Enabling Digital Financial Services in Humanitarian Response

Humanitarian response agencies are increasingly turning to digital payment systems as the sector accelerates its transition from using in-kind to cash-based aid. As the Level One Project looks to inform the design of country-wide digital financial systems that extend access to the poor, the digitization of high volume, low value cash-based aid transfers may be an important payment flow to support. This document explores the opportunity for mobile wallets to support cash-based aid programs and addresses a central question: What is preventing humanitarian agencies from being able to leverage commercially-available, off-the-shelf DFS systems for cash-based aid disbursement?