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Julie Zollmann
Julie Zollmann focuses on understanding the demand-side of retail financial service markets. As a senior associate at BFA, she worked on research to better understand consumer responses to electronic government transfer payments, consumer needs and preferences in savings devices, and financial capability in the context of branchless banking. Julie brings to the team more than six years of development research, policy, and program implementation experience across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Prior to joining BFA, Julie worked with the international development agency, CARE, and also served as an HIV outreach Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland. Julie completed her M.A. (Development Economics and International Economics) at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Articles by Julie Zollmann:
September 4th, 2024
Understanding pregnancy journeys for value-based care
Wanza Mbole Namboya
July 2nd, 2021
Surviving 2020: Lessons on Resilience from Kenya’s COVID diaries
Julie Zollmann
Insights from these interviews suggest a number of ideas for intervention to support recovery and rebuilding.
November 18th, 2020
A bridge too far? Paying for school in an economic crisis
Julie Zollmann
Parents across Kenya are receiving ambiguous messages about the timing of school re-openings amid the coronavirus outbreak.
November 11th, 2020
How are things now? Summary of September/October COVID diaries findings
Julie Zollmann
Between 7 September and 14 October, our team spoke with 207 participants from the Kenya Financial Diaries, tracing the ways COVID-19 was impacting their lives.
November 11th, 2020
Investors and Indigents: Divergent trajectories of Kenyans in the COVID era
Julie Zollmann
As we completed a new round of COVID-19 Diaries interviews in mid-October, we noticed a shift in the story of economic hardship.
On average, families in the Kenya Financial Diaries started to see improvements in their economic situation as of October 2020, but incomes are still far from normal.
September 6th, 2020
Debts in distress: how ordinary people are finding the liquidity they need to survive COVID
Julie Zollmann
“Things are getting bad,” Vanessa told us. When we spoke with her in late June, her family had just about run out of food and were waiting for the next harvest.
They were making only about Ksh 4,000 per month (about $40) the last time we saw them in 2015.
August 5th, 2020
When hustling fails: The impact of coronavirus mitigation efforts on ordinary people’s livelihoods
Julie Zollmann
Unlike many Kenyans, Esther in rural Makueni is not yet too worried about the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on her livelihood.
August 3rd, 2020
Kenya financial diaries 2012-2013: Socio-economic and demographic datasets
Julie Zollmann
This data pack contains several files (in .csv and .dta formats) with information collected about households and household members participating in the 2012-2013 Kenya Financial Diaries study.
Agnes, 45, lives in rural Makueni with her children and elderly parents. She had once been married, but her husband proved an unreliable partner.
Barriers to coronavirus prevention behaviour change in Kenya
When we spoke with Benson in April, he was feeling optimistic about getting through the COVID-19 crisis unscathed. He worked in a factory that manufactured paper products, and toilet tissue was in high demand. He was sure he would keep his job. In June, like many of our respondents, his outlook was gloomier.
After three months of Covid-19 restrictions, Jennifer’s economic options have run out. She is five months pregnant, and the baby’s father has blocked her calls. She hasn’t been able to pay rent in three months and worries that she and her children are on the verge of eviction.
Desperate for income, many Diaries respondents have gone back to work, but find it nearly impossible to earn a living.
Vera (45) lives in an informal settlement in Mombasa. Usually it is just her at home these days.
Coronavirus disruptions are giving some Kenyan woman a reprieve from domestic burdens and giving couples a chance to change their marriages
Kenyans’ reflections on security in the time of Covid-19
April 14th, 2020
Shamba bora (fertile farmland), Shamba la mawe (rocky farmland)
Julie Zollmann
Urban and rural areas are coping to the coronavirus disruptions in different ways
Considering urban to rural migration as urban incomes dwindle
William lives in a small house in an informal settlement in Mombasa. When we saw him last in 2015, he had recently married his girlfriend.
Kenyan families are trying to cope with perpetual strain
Not only are Kenyans losing their incomes right now, they are also facing increased costs
How coronavirus adaptations are straining Kenyans’ most robust financial coping mechanisms
April 7th, 2020
Corona case studies: “If I had food, I would close the shop”
Julie Zollmann
Millicent, 44, and Amos, 45, live in Eldoret with their 17-year-old daughter. Amos has been working as a matatu driver and bus conductor for many years. Millicent ran a small restaurant during the Diaries, but is now selling plastic wares from a small Mali Mali shop and knitting sweaters, which she sells mostly at back-to-school time.
FinAccess is a series of household surveys that measure the access, usage, quality and impact of financial services in Kenya.
FSD Kenya’s CEO, Tamara Cook, sat down for a video interview with the Kenyan WallStreet.
Joseph and Alice are not real people, but the impact of behavioral research on consumer protection is anything but hypothetical. Across the world, consumer protection authorities have been using behavioral research to inform everything from post-financial crisis rules for mortgage brokers to regulations on new mobile and app-based financial services.
