Social
Performance Working Group Description
Established:
1993 (formerly Client Assessment Working Group CAWG)
Goal
The SEEP Social Performance Working Group (SPWG)
advances the frontiers of knowledge and practice among microfinance
institutions (MFIs) in all areas of client
assessment, but especially in the areas of impact assessment, impact
monitoring, market research, and social performance. SPWG is accomplishing its
objectives with the following actions:
·
Exchanging
ideas, experiences, and other information related to client assessment with
working group members, other SEEP members, SEEP network affiliates, and the
microfinance community at large.
·
Developing,
testing, and refining client assessment and social performance measurement
tools and systems that are practitioner-friendly and that inform management
decisions.
·
Promoting
client-centered practices that enhance social and economic impact.
Current Activities
- Social Performance Glossary: The SPWG is
working to develop a Social Performance Glossary. The glossary will
articulate a coherent framework for doing social performance, define key
terms and concepts, and define best practice principles in social
performance. The purpose of the glossary is to establish standards
for social performance among SEEP members. A draft of the Glossary has been
completed, and a revision is currently underway.
Accomplishments
- Next Steps in Social
Performance: The SPWG is hosting a one-day workshop in conjunction
with the 2005 SEEP Annual General Meeting called “Next Steps in Social Performance.” The purpose of the Next Steps workshop
is to bring together industry stakeholders to begin the dialogue process
that will be necessary to legitimize and scale-up social performance to
the broader microfinance industry.
The workshop has three specific objectives with regards to social
performance: (1) to facilitate the sharing and understanding of diverse
stakeholders’ perceptions, expectations, and needs; (2) to discover and
explore differences and common ground among diverse stakeholders; and (3)
to identify opportunities in which diverse stakeholders can work
collaboratively to advance knowledge and practice in social performance.
- Putting Client Assessment to Work: At this
book-writing workshop, held in Warsaw, Poland, May 24-26, 2004, 23 SEEP
Members and participants in the previous three-year Imp-Act research
project created an outline for a forthcoming book on client assessment.
- First Client Imp-Act Workshop. On October
15-16, 2001, the SPWG, together with representatives from 27 MFIs, convened the first-ever Client Imp-Act Workshop
in Washington, D.C. The workshop brought together participants in SPWG’s Imp-Act Action Research Project for data
collection, information sharing, and capacity building. Data collection consisted
of an in-depth Imp-Act questionnaire administered to a representative of
each participating institution by a SPWG research volunteer.
- Training of Trainers in the MicroSave
Research Tools. This training event, conducted August 12-16,
2002, in Washington, D.C., was followed by a two-
to three-week field training with a host MFI in a developing country.
Publications
- Conceptual Note on Social Performance: The SPWG has recently completed a document
that outlines a conceptual framework for thinking about and doing social
performance. The Conceptual
Note was unveiled
at the 2005 SEEP Annual General Meeting.
- Building Successful Microfinance
Institutions by Assessing Clients Needs: The SPWG has completed its book based on its
action research under the Imp-Act Programme. The book describes the experiences of
the 17 CAWG research partners and the principal lessons learned in the
areas of tool selection and implementation, indicator selection and
implementation, data analysis, and the costs and benefits of client
assessment. Numerous short case
studies based on the experiences of SPWG research partners are used to
illustrate key points. The book
also includes introductory and concluding chapters that summarize the main
findings.
- Building Successful Microfinance
Institutions was
unveiled for public dissemination at the 2005 SEEP Annual General Meeting.
Progress Notes Series
Published:
- Progress Note No. 1, Integrating Poverty
Assessment into Client Assessment by Gary Woller, Anton Simanowitz and James Copestake
- Progress Note No. 2, Analysis of Client Assessment Data by
Gaamaa Hishigsuren
- Progress Note No. 3, Institutionalizing Client Assessment:
Activists for Social Alternatives (ASA) India by Gaamaa Hishigsuren
- Progress Note No. 4, The Emerging Role of Microfinance
Programs in Mitigating the Impact of Natural Disasters: Summary Findings
of an Impact Assessment of World Vision’s Ethiopian Affiliate by Shannon
Doocy, Dan Norell, and Shimeles
Teferra