ACTIVITIES

Cash for Work activities include road repairing, plastic waste removal and water-related operations (water trucking, borehole repairs, fuel sub-sidy, road construction, etc.) especially in areas where pasture is abundant but animals cannot graze because of lack of water.
These activities, aiming at maintaining and increasing the growth rate of the herds improving the state of health of livestock, thereby increasing the profitability of livestock farming, facilitating trade in animals and animal products, and stabilising rising food prices and acute food insecurity at the household level, will be remunerated through the M-PESA system.
These actions will increase the survival rate of the affected stock. Through these interventions, the distance and time taken by people and animals and pastoralists trekking to get water will reduce, and the security risk will decrease, as areas with pasture remaining are close to border areas.

 

As well as managing the equipment and logistics of the project, TSF also provides technical expertise:

-    Special ICT training workshops organised and carried out by TSF to the advantage of the 350 beneficiaries to learn how to use the system to receive funds and make money transfers.
Most of the beneficiaries are not used to dealing with a cell phone, and for this reason, TSF will train 14 community assistants among the beneficiaries who are literate and already have some knowledge about cell phones. They will be able to help the other beneficiaries in case of problems with the cell phones or if needed, to read a message.
Finally, if the inhabitants of big towns are familiar with M-PESA agents and systems, for villagers living in more isolated areas it is very often a discovery. The opening of an M-PESA account is compulsory for the beneficiaries of the project to receive the payments for Cash for Work activities. To assist them in the process of M-PESA registration, TSF will recruit a local assistant with good knowledge of the M-PESA system.

 

-    Creation by TSF of a User guide detailing how to use a cell phone, and the creation and use of an M-PESA account, to assist them during and after the training.

-    Provision of cell phones and solar chargers.
Beneficiaries will be separated into groups of 5 people. Each group will receive a cell phone and a solar charger provided by TSF. Moreover, each beneficiary who do not yet have a line will receive a personal SIM card. Beneficiaries will be trained by TSF in how to use these devices.

 

-    Payments of the beneficiaries.
Each beneficiary of the M-PESA project will be paid after 10 days of work. To confirm the secure registration of each of the newly created M-PESA accounts, TSF will use the FrontlineSMS application before carrying out the first payment.

 

-    Follow-up of the payments.
TSF will carry out the follow up of the payments to ensure the good progression of the project and make sure beneficiaries are able to withdraw the money in good time.

 

-    Project analysis
TSF and VSF-G will analyze the results of the M-PESA pilot project so as to measure the impact and the appropriateness of this system and the possibilities to expand it further.

 

The fruits of this experience will be shared with the other stakeholders in Kenya to transfer the lessons learnt on the use of the payment system for Cash for Work activities in pastoral areas. TSF notably made a presentation on March 20th, on the occasion of the monthly Kenya Cash Transfer Working Group (CaLP) meeting.

 

Through this project and the implementation of remunerated development activities linked to the environmental management, poor and vulnerable communities from Northern Kenya, victims of the long term effects of the drought, are directly involved in the mechanisms of their own development. Through the use of M-PESA system, TSF is reinforcing VSF-G’s programs in the field of new technologies to aid the affected populations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Télécoms Sans Frontières
Founded in 1998, Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) is the only non-for-profit organisation in the world specializing in emergency telecommunications and new technologies. TSF is specializing in setting up communications facili-ties in war or disaster zones for affected populations and relief workers. With its 24-hour monitoring center and offices in Europe, Central America, Asia, and the United States, TSF crews of ICT specialists can intervene any-where in the world in less than 24 hours to provide emergency telecom service.

TSF is also increasingly involved in longer term prevention and development activities that offer sustainable communication solutions to local communities in the most isolated areas. The TSF cooperation programs, dedi-cated to helping the least privileged, aim to bridge the digital divide and to use ICTs to allow local partners to advance their goals more effectively and efficiently in areas such as health, agriculture, education, economic development, and crisis prevention.

 

About Véterinaires Sans Frontières
Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Germany (VSF-G) is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to improve the welfare of vulnerable populations in developing countries, through improving animal health and production.

VSF-G has 14 years of experience implementing developmental and humanitarian projects with pastoralists as well as responding to drought emergencies in the dry lands of Kenya, Southern Sudan, Somalia and, more recently, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania.

 

About Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
The services delivered by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH draw on a wealth of regional and technical expertise and tried and tested management know-how. As a federal enter-prise, GIZ supports the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. GIZ operates in many fields: economic development and employment promotion; govern-ance and democracy; security, reconstruction, peacebuilding and civil conflict transformation; food security, health and basic education; and environmental protection, resource conservation and climate change mitigation.