In July 2021, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) announced a five-year National Financial Literacy Strategy to “create a more accessible, inclusive, and effective financial literacy ecosystem for all Canadians.” The main goal of the strategy is to increase financial resilience by reducing barriers and help consumers build skills and capacity to achieve positive financial outcomes.

Now that we’re at the approximate midway point, it’s time to learn how the strategy is doing by collecting data. In January 2023, the FCAC introduced the Counting Change: A Measurement Plan for the National Financial Literacy Strategy.

“… it is not enough to solely implement initiatives that align with the National Strategy. To really understand if our initiatives are collectively making a difference and helping Canadians, we need to measure their impact.” – FCAC

The video below outlines the measurement plan and its goals.

The measurement plan offers stakeholders clear steps and guidance for measuring the outcomes of their programs. The measurement plan will:

1. help identify and track indicators and progress towards achieving the outcomes of the National Financial Literacy Strategy
2. help gain collective agreement about how best to improve and evaluate the financial outcomes and resilience of Canadians
3. help stakeholders in the Financial Ecosystem scale the impact of their financial literacy initiatives

The website includes detailed guidance on the 4-step measurement process and includes a handy checklist. For more details about the measurement plan’s strategy-aligned measures, check out the measures library. This is an online repository that stakeholders can browse to find existing measures that are aligned with the National Strategy and can be easily incorporated into their initiatives to measure financial literacy outcomes.

Measuring the outcomes of a National Financial Literacy Strategy will benefit everyone in the literacy field. By measuring its impact, we can adjust the strategy according to what worked well, as well as discovering where changes need to be made. With this research, the literacy field will have a clear idea of where to focus their educational efforts. Additionally, if the measurement plan is thorough and successful, a similar tool could be used for other national literacy initiatives. We look forward to reading the results from the implementation of the national strategy.

Learn more about the national strategy and the measurement plan on the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s website.