Posted by: Florent Bedecarrats, Comité d’Echanges de Réflexion et d’Information sur les Systèmes d’Epargne-crédit (CERISE)
For many microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Africa, the CERISE SPI social audit tool is a simple entry point to social performance management. The SPI tool is fully compatible with the Social Performance Standards, enabling MFIs to easily report to MIX, and it also includes the Consumer Protection Principles, helping MFIs take measures to address weaknesses. Most importantly, while reviewing their practices against their objectives with the SPI tool, MFIs can align and improve their processes for greater resiliency and impact by knowing their clients better, maintaining relationships of trust and proximity, avoiding over-indebtedness, and improving their reputation.
Example of SPI results by dimension and criteria (click on image for enlarged version)
With help from the SPI tool, social audit initiatives are reaching across Africa. For example, in 2008 the West African Confédération des Institutions Financières (CIF) launched a process to improve its social performance. A network of 6 MFIs representing more than 2 million members, including FECECAM (Benin), FUCEC (Togo), PAMECAS (Senegal), RCPB (Burkina Faso), Kafo Jiginew, and Nyèsigiso (Mali), CIF examined the practices of its affiliates through social audits, discussions with staff and elected officials, and feedback on social performance findings from general assemblies. After a year of these efforts, mainly sustained by CIF’s own resources, CIF recently released seven social reports (one for each member and one for CIF as a whole), a short list of key social performance indicators for management monitoring, and an action plan for upcoming years to increase rural access, improve outreach to excluded populations, include more women, and strengthen member capacities.
In Benin, similar progress has been made towards standardized reporting of social and financial performance. This year, the Beninese apex Consortium Alafia reiterated its 2008 experience evaluating the social performance of its 23 member institutions. With help from local networks (Pamiga, MAIN) and support organizations (Entrepreneurs du Monde, Aquadev, Trias), more than 60 MFIs from most African counties implemented social audits. CERISE’s collection of these results has resulted in a very interesting regional peer group analysis, which will be discussed in a forthcoming issue of the Microbanking Bulletin.
As demonstrated in the examples above as well as other initiatives from Senegal to Ethiopia to South Africa, this movement shows that there is a real demand for social performance in Africa to strengthen microfinance's impact for both clients and MFIs.
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