Over the last five years Digital Frontiers Institute has been working hard to build an Inclusive Digital Finance Profession distinct from banking. We have established a robust portfolio of 22 courses for the professionals who wants to distinguish themselves as a Certified Digital Finance Practitioners. This course portfolio has been complemented by communities of practices that have been established across 21 locations. We knew that we were onto something good as we saw our knowledge bank and communities grow but we had to measure this impact objectively so undertook a project to measure our impact as a capacity-building institution.
Our scope for measuring our impact is on the places and the people to whom we provide our courses and so we asked our students to take surveys at the end of each course. In these surveys, we asked them how they found our course content, our instructors, and coaches amongst other valuable insights. In addition to surveying students before and after training, we also commissioned third-party monitoring and evaluation exercises each year for the last three years to measure the impact of our courses on practitioners, organisations and even countries that take our courses. These monitoring and evaluation exercises included analysis of survey data, in-person focus groups of alumni, employers and sectoral players, and remote one-on-one interviews. We are proud of the findings as they show that our courses are doing what they were intended to do and even more.
Our findings
In these monitoring and evaluation exercises, students consistently rated DFI courses highly, citing improved knowledge about digital financial services; increased awareness of international examples and opportunities in the wider sector; increased confidence in their ability to use their knowledge to participate in conversations and apply what they have learnt inside workplaces or communities of practice.
Through six case studies on two countries and four institutions involved in Digital Finance in Africa we have gotten first-hand feedback on the indicators of success mentioned above. The two country case studies were on Zambia and Uganda, while Bangladesh Bank, Bank of Kigali, MTN, and Accion were selected for institution case studies. All the case studies revealed a common thread regarding the value that institutions and countries (to be referred to as DFS actors) were seeking to gain by partnering with DFI.
The DFS actors were looking to see financial inclusion in their contexts i.e., access and usage of quality financial services as an enabler of development goals. Secondly, they were seeking capacity building in the role players i.e. professionals, regulators, product developers etc within the Digital finance Services sector that would allow for transformation and innovation to keep up with a rapidly developing Digital Finance Sector. From the M&E research results, it is evident that DFI has had a positive impact on all five case studies. Through capacity building DFI has managed to facilitate and enable far more inclusive financial services as well as enable rapid transformation in the sector.
At the practitioner level,
across all five case studies the impact of DFI has been reported by the course participants as the following:
- Contributed to practitioner knowledge e.g., understanding the complexities and evolution of the DFS market clearly as well as the technical aspects of their jobs. This has led to improved confidence and competence in the DFS professional as well as a refined language around DFS that allows participants to influence policy and persuade regulators effectively.
- Contributed to the practitioner skillset e.g., Being able to sell digital products to clients through improved product knowledge, improved performance such as the processing of micro finance loansmore efficiently.
- Participants reported an understanding of the DFS landscape such that even those who were not DFS professionals could through courses like the DFI Gender Blindspot course, develop a more strategic and nuanced approach to their work in the sector.
- DFI is highly reputable and the alignment with the DFI “brand “was seen to be a positive for the participants as it gives them credibility in the sector. This was further strengthened through our partnership with Tufts University that meant that our foundational courses are also further certified by an internationally acclaimed university.
- A link to networks which are of value to them through the Community of Practice where our students have implemented in country projects and initiatives.
- Improved access to additional income through consulting opportunities and professional mobility, with several students reporting they were promoted from their current roles post taking DFI courses.
Using the example of MTN, a former DFI student reported that he was able to be promoted into a new management role as a result of the DFI courses.
“I use all of what I learnt in my actual workspace by applying them when necessary. And I am making sure that the lessons gathered from all other countries I can apply them in Liberia”. MTN employee
At the organisational level,
DFI courses are an enabler for organizations. Internally, the organizations are working far more efficiently with greater alignment within teams and units. Former students have reported post DFI courses, that people are pulling in the same direction, which speaks to greater collaboration and alignment across internal teams. In Benin, all MTN Mobile Money employees are required to take the CIDM course. This has created a critical mass of practitioners speaking the same language and in-tune with the same issues. This alignment greatly enables practitioners to implement their organizational strategies. Once team members in organizations begin to speak to each other, the DFI students through their training can give valuable input on the gaps they have now been trained to identify through DFI. This clearly illustrates that those who have taken DFI courses have developed into allrounders that can do a range of tasks successfully.
From a sector perspective, the impact has been seen in that Digital Finance Services regulators get the perspective of what hinders the technology driven side of the industry and can then create policies that allow for innovation or that loosen existing strict policies that stifle creativity and innovation. Knowledge received through DFI has led to the development of new systems, processes and products. Where digital transitions needed to be made, DFI has played a major role. MTN provides a good example of this transition led by capacitated practitioners through the DFI. MTN is currently building an e-commerce platform for mobile money users, which draws on lessons from the example of China that was learnt in a DFI course.
At a country level,
Uganda has seenthe impact of DFI courses not only in transforming the financial sector but also influencing other sectors such as agriculture by removing the barriers to accessing financial services.
Abaho John Bosco has completed the CIDM and Operationalising Mobile Money courses. Abaho works for the Rkiga Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) in rural southwestern Uganda, an area of small-scale farmers producing potatoes, sorghum, rice, vegetables and beans. The SACCO has 18,239 members, of whom 86% are farmers. For Bosco, the DFI courses “excited” him as they gave him a way of responding to some of the challenges of transforming cash payments to digital payments.
DFI has also played a role in improving the regulatory environment of countries. Joyce Nambasa of Equity Bank, and Gabriel Kamuge, formerly of Tropical Bank, played a key role in representing their banks on various committees of the Uganda Bankers Association (UBA). Kamuge sat on the Digital Finance Committee of the UBA, which strongly and successfully lobbied the government to adopt agency banking, mobile banking, Sharia banking and banking assurance. In Uganda we have also seen the change of policies because of successful influence from former DFI students. A mobile money tax approved by parliament was revoked as it did not support financial inclusion as people would not afford to use mobile money anymore. The Digital Financial Association got parliament to cut the tax in half as well as enlighten regulators of the need to consult before introducing policies.
In Zambia, we have seen that collaboration that comes about because of the communities of practice enables growth and alignment within the sector. A platform for conversations around DFS which include the regulators, have led to better regulation and ethical considerations that help develop norms and standards around consumer protection and collective action. Alumni networks and the alumni associations, or even the more ambitious Digital Frontiers Associations, found that developing new digital finance channels and products worked best when done with the cross-sectoral networks.
Highlights from case study's include:
- Senior staff of global Non-Profit, Accion, attribute their professional growth in digital finance to DFI courses.
- Senior staff members of Bangladesh Bank and DFI alumni lead in forming a digital finance association in Bangladesh to benefit the broader digital finance sector.
- Rwanda’s oldest and largest commercial bank, Bank of Kigali's product development team credit DFIs foundational courses as being instrumental to them developing inclusive mobile apps for marginalized groups as just one of the benefits for taking a DFI course.
- Digital Finance practitioners employed by the multi-national, MTN felt that their participation in DFI courses allowed them to apply themselves more efficiently at a strategic and impactful level. This was seen especially in Benin where an e-commerce platform for mobile money was developed by practitioners who took one of DFIs foundational courses.
- Regulators in Uganda who are a part of the Digital Finance Association in-country initiative have successfully worked across their different institutions for the common goal of financial inclusion through policies as well as innovative product development.
- The digital finance landscape in Zambia has seen digital finance practitioners unified and a new crop of professionals is emerging that is committed to being the pioneers in the country.
(Article originally shared on Digital Frontiers Institute on 23 April 2021)