The USAID's Financial Access for Investing in the Development of Afghanistan (FAIDA) supports the ongoing payment application activities of partners, including utility payments, GIRoA salary payments, fee payments, loan repayments and mobile money e-vouchers. In September 2016, FAIDA launched salary disbursement of MoLSAMD employees through mobile. The launch of the project followed a presidential instruction directing relevant Afghan ministries and agencies to use non-cash payment methods and create a digital financial ecosystem. During the project period, approximately 3,500 MoLSAMD employees were registered in Roshan’s m-Paisa system and around 2,000 salary disbursements were made.

The project is expected to help increase employees productivity since employees no longer need to wait for hours in queues to get their salaries and will also address the issue of ghost employees, which has been a major concern.

FAIDA is a four-year initiative that provides technical assistance to Afghanistan’s cellular network operators to introduce new and innovative products and services and expand the use of mobile money.