For years, many countries have invested in sex-disaggregated reporting, yet the gap between collecting data and using it to advance women’s financial inclusion has remained wide. Templates get filled out, spreadsheets are emailed, and PDF tables are published, but the insights rarely travel far enough to influence strategy or shape policy. Without practical tools to analyze and visualize data, women’s financial behavior remains poorly understood and the business case for serving them remains underdeveloped.
In Nigeria and Bangladesh, that pattern is starting to shift. Through the partnership between the Financial Alliance for Women and ConsumerCentriX, regulators in both countries have spent the last several years moving from fragmented reporting systems to national gender data dashboards that help translate data into action. The work builds on earlier diagnostics under the WFID Partnership, which highlighted inconsistent data use, limited granularity, and ongoing analysis bottlenecks across multiple markets.
The starting point in both countries was a clear understanding of the gender data ecosystem. Mapping existing reporting streams revealed how many institutions were collecting relevant data and how disconnected those sources were. In Nigeria, for example, the Central Bank discovered that two major datasets needed for the dashboard were held by the national interbank settlement system. Only after sustained engagement did both institutions formalize data sharing agreements and begin addressing security protocols and reporting standards. This type of alignment created the foundation for a national dashboard that could offer a real-time view of financial inclusion by gender.
Bangladesh Bank followed a similar trajectory. For years, the regulator had already been publishing sex-disaggregated data but only through individual PDF tables. Users had to extract figures by hand before running even basic analysis. The dashboard changed that completely. It now centralizes the full set of reported data, allowing users to explore patterns by gender, age, region, channel, and business size. The shift from static tables to a living analytical tool has made it possible to understand trends that were previously hidden.
Nigeria’s first dashboard version shows the impact of this approach. The tool merges three previously separate datasets and produces a unified view of financial inclusion by gender. Even the early pilot, which focused on high-level account ownership, offered insights that policymakers had not been able to access before. By linking account information to unique identification numbers, the dashboard avoids double counting and presents a more accurate picture of individual customers across the financial system.
One important lesson from these experiences is that the technology itself is not the breakthrough. Tools like Tableau, which both countries used, are widely accessible. The real shift comes from strengthening the underlying processes: securing buy-in across institutions, improving data pipelines, transitioning from aggregated templates to individual-level data, and establishing cross-department working groups to oversee the work. These steps represent a change in how institutions view gender data, treating it as a strategic asset rather than a compliance requirement.
Both countries have now moved into the stage where dashboards are used widely and updated regularly. Bangladesh launched its dashboard during its International Women’s Day celebrations in March 2024 and followed the event with a training session that brought together 150 participants from financial service providers. The team is already planning to expand the dashboard to include data from insurance and microfinance regulators and to move further toward individual-level reporting. Nigeria launched its first iteration in November 2024 and has since created an oversight committee to guide future development, including the integration of new data sources and additional analytical features.
These efforts support broader commitments under the WE Finance Code, where gender data plays a central role in tracking progress and measuring the impact of policies and products. With stronger data systems in place, both countries are now better positioned to design evidence-based strategies for women’s financial inclusion and to support financial service providers that want to build or expand their women-centered offerings.
The work is also generating interest from other regulators that want to follow a similar path. From the outset, the FAWDAT project aimed to establish Nigeria and Bangladesh as demonstration cases that could inspire broader adoption of robust gender data systems across more markets.
For funders, financial service providers, and practitioners, the experience from these two countries offers two clear insights. First, it is possible to close gender data gaps when institutions commit to strengthening reporting systems and making data easier to use. Second, dashboards should be seen not as final products but as catalysts. Their real value comes from how institutions use them to identify barriers, test solutions, and strengthen the business case for serving women.
As more countries begin to adopt similar models, the opportunity is significant. Real-time, reliable gender data can help close long-standing knowledge gaps, improve policy design, and support financial institutions that want to reach women more effectively. With the right investment and collaboration, dashboards like those in Bangladesh and Nigeria can help create financial systems that finally see and serve women more fully.