Client Individuals: Minorities/Previously Excluded (PI4237)

This metric is intended to capture the number of unique clients who belong to a minority or previously excluded group who were recipients of the organization's products or services during the reporting period. It is not a measure of foot traffic. It is also not intended to capture the number of consumer transactions. For example, a customer who makes two purchases during a period should only be counted once. Organizations wishing to report on total client transactions should refer to Client Transactions (PI5184).

This metric is intended to capture the unique number of specific individuals serviced. Organizations should not use any household multipliers when reporting against this number. If organizations consider the entire household to be the customer/client, they can report against Client Households: Total (PI7954) and its associated submetrics.

The categorization of minority/previously excluded groups vary by the locations and situations in which they live. Because there is no internationally agreed-upon definition as to which groups constitute minorities, in situations where well-established local policies exist (e.g., South Africa: Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) definition of previously excluded, India: based on backward caste), organizations should refer to local guidelines to identify minority or previously excluded groups. Otherwise, organizations should provide additional detail as to their tailored methodology for defining these groups.

Many organizations may not be able to report on the number of clients based on direct data. For example, organizations that sell solar lanterns via a series of local network distributors might estimate the number of client individuals reached by the number of units sold. Details on how and why these assumptions were made should be footnoted.

For healthcare providers, client individuals refers to patients. For housing providers, client individuals refers to residents or tenants.

This metric may help describe the HOW MUCH Scale dimension, which helps estimate the number of the targeted stakeholders experiencing the outcome. For more on the alignment of IRIS metrics to the five dimensions of impact, see specific guidance document. No single metric is sufficient to understand an impact; rather, metrics are selected as a set across all dimensions of impact. When possible, the selection of metrics to measure and describe the five dimensions should be based on best practice and evidence.