Mastercard and Western Union have partnered to develop a digital platform for refugees to access funds within their settlements.

The model, the two said in a statement, will allow refugees do digital transactions amongst themselves, their host countries and donors, creating more transparency and long-term empowerment.

The new digital infrastructure model will focus on solutions that might include the delivery of mobile money, digital vouchers, prepaid cards, and track other goods and services, head of customer relationship management at Western Union Maureen Sigliano said. The goal is to drive personal empowerment, stimulate growth and promote social cohesion among the worlds refugee populations, while driving better governance and transparency.

KaKuma Refugee camp in northern Kenya, which currently hosts more than 162,000 refugees, has one bank branch and five bank agents, according to a report by the two firms titled Smart Communities: Using Digital Technology to create Sustainable Refugee Economies.

Mastercard and Western Union have developed a blueprint that would combine digital access to remittances, banking, education, healthcare and other basic needs in a way that can be tracked.

Our plans to reinvent the existing model can help the worlds refugee populations achieve self-sufficiency faster, while also contributing to the economic growth of their host communities, executive vice president of public-private partnerships at Mastercard Tara Nathan said.

The blueprint will help in laying the groundwork for a set of multipurpose transactional tools that refugees and residents can access, which are optimized to work in low infrastructure areas.

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Global payments giants in cash transfer deal for refugees - The Star, Kenya