The UNCDF MicroLead programme funded by Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) in Myanmar aims to contribute to the development of a strong, inclusive financial sector in Myanmar. UNCDF commissioned Microfinance Opportunities and TNS Myanmar to conduct a year-long Financial Diaries research study to provide in-depth market intelligence on the economic behavior of low-income residents of Myanmar. The study covered 101 women and 10 men living in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas of the Mandalay Region. The Diaries gathered information each week between August 2014 and July 2015 on the respondents’: purchases, sales, earnings, loans (including store credit), loan repayments, savings deposits and withdrawals, and transfers of money both within the household and outside of the household. The respondents also reported on any unusual events that occurred each week.

At a workshop for stakeholders working on financial inclusion in Myanmar on December 9, 2015, Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) presented the findings of the Myanmar Financial Diaries study. MFO, with support from UNCDF and LIFT, deployed the Financial Diaries methodology in Myanmar to gain insights into low-income consumers’ use of financial services.

As part of the presentation of the findings, MFO asked the 75 stakeholders present at the workshop to engage in an exercise. This exercise required participants to discuss one of three profiles of individual respondents from the Financial Diaries study. The profiles showed the money flowing into and out of the hands of the respondents during the course of the study. The participants were divided in groups for a period of about 20 minutes and required to brainstorm product or service ideas that the profiles inspired and then present those ideas to the larger group.