Level One Project

The Level One Project is a Gates Foundation project to create a level playing field for everyone by building one digital financial system in every country around the world.

The text below is taken straight from the project web site - need a critical approach: - leveloneproject.org

Combining data gathered in the field and innovative thinking informed by consumers’ needs, we’ve developed one model for a country-level digital financial services system designed to bring the poor into the formal economy - leveloneproject.org

And we’ve created a working digital financial services prototype to demonstrate how the system works. View our videos to learn more about the model and the key use cases integrated into the prototype.

The Gates Foundation believes that everyone benefits from an economy that includes everyone. Yet today, billions of people—particularly in the world’s poorest countries—are excluded from a formal economy and miss out on the many advantages these financial systems offer.

We need to change this. And thanks to the rapid rise of digital payment systems, as well as the ubiquity of mobile technology, we now have the power to build upon existing infrastructure within individual countries to address this inequality.

This belief is at the heart of The Level One Project—our initiative to help level the playing field by working across public, private and nonprofit sectors to create inclusive, interconnected digital economies in every country around the world.

If we do, it’s in everyone’s best interests. It will help billions take a step toward financial stability and advance the goals of those in a position to make a difference: bankers, mobile operators, payment technology companies, government regulators and more.

Now is the time to build on lessons learned, leverage available resources, and strive to create easy, secure digital financial systems that benefit everyone.