Mercy Corps to use mobile money in Haiti for humanitarian assistance

Microfinance Focus, Sep 22, 2010: Haitian wireless operator Voila, a subsidiary of Seattle-based Trilogy International Partners, and Unibank, a financial institution in Haiti, are teaming with international relief and development agency, Mercy Corps, to launch a humanitarian assistance program which will enable Mercy Corps’ cash-for-work, grant and food voucher recipients to use their Voila phones as mobile wallets, according to an official statement.

Subsequent to Banque de la Republique d’Haiti’s approval (Haiti’s Central Bank), Voila and Unibank intend to deploy a broad range of mobile money services to the country’s ‘unbanked’ population and expand access to financial services to Haitians in regions unreached by traditional financial service providers. 

The program will enable Mercy Corps to offer cash-for-work, grant and voucher recipients the ability to securely ‘store value’ on their mobile phones, withdraw all or part of their money, transfer funds to family members in need directly from their phones and pay for goods directly from affiliated merchants using their wireless phones.  Present in more than 40 countries, Mercy Corps helps people during natural disaster, poverty and conflicts.

It is expected that over the next 9 months, approximately 100,000 Haitians in the impoverished Central Plateau and Lower Artibonite regions will benefit from Mercy Corps’ cash programs, which will use Voila’s wireless network to make as many as 250,000 transactions.

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