Reference Guide for the Microfinance Sector

This guide, intended to be a ready reference on microfinance for CIDA staff, can be used by all planners, implementers and evaluators of microfinance programs. The guide organized in six chapters, covers areas of critical importance to the success of microfinance programs.

Some of the key issues that the guide addresses are:

• Strategies to target the poor;
• Trade off between attaining financial sustainability and reaching the poorest clients;
• Impact of the country context on program design and implementation;
• Performance benchmarking and monitoring ongoing microfinance initiatives;
• Institutional assessment and factors to be taken into account for various types of projects.

The guide also provides a framework for financial assessment of microfinance initiatives. The topics covered are:

• Outline of performance indicators by stage of development of the institution;
• Baseline data collection;
• Ongoing assessment tools;
• Application of indicators to measure project performance;
• Adequate reporting format.