1. The Background:
The Alliance for Financial Inclusion
The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) is the world’s leading organization on financial inclusion policy and regulation. Currently, 90 member institutions make up the AFI network including central banks, ministries of finance and other financial policymaking or regulatory institutions from over 84 developing countries and emerging markets. AFI empowers policymakers to increase the access and usage of quality financial services for the underserved through sustainable and inclusive policies and an effective use of digital technologies.
Policies developed and implemented by AFI members contribute to a range of the Sustainable Development Goals. By Setting their own agenda, AFI members harness the power of peer learning to develop practical and tested policy reforms that enhance financial inclusion with strategic support from both public and private sector partners.
AFI has 7 Working Groups (WG): Consumer Empowerment and Market Conduct Working Group (CEMCWG), Digital Financial Services Working Group (DFSWG), Financial Inclusion Data Working Group (FIDWG), Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group (FISPLG), Global Standards Proportionality Working Group (GSPWG), Inclusive Green Finance Working Group (IGFWG) and SME Finance Working Group (SMEFWG),
As the key source of policy developments and trends in financial inclusion and as the primary mechanism for generating and incubating technical content in the network, the Working Groups serve as “communities of practice”. Providing a platform for knowledge exchange and peer learning among policymakers to share, deliberate and deepen their understanding, the working groups offer leadership and expertise in their respective policy fields and support the network to monitor new developments in emerging fields.
The knowledge generated via the working groups is disseminated for implementation by a range of capacity building activities such as Joint Learning Programs, Member Trainings, Trainings by Private Sector Partners. The practical experience members garner from engaging in peer learning based capacity building is then applied by members as in country implementation projects which are supported by the provision of financial or technical support to AFI member institutions in conducting activities that aim to deliver financial inclusion policies, regulations, supervisory tools or enablers for the development of policies, such as national financial inclusion strategies.
The working groups receive strategic guidance and insight from the High-Level Global Standards & Policy Committee, while the Gender Inclusive Finance Committee, supports WGs in integrating gender considerations into all aspects of their work and support members in fulfilling their Denarau Action Plan (updated 2022) commitment to promote women’s financial inclusion.
AFI members have made further commitments in a range of other accords which can be read here.
The AFI’s five regional initiatives complete the AFI platform of services by supporting policy implementation in Africa (AfPI), Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC), the Pacific Islands (PIRI), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECAPI) and the Arab Region (FIARI).
2. Project Background:
Central Bank of Sri Lanka
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), established in 1950 and operating autonomously under the CBSL Act No. 16 of 2023, is responsible for administering the nation’s monetary, financial, and payment systems. A core function of the CBSL is the promotion of financial inclusion, a key driver of equitable economic growth. As an active member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) since 2010, the CBSL has spearheaded various financial inclusion initiatives, including leading the formulation and implementation of the first National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS, 2021-2024).
As the inaugural NFIS concludes, the CBSL is requesting AFI’s support to conduct a national demand-side survey on financial inclusion. This is a follow up on a previous survey of 2019. This evaluation is crucial for measuring progress, identifying persistent barriers, establishing updated baselines for access, usage, and quality of financial services, and facilitating international benchmarking.
Building upon the achievements of NFIS-I, the forthcoming NFIS (starting in 2026) will expand its focus to encompass emerging policy areas. These include gender-inclusive finance, inclusive green finance (recognizing Sri Lanka’s vulnerability to climate change), and strengthened financial consumer protection and market conduct supervision, particularly for vulnerable groups (women, youth, rural populations, and people with disabilities). The survey findings will directly inform the objectives and targets of this expanded strategy.
National Financial Inclusion Survey
The Sri Lanka National Financial Inclusion Demand-side Survey (DSS), funded by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and to be supervised by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), aims to update national financial inclusion baselines, evaluate the progress of the first phase of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS-I), and inform the objectives of NFIS-II.
The survey will gather country-specific data on the access, usage, and quality of financial services among the adult population (definition to be determined) in Sri Lanka. It will correlate financial inclusion with key socio-demographic characteristics, identify barriers to financial services, assess financial health and consumer confidence, and pinpoint financial vulnerabilities linked to climate change risks. Further, it will measure aspects of financial literacy, capability, and the effectiveness of consumer protection measures. The survey methodology will ensure national representativeness through a probabilistic sampling approach, incorporating gender, urban/rural residency, education levels, and key age brackets.
Crucially, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) is soliciting proposals from consulting firms to implement this National Financial Inclusion Demand-side Survey in Sri Lanka. These Terms of Reference detail the required scope of work for this assignment.
3. Overall objective & Approach:
The objective of the Survey is to have an analysis of the current state of financial inclusion across the population of the country. This analysis will:
- Provide an overview and general landscape for financial inclusion levels across Sri Lanka, which will contribute to the development of the NFIS Phase II and;
- Help define targets and indicators that can be monitored as part of the NFIS impact evaluation.
4. Scope of Work
The selected firm will conduct a nationally representative, probabilistic household survey on financial inclusion in Sri Lanka, on behalf of the CBSL and funded by AFI. Key responsibilities include:
- Sample Design: The sample must be probabilistic and representative across national, urban/rural, gender, education, and age brackets. This includes defining the sampling frame, stratification variables, sample allocation, weighting procedures, and addressing potential non-response bias. As a reference, the previous demand-side survey in Sri Lanka had approximately 4,800 respondents, however the size of the survey sample should follow the results of the updated sampling frame and budget considerations. The sampling frame should provide detailed options for different confidence intervals and margins of error (95% confidence level with margins of 1.5%, 1.7%, 2%, 2.5%, 3%, and 5%), rigorously accounting for clustering effects and non-response.
- The firm will be expected to design, test and use a rigorous sampling frame methodology. A two-stage stratified sampling methodology, using an Area Frame Sampling methodology is recommended to ensure a robust probabilistic sample of the Sri Lankan national population. The firm proposal should describe the sampling frame methodology to be executed as part of the methodology to be evaluated.
- Questionnaire Development and Data collection system: The CBSL will provide a revised draft questionnaire in English (trying to stay on an interview length between 45 to 60 minutes maximum) for data collection efficiency. The firm should review and translate and back-translate the questionnaire into Sinhala, and Tamil (the official languages) and convert the provided questions (covering access, usage, quality, barriers, financial health, climate vulnerability and opportunities, financial literacy, and consumer protection) into a finalized questionnaire suitable for administration in English, Sinhala, and Tamil versions. This process must include piloting, back-translation, and rigorous testing for contextual relevance and clarity. A Computer-assisted personal interview CAPI system approach is strongly preferred, and the firm will be responsible for scripting and developing the electronic system, if used. If instead, a Paper-assisted personal interview, PAPI, methodology is proposed for the survey administration, then the firm should demonstrate a robust data collection and cleaning protocols/processes.
- Pilot Testing the Survey: Plan and execute a pilot testing of the survey including the questionnaires language and sequence on its different languages, the data capture systems, and the fieldwork experience. A minimum of 50 piloted surveys preferably among households with different socio-demographic characteristics will be undertaken as part of the fieldwork preparation. From the pilot observations, required adjustments to the questionnaires, data collection systems, and fieldwork protocols will be undertaken before staring the fieldwork under approval of CBSL. A report with the main findings, recommendations and changes on the main results of the pilot testing exercise will be issued by the survey firm.
- Fieldwork Preparation: Secure an accurate and representative sample frame, conduct a sample frame accuracy check, recruit and thoroughly train enumerators and supervisors (with a detailed training plan), and develop comprehensive logistical plans. This includes: being supported by CBSL with Letters introducing the Survey to the surveyed individuals to gain trust among the respondents.
- Respondent Selection: Based on the approved sample methodology, within each selected household, the surveyors will use the Kish grid method to randomly select one eligible adult respondent (aged 18 or older and actively involved in household or personal financial decisions).
- Fieldwork and Data Collection: Conduct face-to-face interviews using the approved questionnaire (CAPI strongly preferred) or the PAPI, please specify. This includes:
– Enumerator Responsibilities: Visiting selected households, securing participation, conducting interviews, accurately recording responses, ensuring completeness and accuracy of questionnaires, and delivering completed questionnaires to supervisors.
– Supervisor Responsibilities: Explaining duties to enumerators, providing logistical support, actively supervising all enumerator activities, monitoring data quality through spot checks and call backs, assessing the quality of work and data, approving questionnaires for data entry, and providing feedback to enumerators.
– Project Coordinator Responsibilities: Overall supervision of field activities, assigning households, ensuring maximum participation and minimizing non-response, coordinating quality control with supervisors, and ensuring efficient data entry. Adhering to stringent quality control protocols throughout the data collection period. This includes regular progress reporting to AFI and CBSL.
- Data Entry and Processing: Implement concurrent data entry with rigorous consistency checks, outlier identification and verification, and standardized coding for missing values (for instance, -7, -8, -9, 0) as per CBSL guidelines.
- Data Analysis and Reporting: Perform data cleaning, application of sampling weights, and comprehensive statistical analysis. This analysis should include, but not be limited to: descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations by key demographic variables, and appropriate regression analyses to explore relationships between financial inclusion and other factors. Prepare a comprehensive analytical report (see below).
Deliverables:
- Finalized questionnaire (English, Sinhala, Tamil).
- Detailed sampling methodology and implementation plan, including weighting procedures.
- Data quality control plan and reports.
- Cleaned and coded dataset in STATA, SPSS, and Excel/CSV formats.
– Comprehensive Analytical Report: This report must be written in clear, concise English and should include descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, regression analyses (where appropriate), key findings, and actionable policy recommendations.
- Codebook: A detailed codebook accompanying the dataset, clearly defining all variables, value labels, and missing value codes.
- Sampling Weights: The final dataset must include calculated sampling weights to ensure accurate representation of the population.
- Presentation slides summarizing the key findings and recommendations.
- Raw data (anonymized).
- All materials used in data collection (training materials, etc.).
- Confidentiality and Data Ownership:
– The selected firm must protect the confidentiality of all participating households and individuals at all stages of the project.
-All data collected is the sole and exclusive property of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
– No data or information from the survey may be released to third parties without the express written consent of the CBSL.
– The firm and any subcontractors must return all data, questionnaires, and related materials to the CBSL upon completion of the project and retain no copies.
– A database containing unique numeric identifiers linked to names and addresses (for linkage purposes only) must be provided separately, with strict confidentiality maintained.
– The names and addresses of participating individuals will not be released to any party or any reason other than a CBSL’s assigned representative.
5. Key Deliverables:
The following are the key deliverables of this assignment:
a. Finalized Survey Questionnaires (Instruments):
- Finalized questionnaire in English, Sinhala, and Tamil.
- Interviewer manuals in English, Sinhala and Tamil.
- If using CAPI, the corresponding electronic Script also tested for data-entry and data collection accuracy in English, Sinhala and Tamil.
b. Sampling Documentation:
- Detailed sampling methodology and implementation plan, including weighting procedures and justification for sample size.
- Report on sampling testing.
- Approved Sample Frame.
c. Data Quality and Progress Reports
- Data quality control plan.
- Regular progress reports during data collection, including response rates (differentiating between refusals and sample frame issues) – bi-weekly frequency is recommended.
- Fieldwork report covering the methodology employed, observations/experiences from the survey fieldwork and supervision, and any data removed during quality control (other than through clarification with respondents).
d. Data:
- Preliminary datasets (in STATA, SPSS, and Excel/CSV formats) with codebook, covering 20% of the total sample respondents (for quality control checks). Timing to be agreed upon during negotiation.
- Cleaned and coded final dataset in STATA, SPSS, and Excel/CSV formats.
- Sampling weights (included in the final dataset).
- Codebook: A detailed codebook accompanying the dataset, clearly defining all variables, value labels, and missing value codes, and variable names used.
e. Reporting:
- Comprehensive Analytical Report: This report must be written in clear, concise English and should include descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, regression analyses (where appropriate), key findings, and actionable policy recommendations within a proposed outline.
– Executive Summary: A concise overview of the project, methodology, key findings, and policy recommendations.
– Introduction: Background information on financial inclusion in Sri Lanka and the objectives of the survey.
– Methodology: A detailed description of the sampling methodology, data collection procedures, and data quality control measures.
– Key Findings: A presentation of the survey results, organized by key thematic areas (covering access, usage, quality, barriers, financial health, climate vulnerability and opportunities, financial literacy, and consumer protection). This section should include tables, figures, and narrative analysis.
-Policy Recommendations: Specific, actionable, and evidence-based recommendations for the CBSL and other stakeholders to improve financial inclusion in Sri Lanka. These recommendations should be directly linked to the survey findings.
– Conclusions: A summary of the main conclusions and implications of the study.
– Appendices: Including the questionnaire, sampling methodology details, and any other relevant supporting materials.
f) Other Materials:
- Presentation slides summarizing key findings (for presentations to CBSL and AFI).
- All materials used in data collection (training materials, etc.).
- All hard copies and data forms.
- Raw data (anonymized)
6. Timeline and Deliverables:
The project is expected to commence in 12 May 2025 and conclude by 11 October 2025, with a target duration of six (6) months. A detailed work plan and time schedule will be agreed upon by the selected consulting firm, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) task team. Any delays caused by AFI or CBSL will result in a corresponding extension of all deadlines. Payments for deliverables are contingent upon explicit approval from the CBSL task team. Bi-weekly project oversight meetings will be held between the consulting firm, AFI, and the CBSL task team. CBSL and AFI will provide ongoing support, including internal expertise, stakeholder connections, communication assistance, and feedback on deliverables. The following table outlines the tentative timeline and associated deliverables:
| No. | Activity | Output/Deliverable | Timeline |
| Phase 1 – Inception and Planning (Week 1 – 3) | |||
| Project Inception and Contract Signing | Signed contract; Approved inception report outlining the project plan, including detailed workplan and timeline. | Week 1 | |
| Sample Design and Frame Approval | Detailed sampling methodology and implementation plan (including weighting procedures); Approved sample frame. | Week 3 | |
| Questionnaire Finalization (Translation, Back-Translation) and Manual Development | Finalized questionnaires (English, Sinhala, Tamil); Interviewer manuals (English, Sinhala, Tamil). | Week 3 | |
| Phase 2: Training, Piloting, and Fieldwork Preparation (Weeks 4-6) | |||
| Training of Enumerators and Supervisors; Pilot Survey | Pilot survey report; Revised questionnaires (if necessary, based on pilot); Finalized fieldwork plan. Training Materials | Week 6 | |
| Phase 3: Data Collection and Preliminary Data (Weeks 7-14) | |||
| Fieldwork Commencement and Data Collection; Ongoing Quality Control & Data Entry; Bi-weekly Reporting | Preliminary dataset (20% of total sample) with codebook; Bi-weekly progress reports (including response rates). | Week 9 | |
| Continued Fieldwork, Data Collection, Quality Control & Data Entry | Complete, cleaned, and coded dataset (100% of sample) in STATA, SPSS, and Excel/CSV formats; Updated codebook; Sampling weights (included in the dataset). | Week 16 | |
| Phase 4: Analysis, Reporting, and Finalization (Weeks 15-20) | |||
| Data Analysis and Draft Report Preparation | Draft comprehensive analytical report (including descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, regression analyses (where appropriate), key findings, and draft policy recommendations). | Week 20 | |
| Fieldwork Report | Fieldwork Report | Week 22 | |
| Final Deliverable Submission and Project Completion | Final comprehensive analytical report (incorporating CBSL and AFI feedback); Presentation slides summarizing key findings; All raw data (anonymized); All hard copies, data forms, and project materials; | Week 24 | |
Throughout the project, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and AFI will actively supervise and assist the consulting firm, providing internal expertise, facilitating connections with key stakeholders, and offering insights on project deliverables. The designated CBSL task team will be responsible for day-to-day approvals. Bi-weekly project oversight meetings are expected between the firm, AFI, and the CBSL task team. All deliverables will be paid by AFI, subject to explicit approval from the CBSL task team.
7. Travel:
This consultancy work requires a substantial amount of travelling to support different tasks. The estimated travel expenses should be included with breakdown of the flight, accommodation, per diem whenever relevant and will be capped as reference for further evaluation and contract award.
8. Consultant Experience:
The selected consulting firm must demonstrate the following qualifications and experience:
8.1 Firm-Level qualifications:
- Proven Experience: Demonstrated experience in conducting national-scale quantitative surveys, preferably involving similar methodologies (e.g., household surveys, financial inclusion surveys). Experience in Sri Lanka or South Asia is highly desirable.
- Fieldwork Capacity: A proven ability to recruit, train, and manage a sufficient number of field enumerators and supervisors, with robust mechanisms for ensuring high-quality fieldwork. This includes demonstrating experience with both the recruitment/training process and successful outcomes (e.g., low attrition, high data quality).
- Qualified Personnel: Availability of highly qualified research staff, including a designated Project Manager, and a Project Statistician/Data Quality Assurance Expert(s), including demonstrated experience on sampling design.
- Quality Control: Demonstrated implementation of rigorous quality control procedures throughout the survey lifecycle (design, data collection, processing, and analysis).
- Project Management: A robust management system to ensure timely progress and delivery of high-quality outputs, including experience with risk management and mitigation.
- Financial Sector Knowledge: Experience in financial sector research, development, or related fields is highly desirable.
8.2 Project Manager Qualifications:
- Education: Minimum of a Master’s degree in Economics, Statistics, Econometrics, or a closely related field.
- Experience: At least 10 years of experience in coordinating, designing, and implementing large-scale quantitative surveys, including experience with data management and analysis. Specific experience managing projects of similar scope and complexity is essential.
- Technical Skills: High-level proficiency in statistical software packages (e.g., SPSS, STATA, R) and other survey-related software.
- Analytical Skills: Strong analytical and conceptual skills, with a demonstrated ability to interpret and present statistical information clearly and effectively.
- Financial Sector Knowledge: General understanding of financial inclusion, financial capability, access to finance, and/or financial consumer protection. Familiarity with the Sri Lankan financial sector is highly desirable.
- Communication Skills: Excellent written and spoken English communication skills.
- Local Expertise: Experience managing surveys in Sri Lanka, or similar context, will be highly valued.
8.3 Project Statistician(s) and Data Quality Assurance Expert(s) Qualifications:
- Education: Minimum of a Master’s degree in Statistics, Demography, Economics, or a related field.
- Experience: At least 10 years of experience in designing and managing large-scale surveys or research studies, with a strong emphasis on probability sampling methodologies.
- Sampling Expertise: Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing various probability sampling methodologies, ensuring population representativeness. Expertise on Area Frame Sampling methodologies strongly preferred.
- Questionnaire Development: Experience in developing and administering structured questionnaires.
- Fieldwork management expertise: At least five (5) years of experience in managing large-scale survey fieldwork, including experience in training and supervising field teams, and implementing quality control procedures.”
- Data Management: Experience in managing electronic databases and handling large datasets.
- Data Quality: Proven expertise in developing data entry applications that minimize errors, and in implementing data quality control procedures.
- Analytical Skills: Strong analytical and conceptual skills; ability to interpret and present statistical information.
- Software Proficiency: Conversant with multiple data analysis applications (e.g., Stata, SPSS, R, others).
- Experience Analyzing qualitative and quantitative data.
8.4 Supervisors and Enumerators Qualifications:
- Experience:
- Supervisors: Minimum of 3 years of experience supervising face-to-face surveys.Enumerators: Minimum of 3 years of experience conducting face-to-face surveys.Preference will be given to candidates with experience in social surveys (rather than solely marketing studies).
- Availability: Must be available for the entire duration of the fieldwork.
- Topic Familiarity: Familiarity with financial inclusion topics is desirable.
- Local Expertise: Supervisors and Enumerators should ideally be based in Sri Lanka and must be fully proficient in Sinhala and Tamil.
9. Reporting:
During the period of the execution of project, consultant will be expected to provide regular reports and updates to CBSL Task Team project leader supported by the assigned AFI Technical Lead.
10. Payment Terms:
The payment terms/schedule proposed for this consultancy are as following:
11. Administrative Information:
11.1 Disclaimer
The final decision on selection of a firm for this project rests with AFI management team and with the Inquiry. Only shortlisted and successful firms will be contacted.
11.2 Proposal Submission Information:
Proposals will be due with the following requirements for submission:
| Submission Deadline: | 25 April 2025 |
| Documents to be submitted with Annexure 1 and 2: | |
| Firm | – Company Registration; – Company Profile; – List of previous or current clientele on similar work; – Workplan (graph/timeline) – References with email contact; – Joint-Agreement (if any); – Conflict of Interest Disclosure form; – At least one (1) sample work (link or attachments) if any |
| Method of Submission: | By email to AFI’s Procurement & Contracts Office at RFP2518@afi-global.org |
| Submission of Technical and Financial: | Kindly submit the followings: 1. Using the template/format given in Annexure 1 (Technical) and Annexure 2. (Financial) and/or additional technical proposal for more information. 3. Technical and Financial proposal must be separated in different pdf. Financial proposals must be USD only. Whereas for Malaysian applicants with Business Registration under Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM), please submit your financial proposals in MYR. 4. Proposal to be submitted to the designated email address. 5. AFI does not tolerate copyright infringement, including but not limited to infringement, in the form of plagiarism. Consultant or Consulting entity awarded a contract by AFI shall take responsibility to ensure that the authored works, produced in parts or as an entirety of the deliverables stated in this RFP does not infringe on copyrights. |
| AFI is not bound to accept the lowest quoted bid and reserves the right to disqualify incomplete submission, overlapping submission, non-compliance to the above requirements. Notification of results will only be sent to shortlisted candidates upon completion. | |
11.3 Retention of Proposals
All proposals submitted become the property of AFI. AFI will make all reasonable efforts to maintain proposals in confidence and will release proposals only to personnel involved with the evaluation of the project. Proprietary information should be identified in each proposal.
12. Evaluation Criteria
The proposals submitted will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
| No. | Technical Scoring Criteria | Percentage |
| 1. | Profile and Overall Qualification | 20% |
| Firm-Level Experience and Capacity: Demonstrated experience in conducting national-scale quantitative surveys, preferably in financial inclusion or related fields. Includes experience in Sri Lanka or South Asia, | ||
| 2. | Technical Experience | 40% |
| Qualifications and Experience of Key Personnel (CVs): This includes the Project Manager, Project Statistician/Data Quality Assurance Expert, and proposed supervisors. Assessment will consider education, years of relevant experience, specific skills (as outlined in the “Qualifications” section), and prior experience on similar projects. | ||
| 3. | Adequacy of proposed workplan and methodology | 30% |
| Technical approach and research methodology – Assessment of the proposed technical approach, sampling methodology (including justification of sample size and weighting procedures), data quality control plan and data analysis plan. | 20% | |
| Workplan – including timeline, level of effort, and risk mitigation strategies. | 10% | |
| 4. | Sample Work – Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality research reports and deliverables, as evidenced by submitted sample work (if requested). Focus will be on clarity, analytical rigor, and relevance to the current project. | 10% |
| Total | 100% |
Evaluation of technical and financial proposals
AFI reserves the right to award the most suitable proposal based on the evaluation of combined criterion, where bidders are qualified by the combined valuation of the technical and financial proposals, with the following weightage:
i) Technical Proposal: 70% (Seventy percent)
ii) Financial Proposal: 30% (Thirty percent)