Join us! Register for the INSIGHT & IMPACT - IMTFI Conference April 20-21, 2016

IMTFI is excited to bring this cohort of researchers to UC Irvine to present their preliminary findings looking at the experiences on the ground of existing, traditional money systems and financial practices, as well as the potential and real impact of new technologies in providing access to finance for the world's poor.

We are welcoming scholars worldwide ranging from Burkino Faso, Pakistan, Philippines, and Zimbabwe as well as moderators and attendees from the philanthropic, industry, and policy-making sectors -- view full selection below.

                                                         
                       

Day 1: Wednesday, April 20
8:15am  Check-in and Registration
8:45am  Welcome and Introductions by Director Bill Maurer
9:00–10:30am  Session 1: The Sharing Economy? Women and Girls and their Ties and Tensions, Discussant: Erin McDonald, Women's World Banking

Olufunmilayo B. Arewa, UC Irvine

• "To Send or to Carry? Gendered Evaluations of Formal and Informal Remittance Practices in Migrant-Origin Villages in Central Java, Indonesia" by Carol Chan, University of Pittsburgh
• “Generational Tensions in the Uptake of Digital Financial Services: Adolescent Girls and Adults in Nigeria" by Jude Kenechi Onyima, Nnamdi Azikiwe University
• “Group versus Individual Strategies: Dynamic Social Networks of Mobile Money among Unbanked Women in Western Kenya" by Sibel Kusimba, American University

11:00am-12:30pm  Session 2: Ecologies in Crisis: Transferring, Converting and Marketing Value in Unstable Times, Discussant: Rosa Akbari, International Rescue Committee (IRC)

• “Managing, negotiating, and converting 'currency' in daily life in a multicurrency environment of Zimbabwe" by Innocent Tonderai Mahiya, Women's University in Africa, and Simbarashe Gukurume, University of Cape Town
• “Financial Security: Laborers’ Transfer of Value from Karachi’s Marketplaces to Tribal War Zones in Pakistan" by Noman Baig, Habib University
• “Strange Intersections: Humans, Technology and Disaster in a Himalayan Valley" (Nepal) by Kabir Mansingh Heimsath, Lewis & Clark College

2:00-3:30pm  Session 3: Accessories to Technology: Mobile Financial Services, Risk and Insurance, Discussant: Ananya Roy, UCLA Luskin

• “Assessing the Need and Feasibility for Using Pre-Paid Card Technology in Delivering Added Services to Micro Finance Customers in Selected Regions of Uttar Pradesh" (India) by Debashis Acharya,  University of Hyderabad and Tapas Kumar Parida, State Bank of India
• “The Curious Case of Mobile Micro-insurance in South Africa: A View from Above and Below" (South Africa) by Christopher Paek, London School of Economics 
• “Sports Betting in Uganda: Causes and Consequences" by Sylvan Herskowitz, UC Berkeley

4:00-5:30pm IMTFI's X Factor: Applying and Translating Innovative Research - Alumni Panel, Discussant: Divine Fuh, University of Cape Town

• "How Research Can Make a Difference Locally: The Case of Overseas Remittances in the Philippines" by Jeremaiah Opiniano
• "Translating Research into Product Design:  Interactive and Innovative Financial Education Modules to Improve the Financial Behavior of Targeted Populations in India" by Deepti KC
• "Juggling Currencies in Transborder Contexts: Mexico/US" by Magdalena Villareal

Day 2: Thursday, April 21
8:30am  Check-in and Registration
9:00-10:30am  Session 4: In _____We Trust: The Contingencies of Social and Financial Protection, Discussant: Kate McKee, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)

• “The role of mobile money in social protection networks in two rural areas of Colombia" by Maria Elisa Balen and Andrea Beltrán, Universidad Externado de Colombia
• “Dimensions of Electronic fraud and Governance of Trust in Nigeria’s Cashless Ecosystem" by Oludayo Tade, University of Ibadan and Oluwatosin Adeniyi, University of Ibadan
• “Intermediaries, Cash Economies, and Technological Change in Myanmar and India" by Janaki Srinivasan, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB)  and Elisa Oreglia, University of London

11:00am-12:30pm  Session 5: Small Size Big Impact? Management of Financial Opportunities and Constraints by Micro-entrepreneurs and Small Merchants, Discussant: Olumide Abimbola, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

• “Influence of Mobile Money on Control of Productive Resources Among Women Micro Entrepreneurs Participating in Table Banking - Nakuru, Kenya" by Milcah Wavinya Mulu-Mutuku, Egerton University and Castro Ngumbu Gichuki, Egerton University
• “Informal Loan Trap: Bombay 5-6 and its Effect on Tacloban Micro-entrepreneurs" (Philippines) by Rosalita M. Dula and Marilou Pelenio Grego, Eastern Visayas State University
• “Assessing Unmet Needs of Small Merchants in Adopting Digital Payment Systems in Southern Ghana" by Clement Adamba, University of Ghana

2:00-3:30pm  Session 6: Up(S)takes of New Financial Tools and Technologies, Discussant: Sonia Arenaza, Better Than Cash Alliance, UNCDF

• “Separate self, interdependent self and new financial technologies - Lessons from rural southern India" by Venkatasubramanian Govindan, French Institute of Pondicherry 
• “Cross-border Transfers as a Strategic Tool to Promote the Diffusion of Mobile Money in Rural Areas. The Case of Burkinabe Diaspora Living in Ivory Coast" by Solène Morvant-Roux, Univesity of Geneva, Simon Barussaud, University of Geneva and Dieudonné Ilboudo, National Centre of Scientific and Technological Research in Ouagadougou (CNRST/INERA)

4:00-4:30 Keynote Address - "Buckle up! An Eclectic Journey of Mobile Money in Kenya (and Beyond) - Insights & Impacts of Research"
                 by Ndunge Kiiti, Visiting Professor, CIIFAD, Cornell University

4:30-5:00pm  Closing Remarks - Director Bill Maurer

Preview IMTFI's awarded research projects 2015-2016