The purpose of this note is to describe a process that can be used to design valid and reliable financial inclusion measuring instruments. It is often the case that important measurement dimensions are excluded from financial inclusion surveys. This could be due to an oversight on the part of the research team, lack of a suitable measure or a lack of resources in survey teams to develop suitable measurement frameworks and subsequent  measuring instruments. Whatever the reason, the impact of this is that financial service providers, policymakers and regulators will miss key  information that can assist them in making better strategic decisions. In such cases, it is necessary to develop new instruments that are valid and reliable measures of the phenomena of interest. Failure to design measuring instruments scientifically will result in poor-quality data and ultimately poor decision-making. Having well-developed survey modules and scales that reflect relevant measurement frameworks can accelerate the provision of appropriate data to inform financial inclusion strategy.

insight2impact (i2ifacility) was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. The programme was established and driven by Cenfri and Finmark Trust.