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The World Vision Global Connectivity Group has been formed to bring
high speed internet to several hundred World Vision locations
globally. It is also commissioned to promote the use of this
high-speed bandwidth in the areas of economic development, micro
lending and micro banking.
Wel-fi offers innovative solutions that take advantage of this
bandwidth, making micro-lending and micro-banking more accessible to
those in need while making transactions more transparent to both
donors and sponsors. These solutions tackle some basic causes of
poverty and injustice. Their implementation should lead to meaningful
and lasting community economic development.
This proposal calls for World Vision to provide seed funding of Wel-fi
solutions for their own use and for the increased efficiency, security
and transparency of non-profits, humanitarian organizations and aide
organizations world wide.
Wel-fi serves organizations that serve the
world’s poor by providing:
·
Financial Access for the Unbanked
·
Accounting and Accountability
·
Franchised Economic Development Tools and Projects
·
E-Money
Transactions for Efficiency, Security and Transparency
·
Measured
Results
Financial Access for the Unbanked
 High
speed electronic communications have enabled people to conduct
financial transactions with an ease not thought possible a generation
ago. Billions of dollars are transferred around the world every hour.
Electronic transactions have given millions access to commerce and
wealth building activities on an unprecedented scale. Innovations are
introduced almost daily. Individuals are succeeding economically in
ways that were beyond comprehension less than ten years ago.
Four billion
people are excluded from the financial activities that many people
take for granted.
The current
emphasis on training and loan disbursements is valuable yet
inadequate. The poor will be poor until they can meaningfully compete
by entering into mainstream e-money economic activities.
Accounting and Accountability
Wel-Fi issues
re-loadable pre-paid debit cards (Master Card and VISA compatible)
though our “on-the- ground” partners
who work with a variety of economic development programs. These cards
allow the “unbanked” to gain access to a broad range of financial
services. Poor and otherwise unidentified people can begin to
meaningfully trade with a minimum of restrictions. Transactions by
end users are “fee free” except when they incur a charge that is
generated outside of the services managed by Wel-fi.
 Large
organizations like World Vision are eligible to distribute prepaid
cards with their names on them. These “World Vision/Wel-fi” cards
double as “membership cards” and as point-of-sale and ATM access
cards. The funds related to these cards are managed from a bank
account held in the name of the issuing organization, i.e., World
Vision. This bank account is at a sponsoring bank associated with a
Wel-fi managed e-payment processing center.
The funds are
held in a single bank account but are managed as “virtual accounts”
that are assigned to each individual card holder. The organization
that owns the account has the advantage of collecting interest on the
money that “floats” in the account when transactions occur between
members that do not require the actual disbursement of funds from the
central bank account.
Organizations
that choose to become card issuers may also benefit by having Wel-fi
establish a bank account in each of the countries where cards will be
issued. Country-centric bank sponsorship encourages relationships
between the issuing organization and local government officials, but
may or may not be a requirement.
Wel-Fi software
allows the sponsoring agency to manage protocols and permissions for
expenditures. This self-management, combined with other system
measures, assures accountability. Wel-Fi also uses the account
activity records to create both individual and agency reports. The
records are processed and become basic accounting reports retrievable
by the individual and corporate clients. The clients are coached in
using these reports to manage their enterprises.
Franchised Economic Development Tools and Projects
Wel-Fi program participation opens new
and previously unavailable local economic enterprise activities. The
Wel-Fi program fulfills banking “know your customer” (KYC)
requirements by the creation of collaborative economic “communities.”
The electronic communication system required for system functions
enables new profitable enterprises to be franchised to community
members. Program enrollment functionaries, cell phone SMS “tellers”,
labor pooling agents, transportation service vendors and legal
document scanning services for the Wel-fi document management and
retrieval system are some of the unlimited number of franchise
possibilities.
The system allows
community members to trade efficiently with each other and to trade
with other economic communities and vendors in the larger Wel-Fi
“community of communities.” The Help for the Hungry Project (HFTH)
described below further expands this concept.
E-Money
for Efficiency, Security and Transparency
Partnering
organizations can reduce their administrative overhead costs by using
Wel-Fi services. Donors can be given detailed evidence to show that
funds and materials are used for intended purposes. The rapid
proliferation of internet connectivity makes possible e-Money
transactions that are secure, efficient and transparent. They provide
an audit trail that both teaches and promotes sound accounting
practices. Investors in development activities gain confidence in
their investments. Beneficiaries are given tools to increase their
prosperity by entering into mainstream of economic activities
Measured Results
A responsible
economist collects and evaluates relevant statistics that demonstrate
economic trends. Wel-fi application software creates new opportunities
for measuring the overall results of Wel-fi managed projects. For
instance, the HFTH agriculture program maintains a scientific edge by
continually recording and reporting feed cost, growth records and data
for specialized reports. Measured results illuminate the benefits of
program compliance and discover areas of system vulnerabilities.
Agribusiness has
used data mining of meticulous agricultural records to produce
unparalleled food production efficiencies. Similarly, Wel-fi records
will give mission organizations power to understand and improve their
efforts.
Cell phone text
messaging and automatically captured financial transactions allow for
a positive mix of active and passive data capture. Much information is
collected passively. Cell phone text messages are used to actively
transfer funds between trading partners. They can also be used to
conduct a series of mandatory and elective surveys that measure and
track both intended and unintended consequences. Wel-fi statisticians
join statisticians of the member organizations to create reports that
are truly meaningful and useful. |
