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Applying a 'Social Lens' to Microfinance
7 May 2010 – Anton Simanowitz
Balancing the social and financial in microfinance has always been a particular challenge to the microfinance sector. In recent years, this balance has come dangerously close to tipping towards financial performance only, and overlooking the impact on clients’ lives.
To counteract this development, the microfinance sector is being challenged to be responsible in its practices and to be effective in serving its clients and improving their lives. The Microfinance Information Exchange as well as all major microfinance rating agencies now integrate social performance measurements into their reporting frameworks.
The Imp-Act Consortium whose secretariat base has recently moved from IDS, has demonstrated over the last ten years that Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) manage their social performance and improve their services with relatively small and affordable changes. The commitment is reflected in the Social Performance Management (SPM) principles endorsed by the Social Performance Task Force which consists of over 350 leaders from all over the world from every microfinance stakeholder group: practitioners, donors and investors (multilateral, bilateral, and private), national and regional networks, technical assistance providers, rating agencies, academics and researchers, and others.
The Imp-Act Consortium has pioneered the development of practical approaches to assist MFIs in `applying a social lens' to their work and to manage their social performance. We would like to invite you to access these resources free of charge on our website.
The resources include:
The SPM film Fulfilling the promise: Managing social performance provides a practical introduction to SPM and why it makes sense, as well as guidance on first steps. It is available in two versions and in four languages (Arabic, English, French and Spanish), accessible on our website or it can be ordered as DVD.
The SPM Practice Guide
Putting the `social' into performance management: A practice-based guide for microfinance is a practical step by step guide that will help MFIs building social performance management system in a practical manner referring to other MFI's concrete experience. The guide is available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian.
On-line resources
The SPM Resource Centre goes beyond the Practice Guide to include a self-assessment tool, additional practitioner experience, discussions and a guide to a wide range of online resources on social performance.
The SPM Network is the go-to place on the web to engage with practitioners, support organisation, investors and donors active in supporting SPM.
A series of seven case-studies from leading organisations in SPM have recently been completed and are show-cased on our website. These case-studies are based on a two year action-learning programme.
SPM training
A training course offered to Directors, Board members and senior management to develop your organisations strategy for SPM, and supported by a network of certified trainers worldwide.
Imp-Act is a Consortium of nine organisations working globally. As well as producing these publicly available resources the Consortium is well equipped to provide tailored support to individual MFIs, networks, support organisations and investors and donors globally. If you would like further information, contact the Consortium Secretariat.
Anton Simanowitz is a Programme Manager at the Institute of Development Studies and was formerly the Research Director of Imp-Act.
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Related Publications
- Brody, A., Greeley, M. and Wright-Revolledo, K. (2005) Money with a Mission 2: Managing the Social Performance of Microfinance
- Imp-Act team in association with Microfinance Centre (2005) Social Performance Management in Microfinance Guidelines
- Greeley, M. (2006) 'Microfinance Impact and the MDGs: The Challenge of Scaling Up', IDS Working Paper 255, Brighton: IDS
- Imp-Act (2005) Social Performance Management in Microfinance: Guidelines, Imp-Act in collaboration with Microfinance Centre
- Campion, A., Linder, C. and Knotts, K. (2009) Putting the 'Social' into Performance Management: A Practice-Based Guide for Microfinance, Brighton: IDS
Related Projects
- Imp-Act - Imp-Act is a global Consortium of organisations committed to making microfinance work for the poor and excluded. (Ongoing)
