Research Report on the Participatory Study of Rural Women Traders & Mobile Money Systems: Northern Ghana Women ‘s Cognitive Understanding & Perceptions

Systems: Northern Ghana Women’s Cognitive Understanding & Perceptions Researchers Dr. Seidu Alhassan Dennis Chirawurah Deborah Elzie Executive Summary The high expectations for mobile money’s potential to positively impact the livelihoods of both women and men trapped in poverty is not adequately backed by evidence on rural women traders' understanding, uses, and challenges. In this study we interviewed 100 rural women traders and conducted nine focus groups in the Kasena Nankana Municipal Assembly to examine their locally self-sustaining ecosystem and perceptions about mobile phones and money systems for extending and/or enhancing their livelihoods. Preliminary results showed that 90% of the traders rely on home savings, though about 80% indicated that if they had excess funds then they would save with banks. About 77% of traders used mobile phones for a period of one to five years whilst 74% used the MTN mobile network. The reported challenge of rural women traders in mobile phone usage is poor network connectivity. In all, 82% of the respondents have no idea about mobile money and its perceived risk, and 81% of them reported they don’t use a barter system in their trading. The conclusion is that mobile money is still alien to rural women traders in the region that we studied. Given the high mobile phone usage among rural women traders, there is potential for mobile money usage when the design is inclusive of and responsive to the saving needs of poor and marginalized rural populations.