Final Report - Main Findings of Phase 2 if the SPI Initiative

The final report compiles findings of the second phase of the Social Performance Indicators initiative (SPI-2). In this second phase, supported by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and the Fondation Charles Léopold Mayer pour le progrès de l’Homme (FPH), the questionnaire was tested with Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in order to finalize the auditing tool. The objectives were to check the accessibility, availability and reliability of the information provided, to define the questions precisely and to test the capacity of the tool to distinguish between different types of MFIs and different approaches to clients, in terms of social performance.

Comité d’Echanges, de Réflexion et d’Information sur les Systèmes d’Epargne-crédit (Cerise), 1 juin 2005

À télécharger : doc-7469_en [ .rtf (3,2 Mio) ]

Résumé :

At the end of the second phase, a general agreement has been reached among the partners on different points: progress has been made towards measuring social performance: at this stage, « social performance assessment » appears more concrete and more realistic; MFIs and other stakeholders have recognised the usefulness of the tool at this stage for internal discussions and definition of strategies, selection of indicators to follow; there is general agreement on the four dimensions defined during phase 1: they offer a complete vision of what social performance can be for an MFI, although there are of course underlying models or social strategies behind each dimension or indicator, and some MFIs may choose not to follow a model or a strategy. The questionnaire gives a very broad picture. The MFIs and the other stakeholders have to discuss how they are situated within this broad picture; social performance remains complementary with financial performance. In any case, financial performance remains the basis for sustainable institutions; the different stakeholders involved in the SPI initiative share common perspectives on the dissemination and improvement of the approach, focusing on strengthening and developing social performance for the MFIs.