Social Performance Evaluation of the Microfinance Institutions in Mozambique

This study examines the social performance of MFIs in Mozambique.

Microfinance has been successful in reaching excluded populations. Efforts were concentrated on improving financial and institutional sustainability of MFIs in the 1990s. Social performance was taken for granted. Currently, however, donors and social investors ask MFIs to justify funding by providing information about outreach, combining social and financial objectives and avoiding mission drift. The study uses the Social Performance Indicators model developed by CERISE to measure social performance of a sample of seven MFI that represent 80 percent of the microfinance market portfolio in Mozambique. The model measures:

• Outreach to the poor and excluded;
• Adaptation of services and products to target clients;
• Improvement of clients social and political capital;
• MFI social responsibility.

The study compares findings with social performance results of MFIs in other countries. Results show that MFIs in Mozambique do not have social performance as a goal. Only two institutions come close to the international standard MFI average. The study recommends that Mozambican MFIs redefine their strategies in order to meet the needs of the large number of people who are still excluded from financial services.