ICT4D in CRS/Haiti Joseph Junior Sanders, M&E Coordinator/South Rachel Hermes, Education Coordinator March 28, 2012 ICT4D Conference Kigali, Rwanda Creating Value Through ICT4D Partnerships

Project Background: Cash for Work 10,798 people (42% women) were engaged in temporary employment through the Cash for Work program, earning a total of US$ 1.2 million Paid by delivering envelopes of money at work sites or within camps (costly, inefficient and unsafe)

Project Background: Grand Anse Relief and Recovery Program (GRRP) After the Grand Anse area of Haiti was affected by hurricanes and cholera in 2010 and 2011 local authorities put out a humanitarian appeal to avoid a food crisis in the near future CRS conducted rapid assessment and results showed sufficient food but people lack purchasing power One year emergency food support project (ESFP) using food vouchers

How to efficiently and securely transfer money and food vouchers to program participants? Challenge for CfW and GRRP

ICT Solution: Cash transfers by mobile phone (1)Cash for Work / T-cash/Voila / evaluation complete (December 2011) (2)Food vouchers/ e-vouchers/Digicel / began in February 2012 Hardware/software required for CRS: Banking institution Internet Cell phone service (network) Web-based mobile banking application

T-cash steps for program participants 1.Attend training on how the T-cash program works – CRS and Voila agents 2.Complete a Know Your Customer (KyC) form – submit to bank 3.Activate the account and receive personal PIN 4.Verify phone number matches KyC and CRS form (with CRS)

Key Activities to Complement the T-Cash Technology: (1) Developing contracts with service providers (2) CRS opened a T-cash bank account (3) Training CfW program participants on how T-Cash works T-Cash: Staff Support Key Activities to Complement the T-Cash Technology: (1) Developing contracts with service providers (2) CRS opened a T-cash bank account (3) Training CfW program participants on how T-Cash works

T-Cash: Key Benefits Speed, Security, Cost T-Cash (659 transfers)Fonkoze (561 transfers) Expense ItemCost (gourdes)Expense ItemCost (gourdes) Transactions*32,950Transactions**20,757 Beneficiary subsidy per transaction*** 29,655Vehicle costs, seven payrolls**** 63,420 Total, T-Cash62,605Total, Fonkoze84,177 “We don’t have to circulate with all the money in hand…T-cash is much safer… it’s very confidential”

Participants need phones/SIM Skepticism of new system Mobile phone network Account limits ($250) Voila agents ready for cash-out T-Cash: Key Challenges

CRS is paying for transactions (sending to and receipt of) which could impact long-term usage by CRS; however Mobile banking is becoming quite widespread and profitable in Haiti so the transaction price will likely decline – and CfW participants continue to use their T-cash account long after CRS stops filling it – businesses and persons have T-cash accounts T-Cash: Sustainability

Context of the e- voucher 1.Program participants: 7,000 in Grande Anse * 1/3 rural without mobile reception * 1/3 rural with mobile reception * 1/3 peri-urban with mobile reception (i.e. Jeremie) 2. Program participant phones are NOT required: participant phones are not necessarily used in the transaction process 3. $50/month is put on the e-Voucher card CRS would like to enable the program participant to keep a balance on the e-Voucher account for 60 days.

E voucher steps 1- Register Merchants 2- Manage e-vouchers 3- Redeem e-vouchers 4- Merchants Transfers 5- Reports

1- Register Merchants AGENT TYPEQUALIFICATIONSMAX. WALLETEXAMPLETRAINING BRONZE MERCHANT IS REGISTERED INTO MERCHANT PRO 60,000 HTG Low-volume informal merchant 2 HOURS SILVER BRONZE REQUIREMENTS PLUS VALID PATENTE 200, 000 HTG Medium volume, semi formal merchant 1 DAY GOLD SILVER REQUIREMENTS PLUS BNS BANK ACCOUNT 1,000, 000 HTG High volume, formal merchant 2 DAYS

Merchant Database

Merchant Information

2- Manage E-voucher.

E voucher screen

Display voucher

Refill voucher

3- Redeem e-voucher ( 7 transactions) Type *202# send 6.Deposit 7. Withdrawal 8. redeem voucher 8 [send] Enter voucher ID Answer: 1234 Enter purchase amount Answer:300 Please pass the phone to the beneficiary to enter secret PIN then press send to ensure privacy Please e voucher PIN to confirm the payment Answer: ****** Payment of 300 gdes receive from e voucher ID

4. Merchant transfers

5- Reports

Report format

Digicel staff Record and train the program participants Record and train the merchants on the system CRS Staff The office manager manages the database, refills the e-voucher and verifies the transaction E-voucher: Staff Support

Physical Cost -5 US per voucher, to be printed in Dominican Republic -At least 3 CRS animators for each fair -Security agent to be paid Efficiency -10 days of data entry after each fair -One day to serve all the beneficiaries Electronic Cost -.60 US cents per transaction, -No one from CRS is needed -No security agent to be paid Efficiency -No data entry, data available during transactions -Transaction can be made during the entire month E-voucher: Key Benefits

- Dependent upon telephone network access - High illiteracy rate in the rural zone, people may have difficulty remembering or typing their PIN number - Can be time consuming if the telephone signal is bad - Due to verification process, vendor payment time can be long - No scanner so CRS cannot track immediately what type of product is purchased (verify physical forms) E-voucher: Key challenges

Contract development and negotiation – Haitian lawyer Utilization of knowledgeable community members to educate program participants Develop effective training materials – many photos and graphics Lessons Learned – mobile money transfers

Conduct an evaluation of the e-voucher program Payment to vendors – depends on if mobile companies can offer higher amounts Possible applications with SILC groups Way Forward – mobile money with CRS/Haiti

Mèsi anpil! Thank you Merci