Supporting Digital Payments in Cash Programming

The report identifies supply and demand side barriers to digital financial services (DFS) in Sudan and offers strategic recommendations for humanitarian organizations. On the supply side, it suggests providing financial service providers with detailed revenue potential data, supporting the transition from informal airtime credit transfers to formal agent networks, and advocating for the recognition of refugee ID cards as valid KYC documents. On the demand side, the report recommends enhancing digital capabilities—particularly for women—subsidizing handset costs through partnerships with mobile network operators, and collecting field data on network coverage to inform the feasibility of digital payments in specific areas.

• Humanitarian organizations can encourage financial service providers (FSPs) to adopt digital cash transfers by providing detailed projections on the number of households, disbursement values, and frequency to help FSPs "calculate revenue potential".
• The lack of formal mobile money agent networks is exacerbated by airtime resellers who prefer high commissions from informal airtime credit transfers over formal DFS; humanitarian actors should support fintechs and interoperable shared agent networks like Alsough to address this.
• Despite a 2019 Central Bank of Sudan decree recognizing the Commission of Refugees (COR) identity document as a KYC document, banks have been slow to adapt their procedures, necessitating humanitarian advocacy for clearer regulatory guidance on refugee access to mobile money wallets.
• Gender-based disparities in digital confidence exist, with women being less confident in using mobile phones or the internet, suggesting that humanitarian actors should integrate digital capability training into beneficiary interactions.
• The cost of handsets is a primary barrier to mobile phone access in West Darfur and White Nile, which could be mitigated through humanitarian partnerships with mobile network operators to subsidize devices.

APA

TIMOTHYRADIER (2022). Supporting Digital Payments in Cash Programming. FSD Africa. https://fsdafrica.org/sudan-supporting-digital-payments-in-cash-programming-august-2022/

Chicago

TIMOTHYRADIER. Supporting Digital Payments in Cash Programming. FSD Africa, 2022. https://fsdafrica.org/sudan-supporting-digital-payments-in-cash-programming-august-2022/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=TIMOTHYRADIER |title=Supporting Digital Payments in Cash Programming |publisher=FSD Africa |date=19 December 2022 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/sudan-supporting-digital-payments-in-cash-programming-august-2022/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{timothyradier2022supporting, author = {TIMOTHYRADIER}, title = {{Supporting Digital Payments in Cash Programming}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2022}, month = dec, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/sudan-supporting-digital-payments-in-cash-programming-august-2022/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }