Attending Reboot’s publication launch of "Embracing Informality: Designing Financial Services for China's Marginalized," February 28,
2013.
by Ivan V. Small
Panel Discussion on Designing for Financial Inclusion, from
left to right: Nicole Stubbs CEO First Access; Patrick Ainslie, Reboot Embracing Informality co-author; Tricia Wang, Global Tech Ethnographer; Panthea Lee Reboot Embracing Informality co-author; Ethan Wilkes, Reboot Director of Communications
On a cold February Thursday night, a crowd gathered at GreenSpaces loft in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood near Chinatown for the
launch of Reboot’s publication on Embracing Informality: Designing Financial
Services for China’s Marginalized. The report is based on field research
conducted in China by Panthea Lee and Patrick Ainslie, supported by the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion (IMTFI). Panthea and Patrick were part of
the third cohort of global researchers studying issues examining the role and
challenges of mobile money for promoting greater financial inclusion for the
world’s poor. Mobile money, which potentially makes value storage, transfer,
and payment easier for those who are dealing with small amounts across
distances and involved in a precarious and often unbanked economy, is looked
upon as a hopeful tool for poverty alleviation. Yet perspectives gained from
three cycles of IMTFI supported global research on mobile money (over 100
projects in 36 countries thus far) demonstrate that mobile money uptake is not
as simple as providing telecommunication services and infrastructure. Local
monetary ecologies, financial practices, and histories must be taken into
account when developing new mobile money systems. When they are not, mobile
money services may fail to reach those that might be most helped by it.
In China, mobile money is often seen as the domain of “rich
people.” Business-men with fancy smart phones and linked bank accounts may be
riding the emerging trend of mobile money in the country, but the majority of
rural and urban poor do not have access to smart phones or bank accounts.
Reboot queries how we might better design services to engage the “bottom
billion” who remain financially excluded. There are a lot of regulatory issues
involved of course, particularly when it comes to cash out services, but
Panthea and Patrick challenge us to look beyond and below the macro to how such
services might better respond to micro needs at a local level. Chinese rural
to urban migrants, who face many obstacles including in the first place their
very right to migrate under China's Hukou household registration policy, are limited in their ability to send remittances home by
the practical challenge of how to physically move their money from point A to B.
Formal remittance and banking services are limited, costly, and often
intimidating. Reboot’s report begins with the story of one migrant worker who
was robbed of an entire year of savings when boarding a train to bring his hard
earned money back to his family in the countryside.
After gaining insight into migrants’ experiences with and
needs for financial services in China, Reboot came up with recommendations on
how one might design a domestic remittance service in China using mobile money
for greater financial inclusion. The researchers at Reboot suggest that for
such a service to appeal to economically marginal potential users, it must
build upon rather than compete with existing informal financial services.
Specifically, service must be convenient, practical to use, and build on
existing trust networks. The report is filled with a range of ethnographic
examples drawn from interviews, participant observation, and focus groups in
rural, peri-urban, and urban areas of China. For the full report click here.
The importance of engaging ethnographic design for effective
development was highlighted at the publication launch event Reboot hosted at
Green Spaces NYC. To feature this, Ethan Wilkes, Director of Communications at Reboot hosted a lively public discussion with Panthea and
Patrick, two of the study’s co-authors, along with global tech ethnographer Tricia
Wang who specializes in ethnographic design and technology in China and Nicole
Stubbs, CEO of First Access who specializes in credit and microfinance in
informal economies. Starting with a video taken of migrant workers in the
field, each of the panelists engaged in a lively conversation on financial
inclusion, design, and ethnography before turning to discussion with the
audience. Taking advantage of Reboot’s location in New York City, home to many
social entrepreneurs, international policy experts, financial inclusion advocates,
and technology start-ups, the organizers had invited a wide range of attendees and
potential issue stakeholders with diverse institutional backgrounds ranging
from Kiva to Social Science Research Council to IBM. Attendees asked about the
investment and legal environment in China, how to think about credit histories
in the informal sector, and the challenges and potentials of ethnography in
development research design. For many, the chance to meet others interested in
the still emerging field of financial inclusion issues was invaluable.
With cold Tsing Tao beers and hot dumplings added to the
mix, the launch was altogether an enjoyable and informative evening. Who knew
that going to a financial inclusion round table on a wintery Tuesday night
could be so fun and productive?! IMTFI looks forward to Reboot’s research
dissemination and sharing efforts going forward as they continue to provoke and
catalyze discussion about not only financial inclusion, but the importance of
ethnography in designing services and products for the poor – illustrating that
such attention is compelling not only from a development perspective but from
an emerging consumer market one as well.
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