IMTFI At A Glance

 What is IMTFI?

• IMTFI is a premier research organization focusing on the impact of new digital and mobile payment systems on the lives of the poor in the developing  world.
• We issue annual calls for proposals to researchers in the developing world and select projects to fund based on a competitive peer review process.
• Hosts an annual conference bringing together researchers from around the world to discuss money, technology and financial inclusion.
• IMTFI ensures the voices and perspectives of researchers on the ground are integrated into the global conversation on financial inclusion.
• Established in 2008 with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, supported 147 individual research projects in 47 countries, collaborated with 187 different researchers.

Recent research articles

• 07/26/16 – ITID, "M-money as Conduit for Conditional Cash Transfers in the Philippines"
• 07/01/16 - Human Organization, by SfAA, "Financial Practices on 'the Borderlands'(La Línea) in Times of Crisis"
• 06/7/16 - Economic Anthropology, "Hearthholds of Mobile Money in Western Kenya"
• 02/06/16 - Human-Computer Interaction, "Monetary Practices of Traditional Rural Communities in Ethiopia: Implications for New Financial Technology Design"
• 11/30/15 - Science, "Predicting Poverty and Wealth from Mobile Phone Metadata"
• 11/23/15 - Rift Valley Institute, "Following Mobile Money in Somaliland" 
• Go to IMTFI/Fellows - Publications for comprehensive list.

Top IMTFI-related media articles

• 03/21/216 - African Technopolitan, "The Mobile Money Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa"
• 09/24/15 - MasterCard Inclusion Hub "Expert View: Any Good Financial Inclusion Policy Must Address Gender"
• 09/09/15 - Forbes, India "Online money transfers and the "Skype" of money"
• 06/15/15 - Smithsonian "Collecting the present: Partnering with researchers to document new developments in money"
• 04/28/15 - Visa Blog "Extinct by 2020: The Swipe"
• 03/03/15 - Guardian Website "10 barriers to using mobile technology to fight inequality"
• 02/26/15 – NetHope, “Mobile Money, The Social Network Effect, and Philanthropy – Recent Research from Kenya and Product Innovation from M-Changa”
• 01/06/14 - Delta Sky Magazine “A Steady Hand”

Go to IMTFI/Fellows in the Media for comprehensive list.

Videos

• Introduction: The Institute for Money, Technology & Financial Inclusion (IMTFI)
• Social Networks of Mobile Money in Western Kenya
• The Use of M-Shwari in the Jua Kali Sector
• Addressing Poverty through Mobile Money Technology
• Nigel Thrift Discusses Errors in the Monetary System
• Keith Hart Discussing the Kina Shell Necklace

View IMTFI's video collection on YouTube

Publications

• Design Principles
• Digital Payment Client Uptake: Warning Signs and Ways Forward
• New Organizational Models: Open Research in financial services.

See White Papers

See Executive Summaries

See Working Papers

Photos

• "M-Pesa" by Ivan Small
• "Coming of Age" by Sibel Kusimba
• "The Soothsayer's Equipment" by Francis Santuah
• "Interviewing Bike Repairers in Kenya" by Ndunge Kiiti
• "Currencies and Transactions in Mexico" by Magdalena Villarreal

For full collection go to the IMTFI Flickr stream

Money Archive

• View IMTFI's own Money Archive, representing our ongoing efforts to digitize and upload images of an extensive collection of artifacts donated by our researchers, graduate students, and money-enthusiasts over the years.
• Has a collection of interesting money items that it loans to places like the British Museum, the Smithsonian and special exhibits such as USC's "Trillion$" exhibition commemorating the Federal Reserve's Centennial. 
• Search IMTFI money objects in the British Museum's online collection database HERE.
• UC Irvine's Langson Library exhibit, "Gold to Gigabytes: The Past, Present, and Future of Money" documented by REAL ORANGE on PBS SoCal. The show features an interview with Maurer and footage from the collections. Visit here to view the segment on PBS SoCal.