Some 300 post offices in six West African countries have begun offering electronic money transfers as part of a United Nations-backed initiative to use technology to help ensure that rural populations and migrant workers have access to better services.
The first phase of the joint project involving the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Groupe La Poste is focused on post offices in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal, the UPU announced today.
The 300 post offices are now connected to the UPU’s worldwide electronic payment network, an application that allows the post offices to process the sending and receiving of customers’ money.
The electronic payment network relies on the Postal Payment Services Agreement, an international pact that sets the rules of exchanges among member countries.