Oct 2011
Measuring Outcomes of Financial Capability Programs: Success Measures Tools for Practitioners
For those committed to advancing financial coaching, financial education,
asset building and asset preservation activities as a means of helping low- and moderate-income people achieve economic security, these outcome evaluation measures, when applied in a systematic way over time, can become an integral part of their financial capability strategies. At a time when counselors from community-based organizations, funders, researchers, and policymakers are looking for reliable, valid information on effective financial capability programs and practices that work at the ground level, these new measurement tools hold the promise of further enhancing our understanding regarding the combination of financial attitude, behaviour, and other factors that impede, or facilitate, the pursuit of financial stability and economic inclusion. The fact that the process guiding the development of the outcome tools was highly participatory, transparent, and collegial, with input from a broad range of stakeholders, underscores the timeliness of this effort and the potential utility of the tools.