THE mSTAR PROJECTOver 7 years of implementation, from 2012 to 2019, the mSTAR project helped usher in the era of digital development. Led by FHI 360 and funded by USAID, mSTAR worked closely with USAID’s Global Development Lab and Missions, implementing partners, civil society, local governments and the private sector. Across digital inclusion, digital financial services, development informatics, digital tools in agriculture and knowledge sharing, mSTAR accomplished a wide-range of successes that helped propel the digital development sector forward. See mSTAR’s major accomplishments below.

KEY STATS

Learning documents produced

725

Countries worked in26

42,570Onboarded users of digital services

54,490Views and downloads of learning products

Events329

People who attended events

17,826

Partners worked with101

ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS

Æ mSTAR launches!

Æ mSTAR holds the Mobiles! conference with 300 attendees.

Æ Began operations in Bangladesh to digitize implementing partner payment streams. It grew into a four-year effort that enrolled over 36,500 individuals, the majority of whom were women, into digital financial service accounts and helped USAID implementing partners (IPs) and their beneficiaries transact over $2.7 million digitally, created two new loan products, and worked with over 10 IPs.

Æ Initiated work in Mozambique on groundbreaking research into optical character recognition, mobile access and usage, and agriculture.

Æ Held the Spotlight on Mobiles for Development in Asia Forum where 100 stakeholders gathered to discuss how to apply technology innovations in Asia to development projects.

Æ Began work on the Mozambique mVacciNation study with Vodafone and GlaxoSmithKline to examine whether mobile health applications have an impact on increasing vaccination coverage.

Æ mSTAR/Bangladesh organized a Mobile Money Consultative Group, providing a platform for organizations to discuss opportunities, challenges, gaps and benefits of mobile financial services.

PUBLISHED

Æ Digital Finance for Development: A Handbook for USAID Staff

Æ Integrating Mobiles into Development Projects

Æ Held the first Digital Development Training, kicking off a series of worldwide trainings attended by more than 224 USAID staff.

Æ Began collaboration with the Government of Liberia and USAID Liberia Mission, onboarding Ministry of Education staff onto digital salary payments. The activity eventually included Ministry of Health staff and enrolled 4,902 staff.

Æ Mobilized the creation of the Principles for Digital Development and led the launch event, attended by over 250 participants. By 2019, the Principles have grown to over 150 signatories.

PUBLISHED

Æ Electronic Payment Systems 101 and 201 Briefers

Æ Launched the mAccess Diagnostic Tool, providing access to mobile data for use in programming, policy and advocacy.

Æ In partnership with USAID and the U.S. Treasury, organized the first Inter-Agency Financial Inclusion Forum.

Æ Began support for the Digital Development for Feed the Future (D2FTF) initiative, which included 15 activities

Æ Hosted the Harnessing the Data Revolution Resilience Summit.

Æ Led the Mali Digital Financial Services convening, bringing together participants representing government, donors, implementing partners and private sector.

Æ Launched Catalyst: Inclusive Payments Ecosystem Partnership in India.

PUBLISHED

Æ Guide to the Use of Digital Financial Services in Agriculture

Æ Business Models for the Last Billion: Market Approaches to Increasing Internet Connectivity

Æ Began work with D2FTF to create a digitally-enabled seed system in Nepal.

Æ With USAID and the U.S. Treasury, held the second Inter-Agency Financial Inclusion Forum and the first Financial Inclusion Forum Practitioners Day with over 200 attendees.

Æ The Catalyst activity held multiple partner convenings in India, bringing together more than 100 organizations and almost 150 participants to discuss financial inclusion for the poorest segments of India.

Æ Launched the Civil Service Agency Help Desk in Liberia, which enabled the government to better respond to questions regarding mobile money salary payments and built confidence in the service.

PUBLISHED

Æ Mozambique Mobile Access and Usage Study

Æ Open Data in Developing Economies: Toward Building an Evidence Base on What Works and How

Æ Held the second annual Digital Development Awards.

Æ Hosted the Digital Financial Inclusion for Development Forum with over 200 attendees.

Æ Worked with GSMA to develop coverage maps for target countries for public distribution.

PUBLISHED Æ The Role of Digital Financial Services in

Accelerating USAID’s Health Goals

Æ Digital Farmer Profiles: Reimagining Smallholder Agriculture

Æ Considerations for Using Data Responsibly at USAID

mSTAR ENDS!

Æ Extended three small grants to digital ag grantees in Myanmar to integrate DFS into their services.

Æ mSTAR staff led the launch of USAID’s WomenConnect Challenge.

Æ Hosted the Digital Development Forum, and awarded the first-ever Digital Development Awards.

Æ In India, mSTAR began a rural supply chain digitization activity with Intellecap, resulting in in over 600 women adopting digital payments.

PUBLISHED: Æ Guide to the Use of Digital Tools

to Expand Access to Agricultural Insurance

Æ The Role of Digital Financial Services in Accelerating USAID Education Goals

Æ Gender and ICT Survey Toolkit

Æ Guides on real-time data and adaptive management

Æ Investor Landscape and Enterprise Landscape

YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR 5 YEAR 6 YEAR 7

3Events

30Products

Countries worked with4

Event attendees400

over

25Events

44Products

Countries worked with3

Event attendees749

31Events

32Products

Countries worked with11

Event attendees967

63Events

136Products

Countries worked with13

Event attendees2,728

77Events

208Products

Countries worked with11

Event attendees6,014

86Events

208Products

Countries worked with9

Event attendees5,647

45Events

93Products

Countries worked with8

Event attendees1,590

The Mobile Solutions Technical Assistance and Research (mSTAR) Project is funded by USAID and led by FHI 360. This document is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.