This event is organized by Ministry of Finance & Economic Development and Bank of Sierra Leone in partnership with Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, with support from the UNCDF programmes Better Than Cash Alliance and MM4P.

The Government of Sierra Leone has recognized digital financial services (DFS) as a priority for the country, as it was highlighted in the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2017 – 2020: “to enable financial services and delivery channels to leverage technology to design and deliver services for a diverse range of population including women, youth, rural-based population and MSMEs.” As part of the implementation of this priority, many initiatives are underway such as the creation of the DFS Working Group, the launch of the Sierra Leone FinTech Challenge 2017, and the Government to People (G2P) Payments Initiative.

Agriculture and smallholder farmers are the backbone of the economy of Sierra Leone and source of livelihood for over 70% of the population. However, little is known about the financial services needs of the Sierra Leone agriculture sector, and the first step in reaching these clients successfully is to better understand their needs, preferences, aspirations and behaviours.

With support from the Better Than Cash Alliance and MM4P (UNCDF), the Ministry of Finance & Economic Development; the Bank of Sierra Leone and the Ministry of Agriculture are hosting an interactive workshop to explore the opportunities of building a robust digital payments ecosystem that will deliver transformative financial services for the country’s smallholder farmers and the agriculture sector at large.

Find out more about this event.