Concept Note: A purpose-driven global fund for scaling digital cash transfers to accelerate progress on ending extreme poverty by 2030

This paper advances a call for the creation of a new global fund dedicated exclusively to scaling digital cash transfers across low-income countries to accelerate progress on ending extreme poverty by 2030—a structure that would be very similar to GAVI. The working group is building on ideas put forward by economists John McArthur and Homi Kharas from The Brookings Institution, a leading think-tank.

This concept note was prepared by the leadership of Room 1, a working group for Sustainable Development Goal 1 on ‘no poverty’ that convened as part of the 2023 17 Rooms flagship. The 17 Rooms initiative is co-hosted by the Center for Sustainable Development at The Brookings Institution and The Rockefeller Foundation. Each Room, one per SDG, was asked to identify actionable priorities that can be advanced by the end of 2024 to improve some component of 2030 outcomes for its respective Goal.