Projects

Early Childhood Development Micro-Entrepreneurs’ Financial

Countries: South Africa 

Sample size: 60 participants         

ECD Diaries Presentation

Research Description: Read More>>

 L-IFT is supporting Early Childhood Development acceleration in South Africa through a self-reporting livelihood diaries data collection project commissioned by the IMBE Enterprise Incubator in South Africa. The objective of the project is to assist women who run small child care businesses to keep day to day financial records of their businesses and improve their financial lives. This project will install coaches who help the 60 child care entrepreneurs to fill their FINBIT data on a weekly basis.

FINBIT Corner Shop Diaries Project: 2019 to date

Countries: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, and Zimbabwe     

Sample size: 150 participants         

Project website: http://cornershop-msc-l-ift.com

Research Description: The corner shop diaries project was conceptualized at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic had started to unfold. Read More>>

The objective of this research is to understand how micro-businesses like corner shops cope with the pandemic, how they recover over time and how the neighbourhoods of these corner shops respond to the crisis.

For more information please visit the project website here 

FINBIT Experiment Project: 2019-to date

Countries: Uganda, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe      Sample size: 300 participants        Duration: 34 months

Research Description: For some years now, L-IFT has developed an app named Finbit. The app is now in use. We use it for financial diaries data collection. But the app is also intended for the respondents themselves, to use for their own benefit. Read More>>

L-IFT has been testing the Finbit app in Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal, and Ethiopia to see whether people understand it and have an interest in continuously reporting their financial data.Click here to access FINBIT Application Manuals and Click here to access FINBIT Introductory Leaflet

RISE Refugee Finance – Financial Diaries of Refugees Financial Behavior in Response to Financial Services: 2019-2022

Country: Uganda                     Sample size: 600 intake respondents and 400 baseline respondents 222 diarists respondents              Duration: 34 months

Research Description: The beneficiaries for this project are OBUL and FINCA, commissioned by Opportunity International and implemented with PHB consulting services. Read More>>

These two prominent financial service providers wanted to serve refugees with appropriate products matching the priorities of refugees’ livelihoods. They realized they need to understand the refugee clients better and also investigate what type of financial services priorities they have. They wanted an innovative approach to product development that would simultaneously track how product adoption would evolve and to measure when useful changes start to kick-in. Access the data portal here.
L-IFT provided this financial diaries to inform all involved actors with the data they required. The first few months of the project served as a market assessment, understanding people’s current financial lives and how they would ideally solve some financial problems. The study supported with design of financial literacy, informing which skills people and did not have and which segments existed in terms of financial literacy. The study identified a number of financial products that were desirable for refugees and others which were mistrusted or deemed inappropriate. The project also tracks financial literacy impact.

Youth Research for Scale2Save: 2018-2019

Country: Nigeria, Senegal and Morocco         Sample size: 354 respondents        Duration: 10 months

Research Description: This project was commissioned by WSBI for its Scale2Save programme, funded by the Mastercard Foundation. This project was about understanding young people’s savings behaviour. It demonstrated the saving patterns of young people in three countries and how they compared. It investigated the scope for youth savings accounts and how these should be designed. Read More>>

The project worked for several financial service providers informing them about the attractiveness and limitations of the youth segment and how to serve this segment profitable. Access the data portal here.

Research into “Does access to renewable energy drive financial inclusion?”: 2018-2019

Country: Uganda and Kenya                  Sample size: 1887 respondents                  Duration: 10 months

Research Description: The client for this project was Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund’s REACT (renewable energy and adaptation to climate technology). REACT needed to learn whether there was evidence that access to solar resulted in financial inclusion at scale rather than just anecdotal evidence. Read More>>

L-IFT performed a Global Sector Expert interviews, Company interviews (16 renewable energy companies companies), 4 case studies, client interviews of the 4 case study companies and a quantitative survey of 1887 respondents who had previously participated in a longitudinal study (with 588 participating in financial and energy diaries study). The findings were captured in a detailed confidential report that informed REACT’s strategy and engagement with partners.

Long-Term Performance and Evolution of Savings Groups in Uganda and Mali: Jan 2019- Dec 2019

Country: Uganda and Mali   

Sample size: 300 groups, more than 4000 individual participants                   Duration: 12 months

Research Description: The clients for this project were SEEP Network and FSD Africa. SEEP is a network organization serving the savings group sector with services and studies. L-IFT studied a sample of in total 300 savings groups 8 to 9 years after they were formed. Read More>>

The study looked at survival rate, replication rate, and the changes that groups may have introduced into their methodology and investigates what the main causes are for groups to collapse.
L-IFT developed a unique mixed methods quantitative and qualitative approach. Each group took part in eleven separate surveys and research observations over the course of three months. The groups were actively involved in identifying their strengths and challenges.

Survey on Access to Finance and Access to Energy in Uganda Baseline-Midline-Endline: 2016-2017

Country: Uganda                  Sample size: 2200 respondents                  Duration: 12 months

Research Description: While sufficient research is done in Uganda on access to finance and energy, few organisations have access to the data they require. L-IFT initiated research publicly accessible to the entire sector which can provide each actor with the information they require. For instance to measure impact, to test product ideas, to monitor uptake, to learn about user experience. Read More>>

L-IFT designed the baseline survey in dialogue with the interested actors resulting in a survey tool that directly fed into the data needs of those active on the ground. The survey tool includes a financial capability section from the WorldBank survey on FinCap which enables us to compare Ugandan findings to the level of FinCap in other countries. The beneficiaries from this project were the Ugandan renewable energy sector and (micro) finance sector as well as donors: UNCDF’s CleanStart project and FSD-Uganda.

Tracking Effect of Acquiring m-kopa on Energy and Financial Situation: 2016-2017

Country: Uganda                  Sample size: 625 respondents                  Duration: 12 months

Research Description: L-IFT’s financial diaries measured changes in respondents’ situation due to an M-KOPA solar system. The measurement was in detail (before and after) and measured what m-kopa’s effect was, when it started to take effect, showing for instance whether the effects developed gradually or happened suddenly. Read More>>

The study also measured any changes in coughing and stinging eyes to know whether these gradually improved or not. Investigation was done whether those households where m-kopa PAYGo finished paying indeed suddenly experienced substantial additional disposable income and how they spent this new disposable income.

What Women Want (3W): 2017-2018

Country: Myanmar                  Sample size: 800 respondents                Duration: 17 months

Research Description: A financial diaries study with women micro-entrepreneurs in Myanmar conducted for BRAC and MFIL. The diaries will reveal what women micro-entrepreneurs’ current pain points and priorities are. BRAC will use the information from the L-IFT diaries to design improved individual loans. MFIL They will use the financial diaries to develop both savings for micro entrepreneurs and new loan products. Access the data portal here.

Financial and Energy Diaries in Uganda (FEDU): 2016-2017

Country: Uganda                  Sample size: 588 respondents                Duration: 9 months

Research Description: While much research has been done in Uganda regarding access to finance and even access to energy, organisations active in this field do not have access to the required data easily. L-IFT decided to conduct research that would be publicly accessible to the entire financial and energy sectors. The surveys were designed in dialogue with interested actors, and as a result the FEDU data are the go-to reference for those active on the ground.

Youth Livelihoods Diaries: 2015-2016

Country: Uganda and Ghana                  Sample size: 260 respondents                  Duration: 12 months

Research Description: The MasterCard Foundation invited L-IFT to conduct an in-depth research into youth livelihoods. This Youth Livelihoods Diaries combined research into youth’s ways of getting a job, starting a business, their activity in agriculture and their financial behaviour. The resulting data depict their mixed livelihoods: how young people achieve income from such a variety of sources and how their life consists of a multitude of different activities, cobbling a living together from different sources. Read more >>

Assessment of Financial Capability of ePSNP Recipients in Ethiopia: 2016-2017

Country: Ethiopia                  Sample size: 1000 respondents                Duration: 6 months

Research Description: The WorldBank supports the electronic payment of PSNP, a cash transfer programme in Ethiopia. With the help of L-IFT they wanted to assess the satisfaction of the recipients with the electronic payments and the financial capability of electronic recipients. A survey of over 1000 respondents randomly selected across four regions, Key Informant Interviews and focus group discussions resulted in a rich set of data and a WorldBank publication.

Assessment of Transaction Pools for Digital Financial Services in Ethiopia: 2016-2017

Country: Ethiopia                  Sample size: 40 respondents                  Duration: 6 months

Research Description: EP hired L-IFT and PHB Development to supply the follow-on work of Ignacio Mas’s assignment for building Ethiopia’s digital financial services. The existing financial transaction pools and the possibility to turn them digital and estimates what is required to transform those with potential was assessed. Furthermore, the potential demand and drivers for adoption and rejection for certain types of digital services was studied.

Independent Impact Assessment of Proximity farm Advisory Services: Feb 2019 – May 2019

Country: Myanmar                  Sample size: 1800 respondents                  Duration: 4 months

Research Description: This project was an impact assessment done on farmers for Proximity and MDF. The farmers in the intervention attended information sessions provided by Proximity extensions workers and were informed of two new techniques, one related to selecting good quality seed and another one in relation to the right timing and quantity of fertilizer application. Read More>>

The impact assessment was to identify whether quality and quantity of paddy had improved amongst farmers who received the extension and those who had not received an extension. We used a ex-post single interview on the farmers who received and who did not receive the extension. The findings from the two groups were compared to identify the effectiveness of the intervention.

School Finance: 2016

Country: Kenya                  Sample size: 90 schools                  Duration: 4 months

Research Description: Opportunity International supported a partner Microfinancing Institution in Kenya with expanding its EduFinance. They needed to understand what financial services schools currently use and what services they need. Based on a school survey and a survey among parents, L-IFT designed a cashless fee collection of a cash-flow management loan product.

Irrigation diaries for MicroInsurance Academy: 2016

Country: India                  Sample size: 420 respondents                  Duration: 4 months

Research Description: The MicroInsurance Academy in India had been collecting data on rain fall, irrigation and other agricultural practices and direct soil moisture measurements through diaries. MIA hired L-IFT to order all the available data, identify which data could be used, develop hypotheses regarding the potential correlations and test these correlations. L-IFT wrote the comprehensive research report suitable for peer review and academic publications.

Youth Start impact assessment through financial diaries research: 2014-15

Country: Ethiopia and Togo                  Sample size: 280 respondents                  Duration: 9 months

Research Description: YouthStart is a large project implemented by UNCDF in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation with 11 MFI partners in 10 countries. The programme reached 400,000 youth with savings accounts. L-IFT conducted a detailed impact research into the project’s beneficiaries and made recommendations for improvement. The research also provided a deeper understanding of the youth it targeted regarding their behaviour, attitudes, skills and knowledge.