easypaisa: Enabling flood relief donation in Pakistan
In August 2022, Pakistan received more than three times its usual rainfall, causing floods that impacted over 33 million people. easypaisa, Pakistan’s leading digital payments app made monumental efforts to support flood victims. easypaisa enabled its users to easily donate in a few clicks, without any hassle, by introducing “flood relief and donations” payment option. This convenient feature enabled easypaisa users to support relief efforts of more than 30 humanitarian organizations.
The challenge
2022 Floods in Pakistan - an unprecedented climate catastrophe
In August 2022, Pakistan received more than three times its usual rainfall, making it one of the wettest months ever in the history of the country. Due to the excessive rains, the Indus River that runs across the length of the country flooded, submerging one-third of Pakistan under water. The scale of the devastation caused was unprecedented, with those affected mainly in vulnerable communities. The rains and floods impacted over 33 million people, destroyed 1.7 million homes, led to nearly 1500 deaths, and caused economic losses of over USD 30 billion. (Source: World Weather Attribution, BBC). A report from World Weather Attribution group linked the devastating floods in Pakistan to climate change.
The people impacted by floods required substantial financial support from both global and local communities to rebuild their lives. Many countries and international charitable organizations provided monetary assistance to Pakistan for flood relief. The government of Pakistan and various humanitarian organizations participating in flood relief also urged people in Pakistan to donate money to government and non-government relief funds like the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to support the relief efforts.
However, it is not always easy to donate to trusted relief funds in Pakistan. Donors need to ensure that they are donating to a genuine relief fund and have the correct donee details like the full name of the relief fund, bank details, etc. Many imposters create fraudulent relief funds with names similar to the popular relief funds to trick people and siphon off donations. Moreover, there are various payment options for making donations including cash payments via volunteers, banks transfers, and digital wallet payments. It is critical to choose the right payment method, which is quick, convenient and secure.
The solution
easypaisa - Enabling flood relief donation
easypaisa, Pakistan’s leading digital payments app with over 14 million monthly active users, made monumental efforts to support flood victims. One of the biggest challenges faced during this crucial time was to collect donations and disburse them quickly.
easypaisa enabled its users to easily donate in a few clicks, without any hassle, by introducing a separate payment option called “flood relief and donations”. This convenient feature enabled easypaisa users to support the relief efforts of more than 30 government and non-government humanitarian organizations. The user journey was extremely simple whereby one had to enter the donation amount and confirm the payment. The user gets a digital receipt confirming the donation, which they can save and share. The donations are immediately disbursed to the account of the respective humanitarian organization.
The process introduced by easypaisa is quick, convenient and secure. Users do not need to remember long account numbers and can easily send their money to any trusted organization.
Quick, convenient and secure donation process using easypaisa. Image source: easypaisa
The prominent humanitarian organizations collecting donations through the easypaisa app include the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, Flood Relief Fund for Balochistan, Al Khidmat, Sahara Life Trust, Edhi Foundation, Red Crescent, The Citizens Foundation, Saylani Welfare Trust, Shifa Foundation, Shahid Afridi Foundation, Comprehensive Disaster Response Services, Hands Pakistan, Akhuwat Foundation and Pak Aid Welfare Trust.
easypaisa also encouraged other humanitarian organizations and donor agencies to join their platform to collect donations for flood relief through quick and hassle-free onboarding from the easypaisa website or by emailing their request.
List of humanitarian organizations collecting donations through easypaisa. Image source: https://easypaisa.com.pk/donations/
The impact
The donation service gained significant interest from users. More than 400,000 donation transactions have been processed by easypaisa facilitating collections of donations worth over PKR 100 Million from June to November 2022. Most of the donations were leveraged by the relief organizations to provide essentials to people impacted by the floods and to support them with rebuilding their lives.
*From June to November 2022
About the service providers
easypaisa - easypaisa is committed to transform Pakistan into a cashless and financially inclusive society by creating value through the power of collaboration and technology. Through innovative payment solutions, the company is enabling more than 14 million users to make everyday transactions with ease and comfort. easypaisa is powered by Ericsson Wallet Platform. Know more about easypaisa by clicking here.
Ericsson Wallet Platform - Ericsson Wallet Platform has enabled mobile financial services for over 300 million mobile wallet accounts globally, making it one of the leading mobile financial service platforms in the world. Every month, Ericsson Wallet Platform processes over 2.6 billion transactions worth more than 36 billion USD. It enables financial service providers to offer hundreds of digital payments use cases such as donations to the consumers. Ericsson Wallet Platform also creates an interconnected ecosystem of consumers, agents, merchants, government and non-government organizations enabling quick, convenient, secure and inclusive digital payments. Know more about Ericsson Wallet Platform by clicking here.