"Beyond the Buzz" Blog Series to Launch Next Week

Leading up to the release of the New America's latest Global Assets Project report -- Beyond the Buzz: The Allure and Challenge of Using Mobile Phones to Increase Youth Financial Inclusion -- on September 12th, YouthSave is hosting a blog series that highlights the paper’s findings. Over the next week, we will delve into the buzz around mobile phones as an accelerator of youth financial inclusion, and consider the realities that might temper our enthusiasm, and that might inspire the field to seek solutions to various barriers.

Drawing on existing, yet limited data on and experience with applying mobile phones to advance financial inclusion, Beyond the Buzz explores the use of mobile phones to provide financial services to youth, especially those from low-income backgrounds. The paper reveals a nuanced and often challenging reality behind the hype surrounding mobile-based financial solutions for youth.

Much of the trends analysis presented in this report stems from data collected from the 2013 Pulse Taking Survey on Technology for Youth Financial Inclusion, conducted by New America Foundation, in partnership with Making Cents International. Over 100 youth financial inclusion experts shared their stories on both how they currently use and how they expect to use technology-based tools to advance youth financial inclusion. For those of our readers attending the Making Cents International Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference next week, you can attend a session at 10:45 AM on Thursday Sept 12th that explores the survey results, as well as the issues and themes explored in Beyond the Buzz.

Until then, you can receive updates and follow the blog series over twitter by connecting with @GlobalAssetsNA and following #YouthSave.