Report on Emergency Cash Transfer Through Digital Wallets During COVID-19 Pandemic

At the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, there was a huge surge of digital wallet opening among low-income people , as it became necessary for families to receive emergency cash transfers. With collaborative efforts from the government and public sector development partners like BRAC, the digital financial service (DFS) transaction habits of low-income people reached a new height.

BRAC conducted a perception survey on the families who received BRAC’s emergency cash transfer. A sample of 1,634 households who were critically hit during the pandemic, were selected from all across Bangladesh. The core objective of the survey was to understand some of the components of the DFS ecosystem within this group that influence their financial transactions, especially among women. In the future, findings from such surveys will help develop a more inclusive digital ecosystem that could influence women to adapt and smoothly navigate through such interventions and carry out financial transactions not only with BRAC but also in other aspects of their lives.