Sierra Leone Government to Payments Financial Lives Survey

This project was implemented while I was working at a consultant with Intellecap

Background Information

UNCDF is partnering the Bank of Sierra Leone and the Office of the Accountant General at the Ministry of Finance for the planning and implementation of the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2017 – 2020 under Digital Financial Services (DFS). The Strategy identifies an opportunity to leverage the volume of government salary payments to build a business case for DFS, thereby expanding access points and ultimately the availability of a wide range of financial services to underserved communities

The Scope

Of the total 80,000 government employees who receive their salaries in their bank accounts, at least 50% recipients are based in rural and hard to reach areas where there is limited or no banking infrastructure. These recipients have to travel long distances to district capitals, to check if their salaries have been deposited and most of them withdraw their salary in full to avoid having to undertake the ordeal of visiting the bank multiple times. The assignment is to collect data on the financial lives of government employees, particularly those based in rural areas. The survey will focus on information related to their socio-economic profile, financial assets and services, f inancial behavior including savings, investments and credit behavior, consumer perception about DFS and insurance solutions.

Final Findings of the Research

Sierra Leone G2P Project. Results of the Government Employee Financial Lives Survey