Microfinance organisations (MFOs) collect various types of information from their clients. However, it is often the case that this information is not used effectively to enable the MFO to better understand its clients and respond to their needs. The idea of the feedback loop is that this...

In order to know whether they are achieving their social goals and how to manage for social performance microfinance institutions (MFIs) need to find out: 1) Who uses the programme's products and services? Who does the programme exclude? 2) Why and when do clients leave the programme or fail to...

The paper draws on five case studies to explore potential benefits and barriers to horizontal networking to promote impact assessment of microfinance. The papers main aim is to stimulate further discussion of this issue. But some tentative conclusion are drawn about factors likely to contribute...

There is already substantial evidence to suggest that microfinance has polarising effects (Buckley, 1997, Copestake, 2002, Hulme, 2000 Marr, 2002; Wright, 2001). This should come as no surprise. Whilst every effort should be made to reduce negative impacts, it is inevitable that some clients will...

This paper considers impact assessment (IA) for a specific microfinance organisation working in an uncertain environment. It argues that there are significant learning points both for new clients and for the organisations who supply their services and products, which can result in improved, more...

This paper is based on work conducted by Imp-Act - a three-year action-research programme aiming to improve the quality of microfinance services and their impact on poverty. Learning from the experiences of 30 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in four continents, Imp-Act is developing and...

This note presents a framework for assessing social performance (social performance assessment SPA), and how this information can be used to inform decisions that affect both the social and financial performance of the microfinance institutions this we term social performance management, SPM....