Global Partnerships Case Study: Measuring and Managing Financial Inclusion Outcomes

Impact investors at the impact measurement and management (IMM) frontier are seeking to prioritize the measurement and management of development and intermediate outcomes of financial inclusion due to two critical factors: (i) the growing demand for impact transparency driven by the urgency of global challenges and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and (ii) the need to mitigate significant reputational, impact, and financial risks associated with negative outcomes and the risk of overstating impact performance.

This case study highlights the emerging trend among impact investors to adapt their impact measurement and management (IMM) to focus more explicitly on development and intermediate outcomes, referred to in this paper as “outcomes-focused IMM”. Outcomes-focused IMM is a comprehensive approach that involves measuring, understanding, and reporting on the effects of investments. It specifically focuses on the actual development and intermediate outcomes experienced by customers, including women, which are enabled by financial inclusion investments. This approach integrates outcomes data into the investment decision-making process and helps manage impact risks.