UNDP’s 2017 Report: Universalism and Human Development

Though I’ve often deconstructed a variety of reports released by private sector actors like management consultancies, and public sector institutions like the UNCTAD or World Bank, I’ve never been moved to write about them here on the blog.

Last night, using the twitter hashtag #UNDP2017, I went through their recently released 2017 issue of the Human Development Report (their hashtag, #HDR2017*) and was rather surprised by their decision to take an unusual approach to the topic.

Unlike the majority of the reports I’ve seen till now, which tend to segregate regions by geography or continent or income (lesser developing countries, for instance, or sub Saharan Africa), this was the first time I’d seen such a holistic and inclusive approach to humanity’s development.

In fact, it was the first time I’d come across the concept of “universalism”. Almost a planetary focus, one might say, on the intertwined future of our common humanity, now mostly interconnected through this world wide web.

Here are a few more bits from the report to whet your appetite, though I do suggest taking a look through it yourself.

While things are improving, there are far too many marginalized groups of which the largest segment of humanity is women, especially those of us who were born in the formerly-known-as-developing world.

Though I must say that the skills the UNDP’s report writing team selects as necessary for our emerging future is one that can be mastered by anyone, regardless of culture, gender or education.

*You can see why I picked my own hashtag for easier readability

Mobile Money’s next challenge: Enabling the development of a cashless ecosystem

Equitel billboard, Nairobi Kenya (Photo: Niti Bhan Jan 2016)

The latest GSMA State of the Industry report on Mobile Money is out this month and the numbers look great in the developing world.
The report frames the industry’s next challenge as the need to grow the platform beyond the basics of airtime purchase and person to person transfer.
Here are my concerns, starting with the very first sentence – “to convince customers to actively diversify their usage patterns.”

This is where there is a critical need for MNOs to segment their userbase prior to designing fresh approaches to increase adoption and build an ecosystem. According to the report, only a few MNOs have data on urban vs rural, much less on gender.

The report’s fashioning of the data available into the form of an “average user” will hinder the progress more than it will help. Look at the geographic spread across widely varying economies, there’s no such thing as an average user when it comes to a tool closely related to one’s patterns of cash flow and income sources. Usage patterns reflect cash flows – why else would the prepaid business model be dominant in these same locations?

The hard work of disaggregating the information into region specific customer profiles must be done if solutions are to work effectively beyond teh basics of P2P transfer and airtime purchase – mobile money’s equivalent of a phone call and an sms.

Many of the reasons why its important to segment by rural/urban, and the proportion of users in the informal sector and on prepaid subscriptions are covered in my old posts on Google’s BebaPay fiasco – a smartphone app enabled NFC solution for cashless public transport payments introduced in Kenya a few years ago.

Economic ecosystems, particularly those with a heavy dose of the informal sector, and closer links to rural hinterlands, such as those common in sub Sahara, will need to be mapped out and understood before interventions can be designed to lower barriers to adoption. These use cases may not be plug and play components or readymade low hanging fruit, as imagined by the writers of this report. They need grounding in the context of the existing operating environment – formal or informal, urban or rural – and, the characteristics of the informal and rural economies, depending on the segment.

Future scenarios for sub Saharan Africa’s opportunity and market

When you look at selected sub Saharan African markets from the perspective of being a micro-SME up here in Finland, you discover just attractive they can be. This is Team Finland’s futures based report on four most promising (defined by size, growth and ease of doing business) countries: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania.

Using present facts and information, combined with future insights, signals, and scenarios, the report suggests possible futures and the related implications for SMEs interested in doing business in sub-Saharan Africa. Sectors in focus are: ICT, mobile & digitalization, education, health & wellbeing, energy & environment.

Unlike the majority of introductory reports to the African opportunities, Team Finland’s focus on scenario development and opportunity directions in unique, and very interesting to peruse further. They recommend reading it before drilling down deeper into specific country level data. So do I.