Smartaid for Microfinance Index 2009: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

This SmartAid for Microfinance Index measures and rates whether Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supports microfinance effectively. It analyzes SDCs system along five areas of effectiveness. The report includes a snapshot of its portfolio, strengths and weaknesses, a good practice highlight and a score. MIF received 52 out of 100 points, indicating that overall, the agency has partially adequate systems in place to support microfinance. SDCs performance was very poor in the use of performance-based contracts, performance tracking and portfolio reviews. Recommendations include:

• Strengthen Employment and Income Networks mandate for quality assurance;
• Streamline, enforce and update the Manual on Managing Cooperation in Financial Sector Development (PCM);
• Check compliance with policy and PCM systematically;
• Ensure all staff managing microfinance receive training;
• Commission an in-depth portfolio review.

The review states SDC will require management backing and resources for instilling strong systems for quality assurance, implementing quality standards across country offices and adopting mechanisms to check compliance and feed learning back into new designs.