Level One Project Evolution

2014: Research

The Level One Project evolved from a wide-reaching set of inquiries and lessons learned from traditional and emerging payment systems, and from engaging with several hundred stakeholders in more than 25 countries over three years.

2015: Introduction

Introduced in 2015, the Level One Project is the Gates Foundation’s adaptation of real-time retail payments system best practices to increase financial inclusion by ecosystem stakeholders.

2016: Advocacy

The Level One Project created leveloneproject.orga workshop series, and numerous assets, including a reference implementation of the Level One Project principles, to help scale and sustain access to low-cost digital financial services.

2017: Market Testing

The Level One Project worked with stakeholders to kick off implementations of low-cost payments systems that are designed to meet the needs of the world’s poor. The Level One Project also created open source software assets for the good of the industry, including open APIs and Mojaloop.

2018: Implementation

The Level One Project supported multinational and in-country, in-region stakeholders to build and expand real-time retail payments initiatives that leverage global best practices.

2019: Scale

As the Level One Project looks forward, it intends to continue to support opportunities to scale low-cost real-time retail payments systems at a national and regional level.

Next Topic in this Section: Desired Outcomes