As digital financial services expand, regulators need better ways to understand who is being served and who is not. This AIR program aims to support existing regulators’ gender-disaggregated initiatives to build more inclusive, responsive financial systems.
Digital financial services offer new opportunities for inclusion, but persistent gender gaps remain. Women continue to face barriers in access, usage, credit, and product relevance across many markets.
Traditional regulatory tools alone are no longer enough. To respond effectively, regulators need timely, usable data that reveals where exclusion occurs and whether interventions are working. Gender-disaggregated data makes these gaps visible and supports smarter, more equitable decision-making.
AIR’s Gender-Disaggregated Data for Inclusive Regulation Program supports financial sector regulators to strengthen how gender-disaggregated data is collected, analyzed, and applied in supervision and policymaking. By positioning data as both a diagnostic and an accountability tool, the program supports more adaptive, inclusive regulation.
The program combines research, collaboration and design sprints to:
Map current gender-disaggregated data practices and gaps
Engage regulators and ecosystem experts
Co-design practical tools, dashboards, and use cases
Advance solutions toward real-world implementation and potential digital public goods
The program combines in-country engagement with continuous collaboration across the global regulatory ecosystem. AIR is working deeply with regulatory ecosystems in:
Bangladesh
Nigeria
Pakistan
Rwanda
Tanzania
AIR is also engaging regulators and stakeholders globally throughout the process to share insights, exchange best practices, and support collective learning.
Across the focus countries, AIR is mapping how gender-disaggregated data is currently used and identifying opportunities to strengthen inclusive supervision and policy — insights that are then fed back into the wider global dialogue.
Inclusive regulation cannot be built in isolation. This program brings together regulators, supervisors, technology and data partners, financial service providers, researchers, international organizations, and more.
By working collaboratively, partners gain early insight into emerging tools and contribute to solutions that can be adapted and scaled across markets — strengthening gender-disaggregated data ecosystems, peer learning and advancing women’s economic empowerment.
To explore partnership opportunities or learn more about the program, please contact Victoria Jory.
The Global Advisory Group is a voluntary membership and will run for the duration of the project only. The group will share expertise and knowledge focused on GDD and surrounding information. The group will help to build statements for the sprints, support amplification and advocacy, and assist where relevant in recruitment for the sprints and supporting in ensuring the correct ecosystems are invited to the table.
BLOG • Going Further, Together: Collaborating to Strengthen Gender-Disaggregated Data
This blog outlines collaborative work, challenges in data use, and the multi-country effort to better collect, analyze, and apply GDD for meaningful policy impact.
BLOG • Power of empowerment: Swanari TechSprint Takeaways
AIR was a partner with India’s Reserve Bank Innovation Hub on a tech competition and ideas forum exploring digital financial services solutions for women’s economic advancement.
TECHSPRINT • AIR, U.K. Regulator Team Up on Women’s Empowerment TechSprint
The Alliance for Innovative Regulation and Financial Conduct Authority partnered on a transatlantic competition and conference examining ways to address the disproportionate impact of the COVID pandemic on women.
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