Monday, 19 December 2022
The University of Nottingham has been awarded a prestigious grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering to investigate the most effective practices for improving the financial literacy of coffee farmers in Uganda.
Experts from the university’s Inclusive Financial Technology (INFINITY) Research Centre are collaborating with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), Rural Inclusion, and Agri Evolve.
The project will evaluate an innovative digital financial education programme targeted at underserved rural communities in the Rwenzori region of Uganda. It will also inform farmers of climate change and possible mitigations they could consider.
Agri Evolve, a family business working with a network of over 15,000 smallholder coffee farmers in the Rwenzori region, will deliver a financial education programme to 360 farmers, who will be equally split into three control groups, each with a different learning method.
One group will use the Ostrii platform delivered by a local agent, another will use the Ostrii platform through self/group learning, and the final group will use a traditional manual with similar content.
The Ostrii platform is an offline mobile app designed for use by rural agents to deliver financial knowledge in the form of animated stories in local languages. Ostrii was developed by Rural Inclusion, a UK-based social enterprise driving economic development in rural communities across Africa and Latin America.
Once the programme has been delivered, researchers at the University of Nottingham and field staff at Agri Evolve will track the performance of each control group, analysing behavioural change and the uptake and usage of formal financial products.
The project comes under one of INFINITY’s key research themes: inclusive financial services focusing on how society can increase financial inclusion and use the power of financial technology for good.
Professor Meryem Duygun, project lead, said: “This project is strongly connected with the research we are undertaking at INFINITY.
Our work in Africa will further our understanding of how financial inclusion and technology can be used for the benefit of society through promoting sustainable economic growth and quality education, strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related disasters, and building knowledge and capacity to meet climate change.
Professor Duygun continued: “I am thrilled that our network and partnerships with UNCDF and two fascinating social enterprises, Rural Inclusion and Agri Evolve, have led to a strong bid that successfully secured funding from such a prestigious funder.”
We are excited to launch this project to investigate the impact of our Ostrii platform for coffee farmers in Uganda who lack access to smartphones and the internet. We believe that our approach to education in focusing on the use of animation in local languages is not only relevant for local communities, but also standardised, engaging and accessible for those with low literacy levels.
The Nottingham experts believe that the success of this project will lead to more large-scale research of this kind in other African countries, thus providing a scalable solution to educate smallholder farmers in vulnerable communities on financial and climate risk management.
The project is funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s ‘Frontiers Seed Funding’ from the ‘Frontiers Programme’.
The project team comprises academics and professionals: Professor Meryem Duygun and Dr Tian Han (University of Nottingham), Stephen Waiswa (UNCDF), Jack Farren and Joseph Lukwago (Rural Inclusion) and Beth Rowland and Agnes Kerora (Agri Evolve).
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More information is available from Professor Meryem Duygun in the Nottingham University Business School at the University of Nottingham at meryem.duygun@nottingham.ac.uk
The Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.
In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.
Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.
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About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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