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Measuring Social Outreach: Albania

How does the social audit tool assess the internal processes of a MFI?
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This article describes a social auditing tool that was used to test the social impact of a MFI in Albania. It discusses the development of a tool to assess the social performance of MFIs.

The article states that socially responsible investors  are motivated by the "double bottom line" that is, they are seeking both a financial as well as a social return on their investment. social audit tool includes:

  • Both objective and subjective assessments;
  • Objective component assesses the MFIs social performance using a "social performance scorecard";
  • Subjective component assesses the MFI's social performance according to the auditor's judgement on the MFI's commitment and capacity to achieve social returns based on five internal processes;
  • MFI's performance on the scorecard and in the five internal processes that form the basis for awarding the MFI a social rating score indicates the MFI's likelihood of creating significant social impact.

The article concludes that the field test of the social audit tool in Albania confirmed that doing a social audit is possible. Social audit provided important information on the MFIs' processes that could not be gleaned from self-reported financial performance information.

About this Publication

By McCurdy, S.
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