Growing security, access and liquidity concerns require new solutions for delivering humanitarian assistance, especially to women. The solutions for digital cash in Afghanistan exist, but the consumer culture does not, yet.
Project overview
Hesabpay provides digital cash-based transfers to vulnerable communities, enabling them to have their own digital accounts to cash out directly or do cashless transactions in hundreds of merchants.
The challenge
The solution
HesabPay is an Afghanistan fintech solution providing secure digital cash transfers to vulnerable communities in Afghanistan. With HesabPay, WFP recipients, particularly women, can access aid through digital wallets, SMS-based phones or debit cards. They no longer have to wait in long queues providing dignity of access, and with their own financial accounts they are empowered to withdraw cash or make purchases at 1,000 local merchants. Operationally, HesabPay’s blockchain-backed reporting ensures real-time transparency, enhancing WFP’s operational accountability
Results
Since partnering with WFP in 2023, HesabPay in Afghanistan has helped 26,000 people open digital accounts, increasing access to cash assistance while fostering financial inclusion, reaching a total of 182,000 people. The solution is now expanding as part of WFP’s social safety net programme, reaching 140,000 more people under the Mother and Child Benefit Programme.
“Investing in women means achieving long and lasting multiplier effect on their families and communities. Women have a central role in social dynamics and are a source of social cohesion.”
Alejandra Rivera-Stapper, Innovation and Market Development Lead at WFP Afghanistan
Last updated:
07/04/2025
