Alternative data

Use of non-financial payment reporting data, including via big data sets, to increase the viability of providing financial solutions for smallholders, e.g. mobile top-up history for credit scoring.

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Food Security

Harnessing technology to work for Africa's smallholder farmers

Spotlight: Can new technologies reduce the cost of training for Africa’s smallholder farmers, with a significant positive impact on agribusinesses and, therefore, on the farmers they work with? The jury is still out, but the idea was tested recently when AgDevCo’s Smallholder Development Unit (SDU) hosted a Knowledge Sharing Workshop in Kampala.

Five key insights to consider if you’re thinking about investing in data analytics

Analysis: In early December, the Lab pulled together key stakeholders from across the rural and agricultural finance community to learn more about the opportunity for data analytics (DA).

Learning brief 5: Big data could mean big opportunity: Why we should stay excited for data analytics in smallholder finance

Analysis: The fifth Learning Brief in the Lab’s research series, this brief aims to provide a high level understanding of how data analytics is used for smallholder farmers, introduce a new framework to understand the economics of data analytic investments, and highlight key innovators in the space.

ICCO STARS Burkina Faso Credit Pilot Deep Dive Study

Analysis: The Strengthening African Rural Smallholders (STARS) program, a five year initiative of ICCO Cooperation and in partnership with The Mastercard Foundation, aims to transform the lives of 210,000 farmers, 50% of them are women, in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Senegal and will have an overall impact in the lives of over 1 million people.

Launching into space: Using satellite imagery in financial services

Analysis:

The Partnership for Finance in Digital Africa (FiDA) is an initiative...

ICCO STARS Ethiopia Credit Pilot Deep Dive Study

ICCO STARS Rwanda Credit Pilot Deep Dive Study

Webinar materials from RAF Learning Lab Annual Learning Review

Analysis: On October 5, 2017 the RAF Learning Lab hosted a RAF Partner webinar to discuss and share learnings from our Annual Learning Review. View the deck below for more information.

Webinar materials: Using Psychometrics for smallholder credit scoring

Media: As part of a Learning Lab Webinar series to highlight and showcase the work of our partners, on July 20, 2017 we hosted a webinar with Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL) and Juhudi Kilimo – a Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity Winner – focused on the use of psychometrics for smallholder credit scoring. This blog includes webinar materials such as the presentation, recording, and responses to any questions that we were unable to answer during the webinar due to limited time.

Geodata and ICT solutions for inclusive finance and food security

Report: NpM, the Platform for Inclusive Finance of which ICCO is a member, has presented the research 'Geodata and ICT Solutions for Inclusive Finance and Food Security'. The research is carried out by ICCO Terrafina Microfinance and Fair & Sustainable Advisory Services.

Webinar materials: Last mile partnerships for smallholder finance

Media: On February 28 and March 1 the RAF Learning Lab team – in collaboration with Dalberg – hosted a webinar summarizing insights from our second Learning Brief, Better together: Last mile partnerships for smallholder finance.

Learning Brief 2: Last mile business partnerships for smallholder finance

Analysis: The second in the Lab's Learning Brief series, "Better together: Last mile business partnerships for smallholder finance,"* offers baseline insights for building or enabling businesses partnerships to better serve smallholders. These are early findings from an ongoing study of four value chain/technology players looking to partner with financial institutions.

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