Financial Inclusion Tracker Surveys (FITS) Project
Project Timing |
March – August 2016 |
Sector |
Economic Development: HH finance |
Location |
Tanzania |
Client |
IPA |
Current Status |
Complete |
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Financial Inclusion Tracker Surveys (FITS) Project is a multi-year initiative by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to provide financial insights from a household level. The topics covered include a focus on the impact of the expansion of “mobile money” – particularly using mobile phones to conduct bank transfers in developing countries – and how that affects a household’s financial behaviours.
A key research question is whether access to mobile money and lower transaction costs of sending money over long distances can help a household to manage economic shocks.
The FITS project has been undertaken in Tanzania, Uganda and Pakistan. EDI, in collaboration with IPA, undertook data collection on a national scale for wave 2 of the FITS project in Tanzania; tracking and revisiting 2,980 households from wave 1 throughout 300 Enumeration Areas.
The FITS survey has multiple modules and will gather information on:
- Basic demographics
- Household expenditures and assets
- Remittance activity
- Incidence of economic shocks and coping mechanisms
- Mobile phone ownership and use patterns
- Mobile money service awareness and use patterns
PROJECT UPDATE
Project fieldwork took place for three months, June – August 2016.
