Members of AFI’s Financial Inclusion Data Working Group (FIDWG) journeyed from all parts of the world to convene in San Salvador, El Salvador, on 5-7 April 2016 for the working group’s 13th meeting, putting a spotlight on the role of data as a cross-cutting issue with implications across every financial inclusion policy area.

The meeting was co-hosted by the Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador (BCR), and brought together more than 30 working group members. Key external public and private sector stakeholders and partners also participating from around the globe included BBVA, Global Banking Alliance (GBA), IMF, insight2impact (i2i) and the Gates Foundation.

Dr. Oscar Cabrera, President at BCR, delivered the meeting’s opening remarks, using the platform to highlight the importance of financial inclusion and data in general and specifically in El Salvador: “Our convening here shows the importance and opportunity we have in order to take the necessary steps to achieve full financial inclusion in this search for social prosperity.”

He continued: “Our participation in AFI has also provided us with training (to scale up financial inclusion) through the working groups and joint learning programs and resources for conducting national surveys, which in a few months will allow us to know better our reality in access to financial services.”

Throughout the three-day meeting, participants identified various data challenges related to women’s financial inclusion, national strategies, digital financial services, green finance and more. FIDWG’s role has been, and will continue to be, central to the efforts of the network to promote successful evidence-based financial inclusion policy solutions.

“This working group on financial inclusion data will be a key influence in the goal to reach successful resolutions in all these areas, which will be reflected in the FIDWG three-year strategy that started to take shape at this week’s meeting,” said Mr. Amani Itatiro, FIDWG Chairperson and Senior Financial Analyst at the Bank of Tanzania (BOT).

Special attention was paid to the improvement of women’s finance. It was noted that to help bridge the gender gap, one critical measure is collecting sex-disaggregated data. This allows for a better understanding of the women segment and leads to more informed policy development. According to Mr. Charles Marwa, Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at AFI: “Sex-disaggregated portfolio performance data can facilitate the setting of regulatory and business strategies to better serve the segment, as well as provide a more accurate picture of women’s credit worthiness and identifies women’s specific needs for financial services.”

In an effort to track financial inclusion progress in the countries of AFI member institutions, FIDWG members released their “Financial Inclusion Index”. Essentially, it captures many different aspects of financial inclusion, and condenses it down to one number. The Financial Inclusion Index is a tool for monitoring the progress of financial inclusion initiatives and assessing the state of financial inclusion, which will support members in measuring their Maya Declaration commitments. It leverages the AFI Core Set of Financial Inclusion Indicators for access and usage formulated by FIDWG in 2011.

“AFI members have constructed a strong foundation. FIDWG’s development of the Core Set of Financial Inclusion Indicators now widely used across our network and beyond is one example,” said Mr. Marwa. “As we move forward, we must continue to lead the world by building pillars of inclusive and sustainable development. We do this, in part, by embracing new topics—such as gender or big data—and examining opportunities and challenges associated with new technology.”

“After this meeting of FIDWG members, we will return to our countries not only with new knowledge but a sense of accomplishment,” said Mr. Mynard Mojica, Bank Officer at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).