By Jamie Zimmerman & Shweta Banerjee

Notoriously resource-rich, poverty-stricken and conflict-prone, the Niger Delta region has always been viewed among the unlikeliest places for reform, particularly one that "spreads the wealth." But this week we are proud to announce that the Bayelsa State Government (BYSG) located in the delta region of Nigeria will launch of a policy pilot that provides matched savings accounts to children and youth throughout the state's eight districts. This initiative is not only the first government-supported anti-poverty intervention in the Niger Delta region, but the first state-wide CDA policy pilot in the developing world.   

As the Program Associate for both the larger Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation, and the Global Assets Project, which is a joint New America-Center for Social Development venture, I sometimes feel like I have a foot in two worlds.

I'll give you an example.  In a widely-circulated column last week, The Next Culture War, the New York Times' David Brooks asserts, in a nutshell, that it's time for a culture shift in America- a shift in the way we think about consumption.  He reviews the thrift-oriented nature of America's past, and laments the materialism that characterizes U.S. society today.  Brooks further highlights the misdirected nature of today's debate around morality and values- one that focuses too much on, say, prayer in school and theories of evolution, rather than taking on the economic values of a society that encourages excessive consumption.

 They may take their tea with milk and pronounce "tomato" wrong, but here's something on which we can agree with our friends across the pond.

Yesterday, the UK's International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander announced DFID's ₤1.4 million, three-year project: Facilitating Access to Financial Services through Technology (FAST).  Working with CGAP and GTZ, FAST's aim is to "lay the foundations for financial services to be made available through new and emerging technology across Africa and Asia."

As it stands now, 2 billion people in the developing world lack access to financial services, because of distance or affordability constraints.  With that in mind, FAST aims to explore the possibilities and extend the reach of "branchless banking" using new technologies and innovative methods.

Its three-pronged strategy is to: