Abstract:The humanitarian sector has gone through a major shift toward injection of cash into vulnerable communities as its core modality. On this trajectory toward direct currency injection, something new has happened: namely the empowerment of communities to create their own local currencies, a tool known as Complementary Currency systems. This study mobilizes the concepts of endogenous regional development, import substitution and local market linkages as elaborated by Albert Hirschman and Jane Jacobs, to analyze th… Show more
“…For elaboration on time trends we refer to Usage Notes and Section 4.1 of Ussher et al . (2021) 18 . Fig.…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Ussher et al . 18 discuss practical challenges facing modern models of humanitarian and development aid; they analyze a version of the dataset described here to study the potential of CICs to improve cash transfer programs and develop local markets. Community currencies have a long history of meeting liquidity needs in local economies, and have been implemented all over the world 19 – 23 .…”
Section: Background and Summarymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Future researchers may find it desirable to consider also data from other sources, such as official statistics, public health surveillance, or representative surveys (e.g., FinAccess 16 or Financial Inclusion Insights 55 ). Indeed, doing so would enable research into digital and financial inclusion 28 – 32 , informal credit and insurance arrangements 15 , 26 , 33 , 34 , economic growth and disruption 3 , 4 , 18 , and other relevant topics in development. The values of area_name provided in the user dataset generally correspond to past or present administrative areas in Kenya, making linkage possible.…”
Section: Usage Notesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Patterns in the adoption and use of Sarafu during this period are strongly shaped by past and present initiatives aimed at introducing the complementary currency to targeted communities. GE has a history of conducting such campaigns in collaboration with partner organizations 11 , 18 . This section provides reference material for targeted introductions, past and present.…”
Section: Usage Notesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Ussher et al . 18 provide a richer history of GE up to and including the data collection period. Marion 11 lists the longest-running community currencies that joined the Sarafu system.…”
We describe a dataset of account information and detailed transaction records for a digital complementary currency in Kenya. This “Sarafu system” initially encompassed several local, physical community currencies, which began transitioning to a feature-phone mobile interface in 2017. One unit of “Sarafu” is roughly equivalent in value to a Kenyan shilling. The published data includes anonymized account information for around 55,000 users and records of all Sarafu transactions conducted from January 25, 2020 to June 15, 2021. Transactions totaling around 300 million Sarafu capture various economic and financial activities such as purchases, transfers, and participation in savings and lending groups. So-called “chamas” are key to the operation of the Sarafu system and many such groups are labeled in the data. Describing this data contributes to research on the operation of community currencies, monetary systems, and economic networks in marginalized, food insecure areas. The observation period includes the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and several documented pilot projects and interventions.
“…For elaboration on time trends we refer to Usage Notes and Section 4.1 of Ussher et al . (2021) 18 . Fig.…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Ussher et al . 18 discuss practical challenges facing modern models of humanitarian and development aid; they analyze a version of the dataset described here to study the potential of CICs to improve cash transfer programs and develop local markets. Community currencies have a long history of meeting liquidity needs in local economies, and have been implemented all over the world 19 – 23 .…”
Section: Background and Summarymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Future researchers may find it desirable to consider also data from other sources, such as official statistics, public health surveillance, or representative surveys (e.g., FinAccess 16 or Financial Inclusion Insights 55 ). Indeed, doing so would enable research into digital and financial inclusion 28 – 32 , informal credit and insurance arrangements 15 , 26 , 33 , 34 , economic growth and disruption 3 , 4 , 18 , and other relevant topics in development. The values of area_name provided in the user dataset generally correspond to past or present administrative areas in Kenya, making linkage possible.…”
Section: Usage Notesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Patterns in the adoption and use of Sarafu during this period are strongly shaped by past and present initiatives aimed at introducing the complementary currency to targeted communities. GE has a history of conducting such campaigns in collaboration with partner organizations 11 , 18 . This section provides reference material for targeted introductions, past and present.…”
Section: Usage Notesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Ussher et al . 18 provide a richer history of GE up to and including the data collection period. Marion 11 lists the longest-running community currencies that joined the Sarafu system.…”
We describe a dataset of account information and detailed transaction records for a digital complementary currency in Kenya. This “Sarafu system” initially encompassed several local, physical community currencies, which began transitioning to a feature-phone mobile interface in 2017. One unit of “Sarafu” is roughly equivalent in value to a Kenyan shilling. The published data includes anonymized account information for around 55,000 users and records of all Sarafu transactions conducted from January 25, 2020 to June 15, 2021. Transactions totaling around 300 million Sarafu capture various economic and financial activities such as purchases, transfers, and participation in savings and lending groups. So-called “chamas” are key to the operation of the Sarafu system and many such groups are labeled in the data. Describing this data contributes to research on the operation of community currencies, monetary systems, and economic networks in marginalized, food insecure areas. The observation period includes the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and several documented pilot projects and interventions.
Research SummaryWith over a billion people inhabiting informal settlements worldwide, micro‐entrepreneurs are vital to local economies. Complementary currencies have emerged as tools to sustain these entrepreneurs, providing alternative trading and payment options. This study explores the daily strategies of micro‐entrepreneurs in Kenyan informal settlements using the digital complementary currency Sarafu. Our findings reveal that complementary currencies act as external enablers, transforming the local economies by enhancing payment systems, influencing supply and demand, and altering pricing structures. Significantly, when integrated with savings groups, they provide financial inclusion and collective purpose, strengthening local business networks. This research enriches our understanding of the mechanisms micro‐entrepreneurs deploy to leverage complementary currencies for growth, emphasizing the need for further exploration into the role of complementary currencies in supporting entrepreneurship.Managerial SummaryThis study explores how a complementary currency called Sarafu benefits micro‐entrepreneurs in Kenyan informal settlements. Sarafu acts as catalysts for entrepreneurship by boosting local markets and empowering community cooperation. Our findings reveal that micro‐entrepreneurs use Sarafu to adapt to the unique challenges of informal economies. They employ smart strategies like flexible pricing and inventory management to keep Sarafu flowing smoothly. Sarafu serves a dual purpose: a means of immediate spending and a tool for saving and growing capital. It also strengthens local business networks and creates a sense of collective purpose. For practitioners, this study suggests using complementary currencies to support local business networks, promote collective savings, and align the issuance of complementary currencies with local assets to foster sustainable entrepreneurship in informal economies.
Increasingly, our cities are confronted with crises. Fuelled by climate change and a loss of biodiversity, increasing inequalities and fragmentation, challenges range from social unrest and outbursts of violence to heatwaves, torrential rainfall, or epidemics. As crises require rapid interventions that overwhelm human decision-making capacity, AI has been portrayed as a potential avenue to support or even automate decision-making. In this paper, I analyse the specific challenges of AI in urban crisis management as an example and test case for many super wicked decision problems. These super wicked problems are characterised by a coincidence of great complexity and urgency. I will argue that from this combination, specific challenges arise that are only partially covered in the current guidelines and standards around trustworthy or human-centered AI. By following a decision-centric perspective, I argue that to solve urgent crisis problems, the context, capacities, and networks need to be addressed. AI for crisis response needs to follow dedicated design principles that ensure (i) human control in complex social networks, where many humans interact with AI; (ii) principled design that considers core principles of crisis response such as solidarity and humanity; (iii) designing for the most vulnerable. As such this paper is meant to inspire researchers, AI developers and practitioners in the space of AI for (urban) crisis response – and other urgent and complex problems that urban planners are confronted with.
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