Social Performance Indicators Blog

Announcement: PPI™ Initiative in Africa

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The Grameen Foundation made an announcement today that it will begin an initiative with three MFIs in Sub-Saharan Africa to use the PPI™ (Progress out of Poverty Index™) to assess client poverty levels, better target poor clients, and track how they are moving out of poverty. The initiative, the first of its kind in Africa, is being facilitated by the PPI™ Users Collaborative in Africa (PUCA), a new, multi-stakeholder group that unites five charter partners—Oikocredit, Catholic Relief Services, Terrafina Microfinance, Planet Rating and Grameen Foundation—with the national microfinance networks APIM/Mali and  APSFD Senegal. As Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region in the world, it is particularly important for MFIs of that region to measure whether and how MFIs are able to contribute to poverty alleviation, improving their strategies accordingly.

More information on this initiative is available on the Progress out of Poverty Blog and the Grameen Foundation webpage.

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Support Haiti through Microfinance

Posted by: Katherine Oglietti

Following the earthquake in Haiti, we featured guest posts from Sogesol and Fonkoze affiliates because we were able to make rapid contact with them, yet these MFIs are not the only ones who need support. It is necessary to emphasize that each of the microfinance institutions in Haiti and their clients have suffered greatly as a result of this catastrophe, and each will have much rebuilding to do. They have born losses of staff members and damages to their institutions. They are struggling to overcome these heavy blows to their organizations while redoubling their efforts to provide desperately needed loans and financial services to their clients. 

Photos by Leigh Carter, Fonkoze USA

As the rubble is cleared and the dust settles, microfinance will become an essential component of the rebuilding process, helping microentrepreneurs get back on their feet. MFIs have the capacity to offer loans for rebuilding homes and businesses; the ability to offer such financing will be contingent upon a large increase in funding. Please consider channeling your support for Haiti’s continual and sustainable development through one or more of these microfinance institutions who have been working to support Haitian microentrepreneurs and families for many years. 

MIX Market has information on six microfinance institutions from Haiti. Please find below the information that we could find on each of these organizations, as well as how to contribute to their funds for relief efforts.

Announcement: Social Performance Task Force Annual Meeting

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Social Performance Task Force Annual Meeting

June 28, 2010 – July 2, 2010
Bern, Switzerland

Sponsored by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Liechtenstein Development Service, CGAP, and the Ford Foundation

For more information, please see the attached invitation letter, city guide, and hotel reservation form.

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MFIs Respond to Disaster: Fonkoze in Haiti

Posted by: Leah Nedderman

Leah Nedderman is a microfinance consultant based in Washington, DC and former Director of Social Performance Management for Fonkoze.  She can be reached at Lnedderm@gmail.com.

As a former Fonkoze employee and resident of Port-au-Prince, I have a sense for the catastrophe that has occurred, and the challenges that lie ahead for Fonkoze and other institutions who serve the poor of Haiti. 

This afternoon, I spoke with Fonkoze employee Natalie Domond, where she called from a friend’s home in Port-au-Prince. She and the other Fonkoze staff safely exited the central office in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. Outside, dust and screams filled the air. She recounted gruesome scenes at every turn.

Institutions like Fonkoze, who exist to provide services to the poor, will require support now more than ever.  Just fifteen months ago, Haiti was hit by several powerful tropical storms and a hurricane. Fonkoze responded by mobilizing leaders in forty communities throughout the country to assess the damage, account for members, and generate information for relief agencies. Almost immediately, Fonkoze was able to offer new financial products to affected families so that they could get their micro-businesses up and running again, re-stock their goods, and begin recovering their livelihoods. I am confident their response to the current crisis will be just as resolute.

The name Fonkoze stands for “Shoulder to Shoulder Foundation” in Haitian Creole. It reflects the commitment of the institution and its staff to standing in solidarity with the Haitian poor. This commitment comes from loan officers who work with rural women to establish small businesses in a despondent economy, in the dogged determination of literacy trainers who travel sweaty miles to hold classes for illiterate members, and in the steely resolve of the members who toil year after year to provide food and schooling for their children.

Today, Natalie remarked that this incredible event is a defining moment for the international community. She believes that with assistance, Fonkoze will recover, and will be a leader in the recuperation of the country. 

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You can help Fonkoze by making a donation to the Fonkoze USA “Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Fund” today. To follow Fonkoze earthquake news and updates click here.

Announcement: 2nd Microfinance Summit in New York City

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IQPC’s Microfinance & Sustainable Development Conference: The Investment Opportunity

Harnessing Market Forces to Catalyze Poverty Alleviation & Human Development:
Broadening the Scope of Impact Investing
January 25-27, 2009
Millennium Broadway, New York, NY

 

Program highlights:

• Compare and contrast successful distribution channels and models for reaching the Bottom of the Pyramid
• Identify meaningful and profitable microfinance and other social enterprise investments in 2010
• Mitigate risks such as foreign exchange and credit risk associated with investing in emerging markets
• Update on innovative financing and equity structures used in recent microfinance transactions
• Leverage advancements and lessons learned from investing in microfinance to invest in other sectors that deliver essential public and private goods and services to the poor
• Benefit from unparalleled networking opportunities
  

Participating organizations include: ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION, FORD FOUNDATION, MICHAEL & SUSAN DELL FOUNDATION, CLINTON FOUNDATION, TIAA-CREF, UNITUS CAPITAL, DEUTSCHE BANK, MORGAN STANLEY, ACUMEN FUND, MFX SOLUTIONS, TRANSFERCEL, TRILINK GLOBAL AND MORE!

For more info, please visit www.microfinanceconference.com or view the conference brochure here.

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Welcome to the Social Performance Indicators Blog

Posted by: Micol Pistelli

The Social Performance Indicators Blog aims to serve as a platform for learning and exchange on topics related to social performance in microfinance. Each week we will address a different subject related to social performance measurement by interviewing relevant stakeholders, with the purpose of gaining a deeper understanding of how to assess the social performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and contributing to the need for information and greater transparency within the industry.

At the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF), we believe that measuring social performance in microfinance is not only possible but also necessary for any MFI that is client-centered and concerned about the achievement of its social mission. However, the experience of tracking social performance data in a rigorous and systematic way is new and we still have a lot to learn.

We are currently talking about a gradual process that requires strategic planning, a Management Information System able to track the information, and specific training of MFIs. It doesn’t have to happen all at once but it is imperative that the industry understands its relevance and actively seeks this information. We hope that this blog can contribute to this purpose.

Microfinance clients in Nepal. Photo by Liz Larson (MIX).

Why are we concerned about social performance standards for microfinance?

Each MFI has its own development objectives, such as poverty reduction, creation of employment opportunities, new business development, and so on. Independent of such specific social goals and the legal composition of the institution, however, are standard indicators that can help MFIs define who they want to reach (outreach), their plan for serving target clients (methodology), and what benefits they hope to create (change).

Since 2005, the global, industry-wide SPTF has focused on developing ways to measure social performance in microfinance, which has resulted in the creation of 22 social performance indicators to assess how an MFI aligns its systems to its mission and how it uses social performance information to reach its social goals. These standard indicators are simple, relevant for an MFI to track, useful to improve the MFI’s overall performance, and easy to validate by an external stakeholder.

The Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX) has created a report that collects and defines these indicators. Having sent the report to all MFIs registered in the MIX Market as of February 2009, MIX is now collecting data for the year 2008 and will close data collection for that year in December 2009.