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.