The Fletcher Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion (FLPFI) Research Prize supports research initiatives related to the design or impact of innovative and inclusive policies in financial inclusion. We have seen how policy elements incubated in the FLPFI Fellowship and 8QM trainings can be piloted or evaluated with the technical and financial support of the Research Prize, and then learnings from the Research Prize allows our alumni to incorporate evidence-based innovations into their work as policymakers.
The last of the 8 questions, “How will we learn about the policy and its impacts?” is critical, as it lays the foundation for gaining knowledge about the impact of intended policies, and how implementation may vary from conception. Understanding how FLPFI alumni’s policies are implemented and to what extent they impact constituents’ lives lies at the core of our programmatic mission. In the same way, supporting alumni as they seek to better understand a financial inclusion issue and develop policies through primary research is fundamentally important.