Financial sector deepening programmes (FSDs) promote the sustainable, pro-poor development of complex financial markets. To do this they work with market actors and policy-makers, and deploy multiple means of support, ranging from funding to research, while continually adapting to market changes. FSDs face increasing pressure to show results while implementing complex, multi-faceted market development programmes. Monitoring and evaluation practices have to keep pace with this changing context and respond robustly to more demanding expectations, particularly the need to measure medium-term market system outcomes and longer-term impacts on poverty reduction.

This impact-oriented measurement (IOM) guidance paper has two key objectives that are designed to assist FSDs in their measurement processes.