Syrian refugees and low-income Jordanians will soon be empowered through mobile banking thanks to a new grant initiative, led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Humanitarian leaders from the foundation have set up a partnership with the Central Bank of Jordan, entitled Mobile Money for Resilience (MM4R), as the first of its kind in the Middle East.
"The motivation was to try and understand ways the foundation, beyond financial resources, could land some expertise to address issues confronting Syrians who are now living in Jordan," said Joe Cerrell, managing director of Global Policy and Advocacy at the foundation.
"We have a small team but one of the things they looked at, when trying to understand better what some of those issues they confront are, include access to financial services. So this new effort was launched as a way to provide, not just Syrian refugees, but low-income Jordanians, better access to financial services."
Launched with a $3 million contribution from the Gates Foundation, MM4R hopes to raise up to $11m over five years to scale up mobile money services in government and humanitarian agency cash transfer programmes. The initiative comes at a time when the world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record, with an unprecedented 65.6 million people around the world forced from their homes.
"The hope is to try to get as many as possible [on the scheme], over the next few months," Mr Cerrell said. "It's consistent with a larger strategy that Jordan has launched, as part of its 2018-20 National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which has this large goal of empowering underserved segments of the population, so we hope this will contribute."
The team is keen that more funding will come from other donors to address these issues within Jordan. "Hopefully it's a model that other countries, with similar goals of supporting some of the refugees that are now migrated into Jordan, will see as an attractive opportunity to help," Mr Cerrell said. "The project is the first of its kind to be held in a central bank, not only supporting government cash transfer programmes but also humanitarian agency cash transfer programmes. It will make that system more sophisticated."
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According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, more than 650,000 refugees have fled Syria to Jordan, of whom 80 per cent are living outside camps, within urban centres across the country. A high percentage of those still lack access to financial services, including payment transfers, savings and credit. The linking of access to financial services, especially for women, is also a major barrier to financing for new enterprise.
“It’s difficult when you have a pretty distributed type of concentration of the population so it’s bringing some of those basic services that help displaced people have better access and provide some of those essential services,” Mr Cerrell said.
"Starting in a brand-new environment is very difficult, with no address nor credit history, to be able to get financial services. It's a really vital function to be able to go into a new situation."
The foundation has looked at the crisis as an opportunity. The target, based on the grant, is 178,000 people for three years, expanding to a million people if another $10m is raised from other donors.
"We cannot do it alone and we hope to have different donors who are able to complement our innovation and help Jordanians achieve their objectives," said Valerie Bemo, who leads the Gates Foundation's global humanitarian programme. "This will impact the whole region and help the poor to be able to have the capacity to be financially inclusive. We know that by giving them a financial identity, then we can get them to be part of society."
The Programme
Saturday, October 26: ‘The Time That Remains’ (2009) by Elia Suleiman
Saturday, November 2: ‘Beginners’ (2010) by Mike Mills
Saturday, November 16: ‘Finding Vivian Maier’ (2013) by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Tuesday, November 26: ‘All the President’s Men’ (1976) by Alan J Pakula
Saturday, December 7: ‘Timbuktu’ (2014) by Abderrahmane Sissako
Saturday, December 21: ‘Rams’ (2015) by Grimur Hakonarson
The past winners
2009 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2010 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2011 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2012 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
2013 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2015 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
2016 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2017 - Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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Where can I submit a sample?
Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.
Collection centres in Abu Dhabi include:
- Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
- Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
- Al Towayya in Al Ain
- NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
- Bareen International Hospital
- NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
- NMC Royal Medical Centre - Abu Dhabi
- NMC Royal Women’s Hospital.
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
The%20specs
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How to tell if your child is being bullied at school
Sudden change in behaviour or displays higher levels of stress or anxiety
Shows signs of depression or isolation
Ability to sleep well diminishes
Academic performance begins to deteriorate
Changes in eating habits
Struggles to concentrate
Refuses to go to school
Behaviour changes and is aggressive towards siblings
Begins to use language they do not normally use
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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