Mobile Money for the Poor and MicroLead, two flagship global thematic initiatives at UN Capital Development Fund, are hosting a joint learning event in Uganda in February 2015. Partners will be exposed to expertise in agent network management, savings group linkages, smallholder farmer initiatives and mobile network operator perspectives, as well as have the opportunity to share and learn from each other. The funders—the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The MasterCard Foundation and the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) Myanmar—are committed to sharing knowledge and learning for and with partners of the programmes.

The main objectives of the workshop are to expose participants to cutting edge initiatives in branchless banking, which will allow financial service providers to reach deeper into rural areas, to create/solidify the foundations of a community of practice amongst the programmes’ stakeholders, and to share and learn.

The themes/topics selected for this workshop reflect the ultimate goal of delivering services and products, particularly deposit services, adapted to low-income people in rural areas.

By the close of the workshop, partners and practitioners will have reflected on the local challenges faced when developing agent networks in rural areas and how to overcome those challenges based on the experience of their peers or exchanges with their peers. They will be equipped to set up clear and efficient partnerships and to amend and/or create new policies enabling the development of the digital financial ecosystem in their respective countries.

Follow the event on www.uncdf.org/DFSgorural

About MM4P
Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P) is a global programme supported by UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, managed from UNCDF Brussels. The programme provides support to branchless and mobile financial services in a select group of least developed countries (LDCs) to demonstrate how the correct mix of financial, technical and policy support can build a robust branchless and mobile financial services ecosystem that reaches low-income people in LDCs.

About MicroLead
MicroLead is a UNCDF global programme initiated in 2008 to meet the challenges of providing deposit services to low-income rural people who are currently un- or under-banked in order to enhance their capacities to weather shocks, smooth income streams, and save the future. With the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The MasterCard Foundation and the LIFT Fund in Myanmar, MicroLead is working with a variety of FSPs and TSPs to reach rural markets with demand-driven, responsibly priced products offered via alternative delivery channels in combination with financial education so that customers not only have access but actually use quality services.

About UNCDF
UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 48 least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their small businesses by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital. UNCDF programmes help to empower women, and are designed to catalyse larger capital flows from the private sector, national governments and development partners, for maximum impact toward the Millennium Development Goals.