Measuring the Impact and Social Performance of Microfinance: Workshop Report

This report on the University Meets Microfinance (UMM) 2010 Microfinance Dialogues conference summarizes discussions about the current stage of research and practices in the fields of impact evaluation and social performance management.Impact evaluation in microfinance examines whether access to financial services for low income households leads to a lasting improvement in their lives. The conference discussed the complexity of implementing research in this field. Key points include:

• Impact evaluations require rigorous methodologies;
• Research in this area can help answer questions about microfinance and change practices;
• Researchers examining impact should be aware that this implies long term empirical studies;
• Evaluation of social performance considers all stages of the impact creation process;
• Researchers have developed tools and methodologies that can be further tested by empirical research;
• Researchers undertaking a comprehensive empirical research project can bring value to an MFI;
• Main challenge for practitioners is to institutionalize social performance management (SPM) and integrate it into MFI governance, strategy and operations;
• Further empirical research on costs and benefits of implementing a social performance system and its effects on MFI strategy and governance could help institutionalize SPM.