As financial inclusion advances on many national agendas, policymakers, regulators, financial service providers and financial service users ask a range of critical questions – from the most fundamental: “How long does it take to reach the nearest financial service provider?" to the more complex: “What are the pillars of an enabling policy environment?” There is a distinct need for high-quality data and analysis tools to effectively answer these questions. The Maya Declaration, launched by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and supported by more than 50 countries, calls for national financial inclusion commitments in four areas, including utilizing data for informed policymaking and tracking of results.Both the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and MIX (Microfinance Information Exchange) have invested in creating platforms that make financial inclusion data publicly available through platforms designed to help a wide range of actors answer find answers to their questions. FSP Maps (financed by the Gates Foundation) and FINclusionLab (promoted by the MIX) utilize high-quality datasets on the location of financial service providers as well as demographic data to geospatially visualize financial access. Both data sources have a focus on sub-national data and are distinguished from other data sources by their visualization and analytical tools.
