DFS Champions Program

 

In March 2021, JoPACC announced the launch of its Digital Financial Services (DFS) Champions Program. The program aims to recognize change-makers -champions- who contribute to the expansion and acceptance of digital financial services. The targeted champions can be community members or employed workers who are proactively taking the initiative to assist digital financial services users, spread awareness, or implement innovative ideas to increase the acceptance of digital financial services and ultimately increase financial inclusion in the kingdom. By recognizing those champions, their exposure to wider audiences and networks will be expanded allowing them to maximize their outreach and collaborate with different market players to implement and expand their ideas.

The selection of champions is conducted through a nomination process by all sector players and stakeholders where self-nomination is not allowed, followed by an evaluation process by JoPACC of all nominations against clear criteria leading to the selection and announcement of winning champions. JoPACC will accept nominations to its DFS Champions Program from institutions and stakeholders in the financial ecosystem. There are three categories of champions to be nominated and selected, and it is possible to have more than one winner under the same category:

  • Sector champions: they are individuals who work in the digital financial, payment, and/or financial inclusion space.
  • Community champions: they are individuals from local communities who have shown noteworthy interest in digital financial services and have contributed to its uptake within their local community.
  • Early bird champions: they are individuals or institutions who are among the first to adopt a digital financial service and use it consistently. Such early birds assist in increasing word of mouth and promote the success of such services.

Nominees are assessed against the following criteria:

  • Degree to which nominee benefitted the overall financial inclusion ecosystem, rather than their respective institution
  • The nature and diversity of those who benefitted from the nominee’s interventions
  • The relative scale of the nominee’s interventions
  • Can the nominee’s contributions be built on in the future, be replicated, or are sustainable?
  • Do the interventions of the candidate have a long-term impact on the lives of beneficiaries and the local communities?
  • Did the nomination come from within the organization or from a separate organization? Note: the number of nominations for the same candidate can only be considered in favor of the application if nominations are made by various entities and not merely the candidate’s entity
  • Is the evidence provided in the nomination quantifiable, objective, and trusted?
  • Degree to which the nominee has contributed outside of their normal tasks towards improving financial inclusion/usage of DFS.

JoPACC believes it is of substantial value for increasing financial inclusion to shed light on existing efforts to increase the adoption of financial services, and as a result to establish synergies between existing players and conducted efforts. JoPACC counts on its partners and on sector players to jointly realize this objective and expand the visibility and outreach of change-makers in the digital finance space.

Read more on the program's winners for 2021 here, and the winner for 2022 here.