Public Disclosure Authorized MOBILE MONEY ECOSYSTEM IN SOUTH SUDAN Exploring current and future potential of using mobile money for effective humanitarian and development cash- Public Disclosure Authorized programming Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Prepared by Altai Consulting for the World Bank | South Sudan – June 2019 Juba, South Sudan Unless specified otherwise, all pictures in this report are credited to Altai Consulting. Final Report | Mobile Money Research in South Sudan Altai Consulting to the World Bank CONTENT CONTENT .................................................................................................................................. 3 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 11 2. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 13 3. TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES IN SOUTH SUDAN................................................. 15 3.1. Background .................................................................................................................................................................. 15 3.2. Access to telecommunications in South Sudan ........................................................................................................... 20 4. FINANCIAL SERVICES IN SOUTH SUDAN ...................................................................... 29 4.1. Background .................................................................................................................................................................. 29 4.2. Financial literacy .......................................................................................................................................................... 31 4.3. Financial behaviors ...................................................................................................................................................... 31 4.4. Perceptions of financial services providers ................................................................................................................. 35 4.5. Focus on factors shaping financial behaviors .............................................................................................................. 36 5. MOBILE MONEY IN SOUTH SUDAN .............................................................................. 37 5.1. Background .................................................................................................................................................................. 37 5.2. Access to proxy services of mobile money .................................................................................................................. 43 6. DEMAND FOR MOBILE MONEY IN SOUTH SUDAN ..................................................... 52 6.1. Mobile Money For Aid Delivery ................................................................................................................................... 52 6.2. Demand of Mobile Money for the general population................................................................................................ 58 7. BENEFITS OF MOBILE MONEY ........................................................................................ 63 7.1. Benefits Associated with Leveraging Mobile Money in Cash-Based Programming ..................................................... 63 7.2. Benefits Associated with Wider Mobile Money Uptake .............................................................................................. 66 7.3. Focus on Vulnerable Groups ........................................................................................................................................ 69 8. BARRIERS PREVENTING THE ADOPTION OF MOBILE MONEY ................................... 70 8.1. Structural barriers ........................................................................................................................................................ 70 8.2. Socio-economic barriers .............................................................................................................................................. 72 8.3. Behavioral Barriers ...................................................................................................................................................... 75 8.4. Barriers to the Adoption of Mobile Money for Vulnerable Groups ............................................................................. 79 9. RISKS OF MOBILE MONEY .............................................................................................. 81 9.1. Endogenous Risks ........................................................................................................................................................ 81 9.2. Exogenous Risks ........................................................................................................................................................... 83 9.3. Mitigation strategies .................................................................................................................................................... 87 10. LEARNING FROM OTHER CONTEXTS ......................................................................... 90 11. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................... 91 10.1. Recommendations for humanitarian and development partners ............................................................................... 92 10.2. Recommendations for the Government ...................................................................................................................... 96 10.3. Recommendations for MNOs and third-party mobile money service providers ......................................................... 97 Page 3 of 102 Final Report | Mobile Money Research in South Sudan Altai Consulting to the World Bank TABLES Table 1: Sampling methodology summary for urban areas, rural areas and PoC sites ......................... 15 Table 2: Breakdown of FGDs .................................................................................................................. 15 Table 3: Private actors of the telecommunications sector .................................................................... 19 Table 4: Cost of telecommunications in South Sudan, compared to peer countries ............................ 22 Table 6: Three-tiered requirements to open an electronic money account ......................................... 39 Table 7: South Sudan’s Electronic Money Regulation and alignment with best practices .................... 40 Table 8: Mobile money business models - comparison with peer countries ........................................ 41 Table 9: Average monthly amount sent through proxy services .......................................................... 60 Table 10: Values of transaction and WTP for Vulnerable Groups ......................................................... 62 Table 11: Currencies used to perform financial transaction, in Somalia and South Sudan ................... 86 Table 12: Mitigation strategies for endogenous and exogenous risks .................................................. 88 FIGURES Figure 1: Counties selected for the research ......................................................................................... 14 Figure 2: 2G Coverage ............................................................................................................................ 18 Figure 3: Sociodemographic determinants of phone ownership (N=1,648) ......................................... 21 Figure 4: Phone penetration in selected African countries ................................................................... 21 Figure 5: Barriers to phone ownerships among those who do not own one (N=770) .......................... 22 Figure 6: Operators' coverage per county, based on SIM card distribution (N=1,230) ......................... 24 Figure 7: Type of ID used to purchase a SIM card, for registered SIM cards (N=855) ........................... 25 Figure 8: Barriers to owning a phone faced by people who do not own a phone, different vulnerability levels (N=1,493) ............................................................................................................................. 25 Figure 9: Phone and SIM card penetration by gender (N=1,648) .......................................................... 26 Figure 10: Phone and SIM card penetration for IDPs and non IDPs (N=1,648) ..................................... 27 Figure 11: Phone and SIM card penetration for rural residents and non rural residents (N= 1,648) ... 27 Figure 12: Phone and SIM card penetration for urban poor and non-urban poor (N=1,648) ............... 28 Figure 13: Absence of knowledge of specific financial services in the population (N=1,648) ............... 31 Figure 14: Percentage of respondents who do not feel financially included, across vulnerable groups (N=1,648) ........................................................................................................................................ 32 Page 4 of 102 Final Report | Mobile Money Research in South Sudan Altai Consulting to the World Bank Figure 15: Barriers to bank account ownership, among those who do not have a bank account (N=1,425) .......................................................................................................................................