Small agri-processing activities represent a major source of income for women in rural and urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the limited access to formal financing pushes women entrepreneurs to resort to informal financing with the associated risk...

Elimination of the cash payment mode in the collection of water revenue is imperative in reducing water waste, managing water resources, ensuring sustainability and shaping rural water supply systems in the country. Our team collaborates with Community Water...

Informality hinders firm profitability and growth in a variety of ways, including limiting firms to suppliers in their social networks due to issues of trust and fraud. Digital IDs offer potential paths to increasing formality, such as by allowing the...

Despite having enormous potential for unbanked and marginalized groups and women, mobile phone-based money and digital financing system remain low in developing countries. Using beneficiaries of the Ethiopian Safety Net program, the largest in Africa, this...

While the economic effects of digitization in developing countries have been studied extensively, the general equilibrium effects of digitizing business payments along the supply chain and on neighboring businesses have been less explored. In this proposal, we...

Mobile money services can help households smooth shocks and increase women’s control over their finances, but, despite their popularity, they are used by only 33% of women in Tanzania and by less than 10% of people for savings or business transactions. We will...

Digital technologies have spread rapidly in much of the world. Despite their expected impacts on productivity and growth, rates of adoption remain modest among firms in sub-Saharan Africa. This research will investigate the role of information asymmetry within...

The Government of Togo has launched an ambitious cash transfer program to provide immediate cash support to poor households that are impacted by COVID-19. The project will assist the government response by improving geographic targeting by building high...

Health worker absenteeism impedes Uganda’s progress towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and reduces trust in healthcare system quality and dependability, two factors crucial during difficult times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a randomized...

As digital financial markets evolve, new actors will enter the business environment; thus, influencing market competition. What are the potential impacts of such competitive digital transformation on financial inclusion, innovation and transparency in digital...

The aim of the pilot study is to examine how the implementation of the mobile money renewal service by the NHIS can be improved and made more effective and efficient. Specifically, the study would: 1. Determine the most appropriate form of reminder systems for...

Mobile money services have accelerated progress in global financial inclusion. However, a majority of mobile money customers perceive it just as a money transfer instrument and do not make use of features such as storing money for future needs – which could...

Old-age pensions are important for the wellbeing and social protection of older individuals. However, in Ghana, until recently the coverage of pension plans has been limited to the formal sector, due partly to the challenges pension fund managers have in...

This project examines whether formalizing an informal labor tax can reduce its regressive nature and improve citizens’ access to public services. For the informal tax, salongo, citizens contribute labor towards local public good projects such as road...

As coronavirus spreads in developing countries, an important question is how to improve the resilience of poor households to its economic ramifications, and facilitate their adherence to calls for social distancing. Lockdowns and social distancing measures...

In 2017, IPA launched a randomized controlled trial in Kenya to test the effectiveness of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) in eradicating extreme poverty. Participants in the study treatment groups have been receiving regular digital cash transfers for over two...

The National Registration Bureau (NRB) achieved near-universal registration of adults over the age of 16 by the middle of 2018. However, there are ongoing challenges related to the registration of newly eligible individuals. Moreover, many technical and policy...

This project studies the introduction of a digital tax assessment and collection system into local tax administration in Northern Uganda. We will partner with the UNCDF and Ministry of Local Government to measure the impacts of the digitized system on the...

We partnered with the Senegalese tax administration to conduct a randomized evaluation of the introduction of a modernized property tax system in Dakar. This new system includes a modernized registry aggregating geolocated cadastral data with taxpayers’...