Overview
This project aims to develop an evidence base on the economic and social impacts of mobile financial services for women and men in farming households with a particular focus on Laos and Cambodia.
In Laos and Cambodia, access to formal financial services remains low (26-31%). It is substantially lower among communities in rural and more remote areas, and lower again among women.
The increasing penetration of mobile telecommunications technologies into rural and remote areas is prompting a new wave of innovation in mobile-based financial services, from mobile money to microcredit, to apps for specific financial services and instructional videos (Mensink et al. 2018; Roest 2018) and access to time-sensitive crop pricing (Shimamoto et al. 2015). While great claims are made about mobile finance as a critical enabling factor for agricultural development, little is known about how it affects the livelihoods and well-being of women and men in farming households (Duflo et al. 2013; Roodman 2012; Kabeer 2005; Kabeer & Waddington 2015).