Managing Social Performance:

How to Improve Impact?

Ewa Bankowska

SPM Program Manager, MFC

Context

1. Increasingly commercial approach to

microfinance

2.Professionalization of the sector

3.Focus on Social Performance:

– Has it been lost?

– Is it taken for granted?

– Is there “mission drift”?

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Are we impacting Clients?

1. change in microfinance is not automatic

2. focus on financial sustainability

3. Impact studies difficult and expensive

Looking back – too late

4. Unintended results:

Overindebtedness

Assets deprival

Management cockpit

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Social Performance Pathway

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Mis

sio

n

Ob

jecti

ves

Goals

Strategy

Reaching Target Clients

ChangeService Design & DeliverySystems

Meeting Client Needs

Operations

Information use

Case study: Prizma (B&H)

Prizma's mission is to improve the well being of large numbers of poor women and their families by providing

long-term access to quality financial services.

1.Poverty focused MFI

Context: post-conflict: female led households are the

poorest

Target group: women in urban and rural areas

Poverty scorecard to assess poverty and the change

Client feedback through exit monitoring

Staff selection and education – orientation on mission

Benefits

1.Lower exit rates and higher client loyalty

2.Higher staff motivation and lower turnover

3. Innovation in products

4. Identification of new market segments

5.Good public image

6. Increased access to financial resources

7.Enabling regulatory environment

What is fundamental

1. Sound business practice

2.Clients and their needs in the centre

3. Information on clients used

4. Social lenses to all systems

5. Informed decision making

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Quality Audit Tool

1. Entry point to managing social performance

2. Diagnoses strengths and weaknesses of internal

systems

3. Helps building buy-in and understanding of SPM at all

levels

4. Facilitates realistic action planning and step-by-step SPM

improvement

5. 1+5 day diagnostic process

– Qualitative interviews from Board to field staff and clients

– Audit panel to discuss results and plan improvements

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SPM in practice

1. Practical tools at www.mfc.org.pl/spm

2. Case studies at www.imp-act.org

3. Practitioner’s discussion at

spmconsortium.ning.com

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