Status: Ongoing

Central Asia

REMIT PRIME CENTRAL ASIA

REMIT PRIME CENTRAL ASIA

Increasing access to remittances and expanding digital financial inclusion of migrants, remittance recipient families and returnees in Central Asia, with a particular focus on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The programme will run in partnership with the public sector, the private sector and civil society between 2024 and 2027.

Download Brochure

Enhance the enabling environment for affordable digital remittance markets by implementing supportive regulatory frameworks, fostering competition among service providers, investing in financial literacy programmes, and leveraging advanced technologies to reduce transaction costs and improve accessibility for underserved populations.

Affordability

Increase access to formal remittances and expand digital financial inclusion by developing robust digital infrastructure; promote partnerships between financial institutions and fintech companies; provide targeted outreach and education to marginalized communities; and implement policies that ensure affordable, secure and user-friendly remittance services for all.

Increased access and use of digital remittances

Promote sustainable financial and economic integration of remittance families and reintegration of returnees by implementing comprehensive support programmes that address their unique needs.

This involves providing financial education, vocational training, and employment services to enable them to make meaningful contributions to their communities.

Reintegration of returnee migrants

Programme Activities

Strategic market information enables a deeper and broader understanding of the market and enables targeted capacity building for key stakeholders in order to create and utilize remittance data.

Expand access to digital remittances through innovative business models and technologies, in close collaboration with public and private sector, particularly in rural communities.

Co-finance and promote innovative, replicable and scalable financial inclusion initiatives promoting the link between remittances and complementary financial services 

Develop interventions to include remittance-receiving families and returnees into agricultural finance and rural development programmes, with focus on women and youth in rural areas. 

Promote dialogue and cooperation on remittances markets between regulatory bodies, industry actors and diaspora communities across the region, to improve the national regulatory frameworks, address challenges and build opportunities for synergies and interventions.

Guiding Principles

Innovation

Innovation is at the core of PRIME AFRICA. The programme identifies, applies and promotes a range of both innovative products and business models

Partnerships for success

PRIME Central Asia benefits from partnerships with public, private, and civil-society actors, to enhance its impact and raise further awareness on the importance of leveraging remittances
in Central Asia.

Country-level impact

RIME Central Asia is carrying out country specific interventions with the full involvement of key partners, to leverage local resources and institutionalize core achievements for project sustainability.

Scaling-up approach

PRIME Central Asia focuses on leveraging its achievements and impact across the region and in the four target countries to promote policy changes, mobilize additional resources and enhance partnerships to bring the results to scale.

REMIT PRIME Central Asia Outputs

  • Policy Dialogue
  • Call for Proposals
  • RemitSCOPE Central Asia

Convene regulators, development agencies and private sector to influence policy, improve data and address market challenges

Learn More

Call for Proposals is Now Open

The Call for Proposals is now open in Tajikistan, The Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan.

 

The call for proposals aims to address development opportunities by financing innovative cost-effective and replicable/scalable solutions and models that promote more digital usage of remittances, particularly in rural areas, and related financial services to ultimately improve income-generating opportunities for remittance-receiving families and migrant returnees.

RemitSCOPE Central Asia Coming Soon

The RemitSCOPE web portal compiles the latest remittance and remittance-related data, remittance market profiles and information on regulations.

 

It is a key resource for fintech entrepreneurs, remittance service providers and regulators to understand market trends, opportunities, barriers and to identify potential and existing partners.

 

www.remitscope.org.

Learn More

Add Your Heading Text Here

PRIME AFRICA

PRIME AFRICA

PRIME AFRICA

The Platform for Remittances, Investments and Migrants’ Entrepreneurship in Africa (PRIME Africa) programme, co-financed by the European Union, is addressing development opportunities through innovations, partnerships, and scalable products that promote cheaper, faster, and safer remittance transfers both in the EU-Africa and intra-Africa corridors. By maximizing the impact of remittances for millions of families, PRIME Africa is fostering local economic opportunities in seven African countries.

Download Brochure

 

In line with SDG 10.c to reduce remittance costs to 3% of the send amount by 2030.

PRIME Africa aims to reduce costs of remittances to senders in the European Union sending money to Africa and for intra-African remittances.

1. Cost Reduction

The past decade has shown that digitization is one of the most effective ways to reduce remittance costs, by standardizing processes and removing cash and agents.

Digitisation offers improved access in rural areas, financial inclusion, gender equality, security, remote onboarding and transaction authentication.

2. Digitalization

Access to a wallet or bank account removes the need for a agent and cash and helps to reduce cost, improve access, convenience and security.

Remittances are also a use-case for financial inclusion and remittance-linked financial products strengthen their transformative impact.

3. Financial Inclusion

 

It is estimated that a large proportion of remittances are still sent through informal channels.

For many people access to formal remittance services is challenged due to proximity to services, as well access to the formal identification and documentation.

4. Formalization

Programme Activities

Strategic market data to facilitate and inform decision making across government, policy makers, projects and programmes, and businesses. Targeted capacity building to key stakeholders for improved remittance data creation and use and market intelligence. 

Expand access to remittances through close cooperation with public and private sectors, and additionally reduce significantly direct and indirect costs, and spur market competition.

Mainstream gender into all activities. Projects focused on targeting women to improve financial inclusion and and financial resilience and empowerment of migrants and women receiving remittances. Promote and support gender disaggregated data and impact analysis.

Coherent national regulatory frameworks in both sending and receiving countries can foster competition in remittance corridors and enable safe, cheap and fast transfers.

Co-finance and promote innovative, replicable and scalable business models and technologies that link remittances to financial services, towards greater financial inclusion.

Collaboration mechanisms in place among central banks, regulatory bodies, the private sector and diaspora communities in sending
and receiving countries; and strengthened capacity to adapt and scale up best practices within an operational framework that allows cooperation among partners.

Guiding Principles

Innovation

Innovation is at the core of PRIME AFRICA. The programme identifies, applies and promotes a range of both innovative products and business models

Partnerships for success

PRIME Africa benefits from partnerships with public, private, and civil-society actors, to enhance its impact and raise further awareness on the importance of leveraging remittances in Africa.

Country-level impact

PRIME Africa is carrying out initiatives in selected countries with the involvement of key partners, to leverage local resources and institutionalize core achievements for project sustainability.

Scaling-up approach

PRIME Africa focuses on leveraging achievements and impact in countries to promote policy changes, mobilize resources and enhance partnerships to bring the results to scale.

 

Ongoing Projects

The Gambia

Ghana

Kenya

Morocco

Senegal

South Africa

Uganda

Regional

Document Repository

PRIME Africa Outputs

  • PRIME NRSNs
  • Reports & Case Studies
  • RemitSCOPE
  • Outcomes - So Far

Prime Africa National Remittances Stakeholder Networks (NRSNs)

Regulators, development agencies and private sector convene quarterly in National Remittance Stakeholder Network (NRSNs) meetings to influence policy, improve data, consumer protection and address market challenges.

 

Over 140 remittance service providers and 16 regulatory and government representatives have become active members of the NRSNs, set up in all countries of interventions.

  • New partnerships have been formed.
  • More level-playing fields advocated for and achieved.
  • Regulatory barriers raised and revised.
  • National policies contributed to.
Learn More

Seven In-Depth African Country Remittance Market Diagnostics and More

PRIME Africa provides strategic market data analysis to increase the understanding of remittance markets in Africa and assist with capacity-building to strategic stakeholders for remittance data creation and dissemination.

 

Find PRIME Africa’s brochures, reports, project fiches and case studies in the Knowledge and Report Directory.

Learn More

The Global Platform for Remittance-Related Data

The RemitSCOPE web portal compiles the latest remittance and remittance-related data, remittance market profiles and information on regulations for all 54 countries in Africa. It is a key resource for fintech entrepreneurs, remittance service providers and regulators to understand market trends, opportunities, barriers and to identify potential and existing partners.

Learn More

Preliminary Results Coming In

  • Partnering (directly and indirectly) with 50 remittance and financial service providers from the EU to Africa.
  • Supporting 17 new and existing digital remittance and remittance-linked products.
  • Over 6.2 million people have been reached through awareness campaigns.
  • 350 thousand remittance senders and receivers in Africa, especially in rural areas, with improved access to remittances through improved KYC and CDD.
  • 480 thousand people, predominantly from rural areas, have opened digital wallets and accounts, with the opportunity to receive remittances into it.
  • Over 100 thousand people have received international remittances into newly opened digital accounts, with 40% received by women.
  • Access to 32,500 remittance-linked financial products enabled, such as microfinance products or insurance.
  • USD6.2 million saved in remittance-linked accounts
  • 580 new access points in rural areas.

Gallery

  • Photos
  • Videos

Gambia; Financial education at training courses

© IFAD

Ghana; using technology to provide financial education in rural areas

© IFAD

Uganda; Training agents on new remittance-linked insurance product

© IFAD

Gambia; financial education training courses to agro-processing

©

Uganda; Stanbic FlexiPay's digital payment platform for remittances

©

EU MALI

EU MALI

Mobilize Malian migrant investment to encourage economic development entrepreneurism and employment in Mali, to encourage the economic inclusion of young Malians and offer them an alternative to migration, particularly in rural areas.

Download Brochure

The Malian diaspora is recognized as one of the pillars of Mali’s development. In 2021, it transferred the equivalent of 5% of GDP to the country. The program studies the investment practices of the diaspora in Europe, which numbers 250,000 people, who are moving from collective and social approaches to more investment in companies looking for a sustainable societal impact and a financial return.

Diaspora needs

The Malian diaspora’s desire to invest is currently limited by a lack of reliable solutions for channeling investment into businesses.
The programme aims to support such developments by offering professional investment solutions adapted to their needs.

Adapted investment models

IFAD and its partners are working to raise awareness among institutional players (donors, decision-makers) of the characteristics and potential of these investments for Mali’s development. They aim to convince them to take concerted action to support these investments.

Advocacy for an environment favourable to investment.

Programme Activities

The study of the practices and needs of the Malian diaspora in Europe reveals an investment potential of almost 15 million euros and a strong interest in entrepreneurship and the agricultural sector. The study makes recommendations on how to mobilize this potential.
The program enabled IFAD to join with 2 French companies specialized in impact investment and long-established in Mali to launch pilot solutions for mobilizing diaspora savings to finance Mali-based businesses.
The results of the study on the investment practices and needs of the diaspora, as well as projects carried out with its partners, enable IFAD to enhance understanding among the diaspora, the private sector and institutional players in Europe, Africa and Mali of the economic and social potential impact of investment practices.
Document Repository

Remittance Updates

Subscribe to our newsletters

FFR Donors

Group 203
Frame 344
Group 202
Frame 342
Frame 340
  • News & Events

Copyright ©2024 FFRemittances. All rights reserved

FFRemittances