Client Households: Low Income (PI7318)

This metric is intended to capture the number of unique low income households that were recipients of the organization's products or services. Examples of organizations that might report against unique households include those that provide products such as clean cookstoves or water purification systems and services such as home weatherization. Organizations that provide goods and services at the individual level, such as vaccines or school lunches, might find it more appropriate to report using the Client Individuals metric.

The population classified as low income includes all those who fall below a fixed threshold, and is inclusive of those classified as poor or very poor. Due to the complexities of assessing the poverty level of clients, organizations will likely have to use specific assessment tools to report on this accurately. See the glossary definition for additional information on commonly used tools to help determine the absolute poverty level of individuals and households.

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

This metric is multi-dimensional in regards to the five dimensions of impact. It may help describe the WHO dimension when the stakeholder group represented by the metric is the stakeholder group targeted by the investment or organization. It may also help measure 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.