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English: In an effort to align with the USAID Digital Strategy and recognize USAID Missions, Bureaus and partners that are empowering countries in a digital age, USAID launched the 2022 Digital Development Awards (the Digis), the fourth round of these awards. The Digis recognize and celebrate USAID-funded projects and activities that use digital technology to sustain open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystems in order to improve measurable development and humanitarian-assistance outcomes. After receiving nearly 200 applications from USAID Missions around the world, five winners were selected for the 2022 Digital Development Awards, including USAID/Colombia: Rural Finance Initiative, implemented by Chemonics.

Colombia enjoys a sophisticated financial sector that serves urban areas well, but has historically failed to reach rural areas marginalized by decades of civil war. Low use of digital financial services in rural areas is exacerbated by little to no internet connectivity, few kiosks in which to make mobile payment deposits and withdrawals, a low level of digital literacy, and a lack of trust in services overall.

In 2018, ACH-Colombia, a digital payments and transfers company, designed the Transfiya platform to help drive digital financial inclusion at scale by accepting immediate low-value financial transactions. To support this effort, the USAID/Colombia Rural Finance Initiative (RFI) awarded challenge grants to ACH-Colombia to stimulate innovation in this platform’s development. With its holistic approach to stakeholder engagement, RFI scaled access to digital financial services beyond urban areas to lower income urban and rural customers working in the informal sector, including micro-entrepreneurs, women, and vulnerable populations, like the Afro-Colombian community.

Angie, a local arepa maker located in Boyacá Province, Colombia, has been preparing and selling arepas for several years. She uses the Transfiya mobile application to receive money from her customers more easily, and to help transfer payments with vendors and customers. These innovations help digitize and accelerate her business.

When asked how Transfiya has helped her business, Angie shared that, “It has helped us to grow because we can receive payments from buyers and also handle the money for the suppliers through the Transfiya platform.”

The project designed Transfiya with user preferences and scalability in mind. From its launch in September 2019 through February 2022, Transfiya processed over 10 million transactions worth over $1.2 billion Colombian pesos (approximately $316 million USD). In 2022, Transfiya processed more than 22 million transactions for a total of $3.5 billion Colombian pesos ($638 million USD).

Photo Credit: Hanz Rippe/Paramo Films for USAID