Karen Sowon
Digital Financial Inclusion: Challenges in the Use of IDs for Mobile Money Services
Research Abstract:
Mobile money has become central to financial inclusion. It has provided an effective digital tool to extend basic financial services to individuals in Africa, and other developing economies who would otherwise be financially excluded. Given the financial inclusion barriers arising from traditional brick and mortar banking services, mobile money adopts some unique implementation features to overcome challenges---like those related to access. For example, human agents act on behalf of mobile money providers to offer last mile access and provide a trusted mechanism for people to transact. Other important dimensions like security are achieved through know-your-customer (KYC) procedures such as SIM registration using official identification and/or biometrics. In this talk, I will discuss the insights from two user studies in Kenya and Tanzania, on the challenges that arise from such mobile money implementation features. I will specifically talk about issues related to identification requirements, and interactions between users and agents in the mobile money ecosystem. I will also highlight some implications to research and policy and future research directions.
Bio:
Karen Sowon is a postdoctoral research associate at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Her research focuses on analyzing the adoption and use of digital and emerging technologies among understudied and underserved populations---with a focus on the behavioral and socio-cultural aspects of adoption and use, as well as human factors in privacy and security, with the aim to design culturally relevant, safe, inclusive and usable technology solutions. Her current research at CMU seeks to understand the challenges and opportunities around the use of mobile money systems as enablers of digital financial inclusion in Africa. Before joining CMU, Karen worked as a research fellow at the Cybersecurity Capacity Centre for Southern Africa (C3SA). She received her PhD in Information Systems from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Her doctoral research investigated the socio-cultural issues affecting the use of mobile health interventions for maternal healthcare-seeking among women in Kenya.