Digital Financial Services Project (DFSP) country Think Tank Report

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Browsing Digital Financial Services Project (DFSP) country Think Tank Report by Author "Mwighusa, Dennis"

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    Digital Financial Services through Mobile Phones: Status and Challenges Faced by Rural Women in Tanzania
    (AERC, 2025) Daniel, Lanta; Mwighusa, Dennis; Diyamett, Bitrina
    Financial services are key to economic growth and societal well-being, boosting access to credit, savings, and overall development. Despite progress in mobile phone and mobile money adoption in Sub- Saharan Africa particularly Tanzania, financial exclusion in the country remains high compared to other East African countries, with significant gender and urban-rural disparities. This study examines digital financial inclusion in Tanzania, focusing on rural women's experiences and challenges. Using focus group discussions and policy analysis, the study highlights major gaps in awareness, usage, and understanding of mobile money services, as well as overlooked policy aspects. Key findings reveal that while awareness of digital financial services is widespread, rural communities—especially women—lack a thorough understanding of these services. This gap in comprehension limits their usage, indicating that mere awareness is insufficient. The study underscores the importance of tailored interventions, such as community engagement, capacity building for agents, and targeted policy frameworks, to address these challenges. Recommendations are provided for both the public sector and the private sector on how to enhance financial inclusion, ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital financial landscape.
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    Digital Innovation Ecosystem Development for Financial Inclusion and Market Access: The Case of Tanzania
    (African Economic Research Consortium, 2024-08-15) Mwighusa, Dennis; Diyamett, Bitrina
    There is now consensus that innovative financial services that are provided in a more equitable and inclusive way are the cornerstone of social and economic development. In this regard, although Tanzania has recorded a significant growth in the level of financial service provision and has reached out to a good number of people in the country, especially through digital means, the country might not benefit from this wide coverage of financial services because it faces a glaring gap in inclusiveness. The reasons for the persistence of such exclusion – in spite of policies to address the challenges – are not clearly known. This work is an attempt to close this knowledge gap – basically towards understanding the factors contributing to both gender and location-related exclusion with the purpose to inform inclusion policies. The findings indicate that the major challenges revolve around inappropriate marketing strategies for the digital financial services for the poor; inappropriate products in terms of price and context fitness; and cost related to product development and service provision on the part of the providers. The existing inclusion policies did not seem to have helped much as they have some serious gaps in their design.