Digital Financial Services in Crisis Contexts

Around the world, more people than ever are affected by conflict and crisis. In 2014, the number of people affected worldwide reached 229 million, while conflict and persecution pushed the number of displace people to a record of 60 million.

Access to Digital Financial Services (DFS) can improve response efforts while also enabling resilience amongst individuals, communities and markets after crisis and conflicts. Where possible, humanitarian interventions should incorporate DFS-linked tools and systems in order to take advantage of opportunities to delivery more accountable, traceable and secure transfers throughout post-crisis response. The more the DFS infrastructure, ecosystems and experience is in place prior to the crisis, the better the post-crisis humanitarian relief response will be and the greater the resilience of the individuals and communities affected.