The document provides an introduction to social performance in microfinance. It defines social performance as the effective translation of an institution's mission into practice in line with accepted social values. It discusses commonly accepted social values like serving poorer clients sustainably and improving financial services. It outlines how to achieve the mission through performance management and managing for social results. The document details the social performance pathway and dimensions of social performance like impact, intent and design, internal systems, outputs, outcomes, and impact. It provides examples from the field and recommendations on how to get started with social performance assessments.
2. Definition of ‘Social Performance’ The effective translation of an institution’s mission into practice in line with accepted social values
3. Commonly Accepted Social Values Serving increasing numbers of poorer and more excluded people sustainably Improving the quality & appropriateness of financial services through assessment of clients’ needs Increasing clients’ social capital, assets, income, and access to services Reducing clients’ vulnerability Improving social responsibility of the MFI toward clients, employees, and communities
4. Achieve Your Mission Through Performance Management Mission Social Performance Financial Performance Performance Management
5. Managing for Social Results Use performance results to improve products & services Measure progress toward desired performance Define desired performance
11. How to Get Started Join the Social Performance Task Force: www.sptf.info Assess and demonstrate your current performance by completing the SPTF/MIX Market Social Performance Standards Report Review the Companion Guide to the Report Find out more:ww.sptf.info
28. Responsible Finance vs. Social Performance Responsible Finance Regulators & Policymakers Donors Investors & MIVs Overlap Social Performance Networks, Associations, & Support Orgs Retail Providers (MFIs) Do No Harm Act Ethically (Corporate Citizenship) Commit to Positive Change for Clients
29. Dimensions of Social Performance Impact INTENT AND DESIGN What is the mission of the institution? Does it have clear social objectives? INTERNAL SYSTEMS & ACTIVITIES What activities will the institution undertake to achieve its social mission? Are systems designed and in place to achieve those objectives? OUTPUTSDoes the institution serve poor and very poor people? Are the products designed to meet their needs? OUTCOMES Have clients experienced social and economic improvements? IMPACT Can change in client welfare be attributed to institutional activities?
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MAIN POINT: Social performance is commonly defined as the effective translation of an institution’s mission into practice with accepted social values. Example—If your mission is to increase the economic well-being of your clients, then strong social performance means that you carefully design and implement programs that ultimately meet their needs for financial products and services, and help them improve their economic situation, and you are able to demonstrate these improvements with client data you’ve collected.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________Talking points:Definition of “accepted social goals,” is on the next slide.
MAIN POINT: The definition of social performance is “The effective translation of an institution’s mission into practice in line with accepted social values.” When we talk about commonly accepted social values, we include:Serving increasing numbers of poorer and more excluded people sustainablyImproving the quality and appropriateness of financial services available to target clients through systematic assessment of their specific needsCreating benefits for clients of microfinance, their families, and communities in terms of increasing social capital, assets, income, and access to servicesReducing clients’ vulnerabilityImproving the social responsibility of the MFI towards its clients, its employees and the community it serves
MAIN POINT: To achieve its mission, an institution must carefully manage both social performance and financial performance. They are equally important to the success of the institution.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Talking points:In microfinance institutions with a social mission, managers build a successful MFI (the house in this diagram) by managing two types of performance - financial performance and social performance (the walls of the house). Each is equally important to the success of the institution.MFIs that manage both their financial performance and social performance are more likely to achieve their mission (the roof). Someday we will refer to Microfinance Performance Management and it will be clear that we are referring to measuring, tracking and improving all aspects of the mission. For now, we have to designate social and financial performance separately to be sure we focus on the social as well as the financial.
MAIN POINT: It is not sufficient to rely on client stories, photos, and observations to demonstrate your institution’s social performance.Solid performance management requires that institutions define their desired social performance, measure their progress toward these goals, and use the performance information to improve products and services. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Talking points:There are three primary steps in the process of managing your institution’s social performance:Performance is not incidental, so your institution must define desired performance. For social performance, this could mean that we set goals for rural outreach, client protection, and environmental impacts.Institutions value what they measure (in other words, institutions pay attention to the aspects of performance for which they have indicators), so your institution must measure progress toward desired performance. For social performance, this means that an institution quantifies and then tracks its social goals. Sound management requires informed decision-making, so institutions must use client data to inform decisions about products and services. For example, if an institution found through interviews with clients that many did not understand the pricing of their loans, they might use that information to improve the sales process so that they offer better customer service, and have better-informed customers. Notice that these steps would be similar if we replaced “social” with “financial.” The concept of performance management is the same for both, but many of us are not used to thinking about defining and measuring social objectives, and using social performance results to manage our institutions.
[NOTE: This slide is optional and may be omitted if time is limited].MAIN POINT: The process of social performance management can be divided into five dimensions. The dimensions describe the process of implementing social performance management in the following way: determine a mission, put in place systems and activities to achieve that mission, work toward and measure social outputs (type of clients reached and how they are reached) and work toward and measure social outcomes (change in clients’ lives). Impact is separated from the process because it involves a statistical study that demonstrates attribution—it is not a key part of the management process. The industry has developed resources and tools to evaluate and guide institutions during each of these phases. We don’t have time to discuss these resources and tools now, but you can find out more information on the Social Performance Task Force website: www.sptf.info___________________________________________________________________________________________________________Talking points:To demonstrate each dimension, let’s use an example MFI:This MFI’s mission (intent) is to serve the poor with credit and financial literacy training. Within this mission, the institution’s three objectives (design) are: 1) to reach clients living on less than $2/day, 2) help them to cross that poverty line, and 3) to improve clients’ financial literacy. 2. The MFI’s internal systems and activities are used to meet these objectives. They includes a staff incentive system that rewards the recruitment of clients living under $2/day. It also includes focus groups with clients about the effectiveness of the financial literacy program, and a system for tracking the poverty level of clients.3. This MFI will want to know it outputs so it will ask questions such as: what percentage of our clients live below $2/day? Have we designed our financial course to accommodate illiterate clients? Do we observe strong client protection practices? The answers to these questions are the institution’s social outputs.4. Outcomes refer to the changes that occur among this MFI’s clients. For example, after measuring its social performance for 2009, the MFI determines that 43% of clients moved above the $2/day poverty line after 3 years in the program, and 85% of clients reported that they are better money managers after taking the financial literacy course. These are the institution’s social outcomes.5. Outcomes are not the same as impact. Unlike outcomes, impacts can be directly attributed to the institution’s intervention with the client. Impact studies are expensive and involve a control group of people who are not receiving the microfinance intervention. Therefore, social performance at the MFI level commonly begins with intent & design, and ends with outcomes.
NOTE: ON THIS SLIDE, PLEASE DISCUSS:One or two institutionswith strong social performance management. Focus on a few of their key activities that you think are important to the audience.OR2. One or two specific social performance activities (rather than institutions) that you have experience with and think are important to the audience. You mention the names of institutions who are engaged in these activities.________________________________________________________________________________________________________(Example) An MFI called Fonkoze in Haiti has the mission to “provide the rural poor with the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty.” Fonkoze assigns staff called Social Performance Monitors to work in branches across their country network. These Monitors measure client poverty, interview exiting clients, and hold client focus groups to gauge client satisfaction and the need for new products and services. They also measure staff satisfaction and monitor staff interactions with clients. The information about clients and staff goes to the Central Office where managers use it to improve Fonkoze’s products, services, and human resources. This is an example of translating a social mission into practice.
MAIN POINT: I have presented a lot of information today, and I hope you now have ideas for how to improve the performance of your institution or the institutions you work with. For more information on social performance, I encourage you to sign up to be a member of the Social Performance Task Force and take advantage of the resources on their website.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________Talking points:The SPS ReportIn addition to joining the Task Force, I encourage you to download the SPTF/MIX Market Social Performance Standards (SPS) Report, available on both the Task Force website and the MIX Market website. The Reporting framework is an Excel-based tool that allows MFIs to report their social performance to MIX Market- in the same way that they can report their financial performance.In addition to allowing MFIs to report on important aspects of their institution, the SPS Report helps MFIs evaluate their current position with respect to social performance. For example, many MFIs ask “what is social performance?” or “what else can I do to improve my social performance?” Simply thinking about and answering questions about their institution’s social performance can help MFIs to understand the different aspects of social performance, as well as provide them with ideas for ways to improve performance.The Companion Guide to the SPS ReportIn order to guide MFIs toward industry resources to improve social performance, SPTF created the Companion Guide to the Report. For each operational area covered in the Report, the Companion Guide directs MFIs to resources for improving that area. For example, the SPS Report asks about the MFIs responsibility to staff, and the Companion Guide directs the user to an HR Toolkit, a Practice Guide that includes a chapter on HR, and a case study on the topic. The Companion Guide is a one-stop shop for MFIs seeking learning resources on social performance.The SPS Report and the Companion Guide are a great place for MFIs to “begin” with social performance, as they help answer the two basic questions: “What is social performance?” and “What else can I do to improve my social performance?”This information and more can be found on the Social Performance Task Force website: www.sptf.info
Slides 9, 10, and 11 may be useful to you during the question and answer portion of your presentation. They answer the following questions:Slide 9: what are the indicators used to measure social performance?Slide 10: what are the tools used to evaluate and improve social performance?Slide 11: what is the difference between responsible finance and social performance?
There are a variety of tools available for assessingsocial performance. The tools fit into three categories.Social Audit Tools- A social audit is a diagnostic tool that assesses whether or not an MFI has the systems in place to achieve its stated social objectives. It identifies strengths and weaknesses to prioritize areas for improvement.Social Rating Tools- A social rating provides an external opinion on an MFI’s capacity to put its mission into practice and achieve social goals. The rating provides a score which MFIs, investors, and donors can use to analyze MFIs. There are four specialized rating agencies to choose from, and the Rating Initiative provides funding for MFIs receiving first- and second-round ratings. (www.ratinginitiative.org).Client Data Tools- Client data tools assess social performance outcomes at the client level, including: changes in poverty and quality of life indicators as well as satisfaction. They help answer the questions: Who are our clients? How are we affecting their lives? Are they satisfied with our products and services? Types of client assessment tools: Poverty assessment, food security survey, PWR, client satisfaction surveys, exit surveys, focus groups.Where the tools fit in the social performance framework:Audit Tools focus on the social performance PROCESS—defining the mission, setting goals, and putting systems and activities in place to achieve those goals.Social Rating Tools cover the process primarily, but also discuss RESULTS- social outputs such as effectiveness of non-financial services, clients with loans for the first time, and client awareness of loan terms.Client Data Tools focus on social performance RESULTS—social outputs such as the poverty levels of clients, and social outcomes such as the change in client food security over time.
MAIN POINT: These are the categories of indicators used in the SPS Report. MFIs can report on up to 22 types of indicators, representing all aspects of their social performance. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Talking PointsIn the area of an MFI’s social performance process, the indicators start with questions about the mission and results that an MFI inends to achieve, as well as the governance they’ve put in place to help them achieve their goals. Next, there is a broad group of indicators that relate to internal strategies and systems: the range of products and services offered, training for staff on social performance, how staff incentives reward social performance, the ways that the MFI assesses client poverty, retention, and market needs.The next category of indicators allows MFIs to report on their policies for social responsibility—responsibility to clients, staff, the community, and the environment. The last group of indicators allows MFIs to report on their social results—the ways they’ve achieved their mission: geographic outreach, gender outreach, and poverty outreach, and change in clients’ standard of living, including employment generation and clients’ children in school.The indicators were broadly pilot tested around the globe with input from hundreds of practitioners. Though these are the generally agreed upon indicators to measure social performance, the SPS Report will be refined and adjusted as an increasing number of stakeholders use and comment on the report. Some of the indicators seems to be easy to report on (e.g. range of products and services offered). Others are more challenging (e.g. number of rural clients—how to define rural? Or employment generated by client businesses—difficult to measure).Additionally, not ALL of the indicators will be relevant for your institution. Or, as an investor, you may not care to evaluate an institution’s performance against all of the indicators. But having them available on the MIX Market website demonstrates the transparency of reporting institutions, and the information can be used by other stakeholders to evaluate the total performance of the MFI—social and financial.
MAIN POINT: Responsible finance and social performance are terms that are often used synonymously, but they are not the same. This graph on this slide demonstrates where there is overlap and where there are differences.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________On the vertical axis: the primary stakeholders in the microfinance industry. On the horizontal axis: how these stakeholders view their responsibilities toward clients, staff, the community, and the environment. Responsible finance is the delivery of financial services in a transparent and equitable fashion. The orange rectangle on the graph depicts the boundaries of responsible finance. All types of microfinance stakeholders are involved in responsible finance, and responsible finance implies two types of responsibility toward clients, staff, the community, and the environment: do no harm (including client protection), and act ethically (also called corporate citizenship). It does not expressly intend or commit to positive change for clients.Social performanceincorporates the elements of responsible finance, particularly at the retail level, but involves a greater level of responsibility to commit to positive change for clients. While responsible finance aims to create an enabling environment for clients to use microfinance effectively, social performance makes an express investment in positive change for clients.
THIS IS A HANDOUT FOR THE PRESENTATIONUse this handout as a reference for your audience. It will help them to understand the dimensions of social performance (slide 7). It is best when printed in color but it can also be printed in grey scale.