The Mobile Solutions Technical Assistance and Research (mSTAR) program is a strategic investment by USAID to advance mobile solutions and close the gaps that hold back access and uptake of mobile technology. Implemented by FHI 360, mSTAR supports broad-based coordinated action by a range of market stakeholders; including governments, donors, mobile service providers and their customers. mSTAR is designed to initiate and support game-changing interventions to support mobile money, mobile access, and mobile data collection and dissemination. 

mSTAR Liberia supports USAID’s objective of increasing efficiency of government payments. In Liberia, teachers travel for hours, days and even weeks to pick up their paychecks. This travel is so time-consuming that some teachers pick up their salary only once a year. Teachers spend nearly half their paychecks just to receive their salaries due to transportation, lodging and bank fees. When teachers leave to retrieve their salaries, schools are short-staffed or closed, and students are denied lessons. Similarly, health workers face significant challenges and expense in retrieving their pay and are forced to spend time away from the health facilities where they work during their duty hours. A mobile money system is critical to allowing civil servants to receive payments safely, decrease time-consuming travel to banks, and ensure efficient delivery of money.