This International Women’s day we’re celebrating the achievements of women and girls in Kenya, where we work to improve equality and empower them to become the best that they can be.

In October, the Daily Nation newspaper in Kenya ran an article in which the senior education specialist from the World Bank was quoted as saying that children going through the Kenyan education system are losing an estimated three years of education.

sQuid, the digital transactions and payments service provider, launched its new Kenya Microfinance programme at the mEducation Alliance Symposium in Washington, D.C. Its purpose is to further drive community economic development and overcome education barriers…

The mEducation Alliance Symposium in Washington, D.C. always provides opportunity to learn from others and to examine how our own iMlango programme is working in the wider context of digital innovation in learning.

We were delighted to be asked to contribute to the recent Wilton Park discussion led by the Foreign and Commonwealth office centring on issues of girls’ education, where we were able to share some of our insights, especially on literacy, from our experiences in Kenya.

The seventh annual Mobiles for Education (mEducation) Alliance Symposium, held October 5-6, 2017, brought together practitioners, thought leaders, policy makers, and funders to advance the use of and evidence for information and communications technology in global education (ICT4E).

The Leveraging Technology to Scale Early Grade Reading in Africa event aimed to enhance understanding of technology tools and resources to advance early grade reading efforts. Held in Pretoria, South Africa, the event was hosted by All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development, Global Book Alliance, mEducation Alliance, and sponsored by World Vision and USAID in collaboration with Pearson Institute of Higher Education.

We are pleased to announce that iMlango has launched a new Microloans initiative which provides access to funds for families in selected iMlango communities. The unique initiative provides recipients with funds to help them grow their business, and aims to focus the recipient family on the importance of saving for their children’s education.

In recent years, the use of cash transfer programming (CTP) in humanitarian assistance has grown significantly. In 2016, we estimate that $2.8bn in humanitarian assistance was disbursed through cash and vouchers, up 40% from 2015 and approximately 100% from 2014. As this report describes, the move to CTP has strong roots and is set to continue.

We are delighted to share with you that iMlango was announced as the winner of the "Best e-learning platform" award at the Digital Inclusion Awards in Nairobi last week.

We were honoured to participate at the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington D.C. yesterday, where we had the opportunity to present our digital account technology at the Bridging the Inclusion and Technology Divide Fair.

sQuid recently attended The Cash Learning Partnership’s (CaLP) Global Cash Forum which brought together the world's leading stakeholders working on cash transfer programming in humanitarian response, including governments, the UN, NGOs and the private sector.

Save the Children, the international humanitarian agency, has partnered with sQuid, the digital transaction solutions provider, to deliver much-needed aid to families displaced by drought and conflict in north-east Somalia.

As the UN doubles the funding target needed to deliver its Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia this year, new figures show that nearly 700,000 people have been displaced by hunger in the country, which is facing the most catastrophic drought since 1950.

Today we’re celebrating international school meals day to raise awareness of good nutrition for all children, regardless of their circumstances.

What is the best way of ensuring aid money is used effectively and efficiently? In Kenya, charities are experimenting with direct cash transfers, allowing individual recipients to spend the money on whatever they like.

Thousands of groups spend billions of dollars every year helping tens of millions of people.