A joint project by the UPU, IFAD, Groupe La Poste and six African countries launches its first phase
The Posts of Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal are now offering an electronic money transfer service in nearly 300 post offices located in rural areas.
Thanks to a regional project jointly coordinated and financed by the Universal Postal Union, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Groupe La Poste and the six project countries, 300 post offices are now connected to the UPU’s worldwide electronic payment network. Consumers, especially migrant workers and their families, can now send and receive money more easily from and to a post office near them. Among them, the six countries have a total of about 570 post offices.
The heads of the six Posts participating in the project were today in Bamako, Mali’s capital, to officially launch the service. Representatives from Mali’s ministry for communication and new technologies were present, as well as from the Posts from Burundi, Gabon and Cameroon, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Development Programme.
The service, called “Mandat Express International”, relies on the UPU’s International Financial System (IFS) application and transactions are processed through its worldwide electronic payment network. The UPU is a specialized agency of the United Nations in charge of international postal services and has 191 member countries. The electronic payment network relies on the Postal Payment Services Agreement, an international treaty that establishes the rules of exchanges among member countries.
Several African countries had launched the “Mandat Express International” in December 2006 in a number of post offices located mainly in urban centres. Today, Mauritania has joined the network and the service is being extended to rural areas in all six participating countries.
“The new service must enable the families of emigrants and immigrants to receive the support of their families near where they live and at an affordable price,” said IFAD President Kanayo Nwanze. “At the same time, the service must benefit retailers and small businesses in rural areas, giving them the opportunity to have a tool that supports their activities, which boost the economy of rural areas. Finally, the new service will fill a void in some regions left behind by money-transfer operators.”
The Government of Mali said the conference highlighted the postal sector’s importance in terms of economic development and reducing poverty and supports the development of postal money transfer services, which are an asset for the region.
Access to financial services for populations in rural areas is a major issue for these African countries. Indeed, a major proportion of migrants working in neighbouring countries, Europe or America come from there. Among them, the six project countries total close to four million emigrants and one and a half million immigrants. Globally, remittances entering these countries are estimated at more than 1.3 billion US dollars, while remittances sent from these same countries are about 260 million US dollars, according to World Bank figures.
The project to develop electronic money transfer services that are secure, well priced and efficient in rural areas of these African countries will continue over the next few months. The aim is to continually extend the network and promote the sending of remittances through secure and formal channels.