The World Food Programme (WFP) Philippines, in partnership with Globe G-Cash, piloted a mobile money based ‘cash for work’ disbursement for typhoon victims last year, ending December 2010. We’ve asked previously whether the mobile money platform is an efficient mechanism of distributing aid. A visit to the Philippines in November 2010 coupled with WFP evaluating findings of this pilot suggest that disbursing aid on the mobile platform increases speed, security, financial transparency, and cost-effectiveness versus typical cash and food distribution

There is a lot of optimism about the use of mobiles in the peace-building sector and in particular mobile money bringing financial services to the poor. While there is widespread reach of mobile phones in post-conflict countries—Afghanistan has 13 million mobile phone subscribers—is mobile money the silver bullet? Are these services appropriate in post-conflict environments that face unique challenges such as low levels of poverty and illiteracy, corruption, and fragile security? Yes; mobile money provides speed, financial security, the ability to be discreet, liquidity and in some cases transparency in corrupt states.

Since we last wrote about the potential of using mobile money to deliver humanitarian assistance in Pakistan, Digicel and Voila have announced in September their intention to enter the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative (HMMI) Competition. The HMMI is a partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and USAID which awards cash to companies that offer mobile money services in Haiti, with the ultimate hope of expanding the availability of financial services to victims of the Haitian earthquake.

Mobile operators will descend on the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the 5th MMU Working Group taking place during the 5th and 6th of October. Following the success of Mobile Money Summit in Rio, we will be sharing our latest learnings with the industry – from our ongoing research on customer activation, profitability, to insights into bank partnerships. We are planning a series of interactive sessions; with the end goal of hearing and sharing your views helping us further enrich the industry’s learnings

While mobile platforms have been used by aid agencies to distribute electronic vouchers redeemable for cash or food, such as the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) pilot project for Iraqi refugees in Syria, mobile money is still relatively new in this field. Aid agencies are, however, coming to realize the cost effectiveness, speed, and resilience that mobile money payments can provide in emergency situations.