The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Member States have approved at new resolution that consolidate ITU’s mandate on matters relating to digital financial inclusion , reports ITU . The except of the news can be read below “Two billion adults worldwide do not have a bank account, but among them, 1.6 billion have a mobile phone. Developing countries are capitalizing on the widespread use of mobile phones and information and communication technologies (ICTs) to bring all people within reach of financial services and out of poverty. Digital financial services show great potential to...
A one-size-fits-all approach to agricultural finance and insufficient resources make it difficult for smallholder farmers to become profitable, despite the pivotal role they play in agricultural production. Over the last four years, Grameen Foundation and Musoni Microfinance Kenya have built a...
Can mobile money transform women's lives? The digital revolution has spread in many developing countries and mobile telephony is readily available and has penetrated areas not yet reached by other prior inventions. In Africa for example, the mobile adaption has grown in recent years and in 2017 overall subscriber penetration was recorded at 44% . However, women still face a challenge or ‘triple divide’ –that is digital, rural and gender divide ( FAO, 2018:5 ). The Mobile Gender Gap Report of 2018 established that mobile connectivity is not spreading its gains equally across gender. Some...
The partnership will support efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 – a world with zero hunger . Alibaba and The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have entered into a strategic partnership to achieve a world with zero hunger – which is Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2. Under the framework agreement, Alibaba will provide its leading technology and resources to support the digital transformation of WFP’s operations. Alibaba operates the Alibaba Cloud and will avail this infrastructure and collaborate with WFP to develop a digital ‘World Hunger Map’ to monitor...
The original post was published by FAO Rwanda , reproduced for e-Agriculture Community for news purposes The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have taken steps to boost the capacity of extension workers and farmers to respond to climate change and variability in agricultural practice. Under the lead of FAO’s Digital Innovation Unit, the renewed cooperation, “Agro-meteorological and Agro-climatological Services in Developing Countries: Digital Innovation to tackle climate change,” was initiated in Rwanda in December 2017...
The Digital Technologies for Resilience Workshop , which FHI 360 is organizing with support from the Rockefeller Foundation , will take place in Bangkok on November 27-28, 2018. This workshop follows the first similar workshop held in 2017. The workshop was set up as a space where participants within the developmental field can share with and learn from like-minded practitioners about how to sustainably scale digital technologies to enhance resilience. The workshop is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and is organized by FHI 360 and Digital Impact Alliance (Dial) is a resource partner...
The GSMA today announced a new Innovative Fund for Rural Connectivity seeking to expand digital inclusion in Ghana and Uganda. The Fund will provide grants up to £300,000 and is open to eligible companies who can deploy solutions in Uganda or Ghana and is implemented in partnership with MTN Uganda and Vodafone Ghana respectively. Projects eligible for funding should employ innovative ways to deploy mobile broadband networks in rural areas with partnerships with a mobile operator and projects should be commercially viable and scalable in similar environments. The Innovation Fund for Rural...
In a recent press release, UN Women and the World Food Programmw (WFP)have announced that they are breaking new ground by using blockchain to assist Syrian refugee women participating in UN Women’s cash for work programmes at the Za’atari and Azraq refugee camps in Jordan. Before adopting this technology, WFP has been doing cash transfer to refugees via third-party financial service providers such as banks. However, through blockchain, UN women and WFP are exploring the possibility of providing female refugee with cash back at WFP-contracted supermarkets or pay for thier purchases directly...
An expert FAO consultation was held in Hungary on the 10th to the 13th of September 2018 on knowledge sharing for agricultural innovations applicable for smallholder and family farmers in Europe and Central Asia. This comes after two major calls for FAO to support Agricultural Innovations Systems (AIS) and develop capacities in Europe and Central Asia. The first was the 39th session of the European Commission of Agriculture (ECA) and the 41st session of the FAO Regional Conference for Europe (ERC), which urged FAO to continue its efforts on knowledge sharing on policies and good practices...
From Islamabad : In an effort to identify a roadmap for the national e-agriculture strategy in Pakistan, two day consultation workshop was organized in Islamabad. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with International Telecommunication Union (ITU) brought together representatives from the ministries of National Food Security and Research, Climate change, provincial departments, National Disaster Management Authority, telecommunication companies and private sector stakeholders engaged in agricultural service development and delivery in Pakistan for...
A one-size-fits-all approach to agricultural finance and insufficient resources make it difficult for smallholder farmers to become profitable, despite the pivotal role they play in agricultural production. Over the last four years, Grameen Foundation and Musoni Microfinance Kenya have built a...
