At Dvara Research, our work has traditionally centred on fundamental and systemic questions in the financial inclusion and social protection policy domains. Over the last 2 years and more, however, a significant portion of our work has attempted to narrow in on very specific problems in financial customer protection that concern poor customers, and especially poor women customers. This work has involved piloting various solution concepts in collaboration with important stakeholders in the financial inclusion space, such as financial service providers, self-regulatory organizations, and the like. While these solution concepts have drawn on our fundamental, systemic thinking, the focus here has been on doing as much as thinking or on “action research” (to borrow a commonly used phrase to describe this kind of work). In this paper, we take a look back at 30 months of action research work and reflect on the process, the hurdles overcome, and the lessons learned. Unlike our usual publications, this one is a meta-reflection on the method of action research. We hope it will be useful for other organizations like ours that are doing this kind of work and to funders who fund it.
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