Role of Mobile Money and Digital Payments in Financial Inclusion for Sustainable Development Goals in Africa

Financial inclusion has been presented in some global policy documents, for instance, the Universal Financial Access 2020, to be a tool that can potentially reduce socioeconomic deprivation around the world. Financial inclusion of economically challenged households will enable them to accumulate human capital through, for instance, education, consumption of healthcare services, medical insurance, and other social determinants of health. This chapter describes the role of mobile money and digital payments in financial inclusion for the realization of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa. During the COVID-19 pandemic era, mobile money and digital payments kept people connected by delivering vital financial support and providing safe, socially distanced or no-contact ways to pay for food, electricity, and other essentials of life. Financial inclusion is not a panacea to the problems of the economically challenged families, despite the merits of both mobile money and digital payments for financial inclusion. The economically challenged need a combination of knowledge, skills, attitude, and habits to be able to break out of the poverty trap. Besides other objectives, financial inclusion programs should seek to build appropriate intellectual competencies, for example, financial literacy, problem-solving skills, emotional intelligence as well as financial capability.