Technology & Internet

One of the storeowners in Saint-Marc, Haiti, supported by Mercy Corps' Mobile Money program.

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One of the storeowners in Saint-Marc, Haiti, supported by Mercy Corps' Mobile Money program. Photo: Lisa Hoashi/Mercy Corps

The 7.2 earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010 resulted in catastrophic loss of life, destruction and displacement. It also put an enormous strain on the country's already-fragile financial sector, which was instantly rendered unavailable to meet the cash needs of a population in distress.

All of a sudden, Haiti suffered from a severe shortage of available banking: throughout the country, there was an average of just two bank branches for every 100,000 Haitian citizens. Even when food and other household necessities became available in local markets shortly after the earthquake, families weren't able to buy anything, because they didn't have cash.

Families needed food. Small vendors and local economies needed cash. And it turns out the solution to this Catch-22 was right in the hands — or the pockets — of most Haitians.

Adapting an emerging technology for Haiti

As many as 85 percent of Haiti's citizens have a mobile phone. Throughout the world, especially in East African countries like Kenya, the practice of mobile banking — customers using their cell phones for all sorts of cash transactions — was gaining wider notoriety and usage. With Haiti's banking system in a shambles and less than half the country's population with traditional bank accounts, there was both a need and an opportunity to try something revolutionary.

Just weeks after the earthquake, Mercy Corps began working with two strategic partners — telecommunications operator Voilà and financial services provider Unibank — to conceive, develop and implement a mobile money solution for Haiti.

Over the months that followed, Voilà and Unibank developed and introduced the mobile money architecture, incorporated Mercy Corps' suggestions for improvement and designed an easy-to-use service for Haiti's vast "unbanked" population. Mercy Corps piloted the service; identified, mobilized and trained program participants; and managed the logistics of the humanitarian distributions. Our team conducted field tests, assessed the reactions of participants and provided continuous feedback to Voilà and Unibank.

Cashing electronic paychecks

Much of the program pilot took place in the form of Mercy Corps cash-for-work projects, during which participants were paid over their cell phones for work they'd done to rehabilitate roads, farmland and irrigation systems. These cell phone credits could be cashed in for food and other household necessities at stores that were also participating in the pilot program — creating a system through which local economies could begin healing.

“I wait for my payment eagerly and without worry," said Pierre Louis Jacques, a 43-year-old earthquake survivor who participated in the cash-for-work pilot program for mobile banking. "With my money, I’m going to buy food and pay for school for my children. I like this way of paying – the process is easy to learn and there's less risk involved.”

Sylmanie Prophete, a 27 year old woman said, “It’s a very good way of paying people because it’s very discrete," 27-year-old Sylmanie Prophete agreed. "People don't know your business — it’s between us, Mercy Corps and the bank.”

Keying in a mobile banking transaction. Photo: Erin Wildermuth/Mercy Corps

Mobile banking reaches thousands in Haiti

With such enthusiastic feedback and success in the pilot program, the partners launched Haiti's first mobile wallet solution in September. The launch coincided with a Commitment to Action — which highlighted mobile banking's role in Haiti's ongoing recovery — at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City.

Since then, Mercy Corps has rolled out mobile money to more than 6,000 people in rural Haiti. We've disbursed more than US$1 million in mobile money payments for various activities. And we've helped create a network of several dozen stores that engage in mobile money transactions.

There remains much work to be done, and thousands of Haitians yet to access mobile banking. But this approach is a clear example of Mercy Corps' eye toward innovation: taking something as small and widespread as a cell phone and, with help from savvy partners, using it to help renew and transform a country's economy.

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The Backpack Farm Agriculture Program (BPF) and Mercy Corps are pleased to announce the launch of “KUZA Doctor,” a mobile based (SMS) tool providing text-based, technical support to smallholder farmers in Kenya.

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This week marks the start of the Global Citizen Corps (GCC) International Youth Gathering in Doha (July 23-28), where they'll discuss five key issues that are central to the GCC curriculum: environment and climate change, education, food security and hunger, health, and peace & conflict. You can follow the Twitter conversation via #youthgatheringdoha or the GCC4change Twitter feed.

Unlike in years past, GCC representatives from Iraq and Palestine were able to attend this year's gathering. Another first: Indonesia now has GCC representatives, making this the largest GCC event ever, with 20 youth leaders from 10 different countries!

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Port au Prince, Haiti – As part of its commitment to economic recovery in Haiti and through funding by the Western Union Foundation, Mercy Corps has launched its proprietary online mentoring platform, MicroMentor.org/Haiti.

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(From left) Mercy Corps Haiti Economic Recovery Program Manager Kokoévi Sossouvi, Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) and Mercy Corps Public Affairs Program Director Jeremy Konyndyk. Photo: Cameron Peake/Mercy Corps

Congress learned something new about the power of cell phones last week – and not what you might think. Mercy Corps hosted an event on Capitol Hill to share with legislators how mobile technology can be a force for positive social change. The reception, titled "Innovation for Impact: How Mobile Technology is Spurring Grassroots Recovery in Haiti" comprised a photo and story exhibit with images from the Haiti mobile money program. The event enabled Congressional offices to interact with Mercy Corps staff and friends, and to highlight the innovative work with Mercy Corps and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have implemented in Haiti in front of a new audience.

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On May 13, the Haiti Economic Recovery Team arrived on site in Saint-Marc’s 5eme section to witness our first market fair.

Guerrier Elicienne participates in practice-based mobile money in Saint-Marc's 5eme section. Photo: Erin Wildermuth/Mercy Corps

As we drove up to the football field that had been selected for the event, we were greeted with a crowd of beneficiaries, women selling water and snacks on the sidelines and more than 20 tents evenly spread around the field’s boundaries. Within each tent, a vendor sat proudly behind an assortment of goods in a Mercy Corps shirt embossed with the slogan "Bayo Chwazi" — “let them choose” in Creole.

There were a variety of goods to be chosen from: high stacks of pots, buckets, radios, mattresses and even building materials welcomed the beneficiaries as they completed the registration process and meandered through the fair grounds. An entertainment system blasted messages on cholera prevention and hygiene interlaced with jazzy local tunes, which beneficiaries would occasionally complement with impromptu dance moves.

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Morse Alexis is a shop owner who is able to sell food and accept money via his cell phone through Mercy Corps’ mobile wallet payment system. Photo: Annalise Briggs/Mercy Corps

Morse Alexis welcomes customers into his small shop with a warm smile and asks how he can help. He discusses prices and availability of his products, which vary from rice and beans to sodas to vegetables. Morse is married, 46 years old, with one son and another child on the way.

Mercy Corps is providing 20,000 families with monthly stipends of $40 for nine months to buy staples of rice, beans, corn and oil. The innovative part of this program is not the program itself but the delivery method. Instead of distributing cash which can be dangerous and insecure, Mercy Corps has partnered with a mobile operator Viola´ and a Haitian bank Unibank to develop a “mobile wallet” — a cell phone that works like a debit card.

Beneficiaries are credited money on their phone and they go to participating merchants like Morse’s shop to purchase their food via their cell phone. This leap technology has transformed the way Haitians understand financial services. Not long ago, walkie-talkies were the only way to communicate for many Haitians — now they can use their cell phone like a debit card.

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Floods are a major hazard in Nepal contributing to endemic poverty, an occurrence that is likely to increase and magnify due to climate change. The annual sharp rise of water flows followed by rapid recession causes high flow velocities and little lapse time between the start of the flood and its peak discharge. This leaves the population no or very short warning time when floods occur.

The ensuing flash floods damage agriculture land, crops, lives, property and livelihoods. Mercy Corps in Nepal has been working in the Far-Western Region since 2007 with local communities to prepare for such hazards. Interventions have included local capacity building and training, early warning systems, small-scale mitigation, education, and facilitation of coordination.

Primary problems faced by the communities supported by Mercy Corps are inundation of settlement areas and erosion of riverbanks. During the monsoon season, heavy rainfall upstream triggers flash floods, resulting in catastrophic situations for downstream communities in the plain areas. Floodwaters carry large amounts of sediment that causes the riverbed to rise, undercutting the toe of one bank while sediment accumulates on the other bank. The inundation situation is further aggravated by backwater when tributaries meet the bigger Mohana River.

Traditional measures for riverbank protection have been gabion structures — and communities living along the rivers expect continued support for these structures. These measures might be relevant in some river systems, but have failed in the rivers in the areas where Mercy Corps works. Gabion structures have proven not feasible in rivers with sandy, silty or loamy types of soil, as in the lower part of the Mohana River and its tributaries. As such, these structures cannot effectively solve the erosion problem.

Bamboo work for bio-engineering purposes was introduced as an alternative measure for bank protection. Using bamboo walls for protection — combined with plantation on the bank — stabilized riverbanks by preventing erosion and reducing shallow seated mass movement.

The bio-engineering plants used came in part from community nurseries established with the support of Mercy Corps. Priority was given to local species scrub, grass and trees to ensure ecological balance. Mercy Corps organized technical trainings (nursery management, bio-engineering techniques and quality control) for members of the community; and the communities contributed with labor for the nurseries, bamboo and all local material.

The technique was introduced along the Mohana River where currently, Mercy Corps is piloting sugarcane for bio-engineering purposes along a longer stretch of the river. The pilot initiated here is the additional proposed feature of introducing a plant species with the potential of generating income from harvesting the plant in addition to serving as a disaster mitigation measure.

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