he UPU and PlaNet Finance today officially launched a project in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to improve money transfers and financial inclusion in Africa.
The three-year project, mostly financed by close to 1.5 million euros from the European Union, should enable Posts in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali to provide money transfers more effectively, especially for migrant workers and their families.
“We want to increase Posts’ ability to offer secure and affordable financial services that encourage citizens, especially migrant workers, to use formal financial networks,” explains Mansour Gueye, who oversees projects in African and least developed countries at the UPU. “We are convinced that postal financial services promote financial inclusion and contribute to reducing the cost of money transfers in the world, given that money transfers are an important source of financing for the economies of developing countries.”
The project partners will continue to develop the electronic postal money transfer service already being exchanged on the UPU’s international network.
Some 200 post offices in the four targeted African countries will be equipped with electronic payment terminals so postal staff in rural areas can perform money transfers more effectively, instead of going through a call centre located in an urban centre.
The UPU will also work on improving the quality of financial services by conducting audits in post offices to review management procedures.
Focus on financial education
The partners also commit to working with migrant associations to raise awareness of financial issues among more than 50,000 people in targeted countries and direct them towards savings and insurance products.
“People’s safety is often tied to the money they have, as savings help them prepare for the future and that of their children,” says PlaNet Finance’s director general, Joël Pain. “It is important to help the most vulnerable members of society gain access to financial education to complete the money-transfer experience that is the daily lot of millions of migrants and shapes the lives of recipients,” he added.
The European Union was enthusiastic to finance the project. "This initiative is a concrete response to our global strategy on migration issues," said Ambassador Raul Mateus Paula, the EU's chief of delegation in Cameroon.
According to a UPU study, Posts and their financial arms, thanks to their extensive reach, come only second to banks in their potential to contribute to financial inclusion, far ahead of microfinance institutions, providers of mobile financial services and other suppliers of financial services.
More than 1.5 billion people in the world have a postal savings account, but Posts are underused for financial inclusion, according to the UPU, which feels postal financial services could bring unbanked citizens into formal financial systems.
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