Impact Assessment of the PULSE Microfinance Programme in Lusaka, Zambia

This report was commissioned by DFID and attempted to assess the direct impact of PULSE on programme participants and their households, and wider indirect impacts.

The findings presented are largely based on three lines of enquiry:

• A questionnaire-based survey compared changes in business, household and individual indicators of 420 PULSE participants;
• Aggregate data from this survey was compared with data from three other published studies in order to identify the status of PULSE participants within the wider population of people and businesses in Lusaka's compounds;
• Qualitative enquiries, using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, elicited information from an additional 196 people in order to shed light on the underlying determinants of participation in PULSE, and the reasons behind its impact.

The paper conclusively recommends that:

• The PULSE should not alter its branch or participant selection criteria radically as a result of only this report;
• There is scope for a careful review of loan interest rates, repayment schedules, savings and insurance products.

Care should use this report to review the balance within its strategic plan between its support for microfinance activities (within PROSPECT as well as PULSE) in relation to other interventions in these compounds, particularly those targeted at the poorest.

PULSE is still a young organisation, and further impact assessment should be planned. Rates of graduation from first to second and subsequent loans need to be monitored and analysed particularly closely, and the impact of third and subsequent loans should also be assessed.

[Adapted from author's abstact]