Spain’s Gawa Capital, manager of the public-private Huruma Fund, recently disbursed the fund’s first investment in Brazil, lending EUR 12 million (USD 12.1 million) to Cresol Baser, a cooperative unit of Cresol, which provides savings, loans, training and insurance to individuals, farms and other businesses. The funding is earmarked for agricultural lending, including to help farmers adapt to climate change. Huruma plans to
Search Results for: measure
SPECIAL REPORT: Aligning Incentives, Setting Realistic Expectations for FSPs’ Outcomes Measurement at the e-MFP Investors Action Group
During European Microfinance Week last week, Célia Fernandez of the French NGO Comité d’Echange, de Réflexion et sur les Systèmes d’Epargne-Crédit (CERISE) described LabODD, a project to help mission-driven organizations measure their progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). LabODD is a four-year project funded by the French government’s Agence Francaise de Developpement. Among its outputs is a brief due out in December 2021 that will cover outcomes management for financial services providers (FSPs). Cécile Lapenu, also of CERISE, described several trends that will be presented in the brief.
The demand of impact investors for accountability from FSPs is growing. However, the focus now is more on measuring outcomes – which can be associated plausibly with the work of FSPs – rather than impacts – which must be shown to result from
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Joint Impact Indicators (JIIs) Bridge HIPSO, IRIS+ to Streamline Investors’, Investees’ Measurement of Gender Equality, Job Creation, Climate Impacts
A group of investors recently launched the Joint Impact Indicators (JIIs), a framework for increasing “harmonization in the way that impact investors measure and report on the effects of their investments.” The indicators, which were developed by The Global Impact Investing Network, a US-based nonprofit, and the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, focus on three areas:
SPECIAL REPORT: Diffusing Excuses for Failing to Measure Microfinance Institutions’ Social Performance
Amelia 
Greenberg of the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF), at a SAM session on measuring social impact, reviewed some of the excuses microfinance institution leaders use to postpone measuring client outcomes. Some say satisfaction surveys are sufficient, or they feel a robust process will be too expensive. Some worry that it is unreasonable to claim a cause-effect relationship between their institution’s financial services and changes in clients’ lives.
Colin Rice of South Africa’s Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF) argued that it is valuable to start by measuring just a few parameters that the organization is already tracking. Monitoring the amount that clients save over time is a prime example. It is easy to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Global Impact Investment Network (GIIN) Updates IRIS to IRIS+ Impact Measurement, Management System
The Global Impact Investment Network (GIIN), a US-based nonprofit association of investors, asset managers and other financial institutions with an interest in impact investing, recently announced the launch of its Impact Reporting and Investment Standards Plus (IRIS+). The aim of IRIS+ is to provide a framework to “identify, measure and manage the social and environmental impact of investors’ actions and report their impact to a wider audience in a consistent and standard way” as well as provide investors with “impact data” that can inform their investment decisions. This impact data includes metrics relating to topics such as gender equality, affordable housing and minimizing climate change.
The predecessor to IRIS+, the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards Catalog of Metrics
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EDFI to Harmonize Measurement of Development Finance Institutions’ Impact Toward UN Sustainable Development Goals
EDFI, a Belgium-based association of 15 European development finance institutions (DFIs), recently announced the launch of an initiative to “deepen cooperation on… impact measurement.” As part of the effort, EDFI aims to work “towards common definitions and methods to measure impact on SDGs (sustainable development goals), with a focus on key impacts to which private sector enterprises contribute, including gender equality, job creation, reduced inequality, and fighting climate change.” The intention
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Egypt Launching Program to Measure, Increase Financial Inclusion
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is launching a program titled “Strengthening Financial Coverage, Censorship and Supervision of Banks in Egypt” with the intent of: (1) measuring the extent of financial inclusion in the country;
SPECIAL REPORT: Green Inclusive and Climate Smart Finance Action Group Convenes on First Day of European Microfinance Week Regarding Its Green Index, Study Tour, Impact Measurement
The 
60-member Green Inclusive and Climate Smart Finance Action Group, one of the European Microfinance Platform’s (e-MFP’s) five Action Groups, met today to drive forward agenda items such as the increased adoption of the Green Index. The Green Index is a tool for assessing the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in four areas: policy and strategy; internal risk; external risk; and green loan products offered. Green loans can fund a range of purchases, from solar panels to waste management systems.
The coordinators of the Action Group also solicited ideas on new projects to take on during the next two years. Andre Harriman, CEO of the Zimbabwean arm of the UK-based Microloan Foundation, said that the rural women his institution serves are very interested in solar and other green products. However, he is wary of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation (LAAD) Borrowing $45m from IDB for SMEs in Farming Value Chains, Improving Impact Measurement
The Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation (LAAD), a US-based funder of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America and the Caribbean, recently secured a seven-year loan of USD 45 million from the private-sector member of the US-based Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, IDB Invest.
LAAD will use the fund to invest in SMEs active in “all stages of production, storage, technology and commercialization” in Chile, Colombia,
MICROFINANCE PAPER ROUND-UP: Measurement: from Financial Access to Economic Empowerment; Savings Groups’ Impact; MFIs’ Role with Start-ups
“Advancing Financial Inclusion Metrics: Shifting from Access to Economic Empowerment;” by Carlos Monteverde, Mahadevan Chidambaram, Matthew Blake and Drew Propson; published by the World Economic Forum; January 2018; 24 pages; available at
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_White_Paper_Advancing_Financial_Inclusion_Metrics.pdf
The authors of this report address how to improve the measurement of financial inclusion and ultimately how to bridge financial inclusion with financial health. They identify the following mechanisms as critical to successful financial inclusion: (1) payments; (2) savings; (3) credit; and (4) regulation and policy. Regarding the connection of financial inclusion to financial health, the authors consider three case studies: (1) Insight2Impact, a data-analysis company seeking to measure financial inclusion based on the needs of consumers rather than on the products they are offered; (2) the nonprofit Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), which measures “long-term” consumer outcomes in the US; and (3) the application of CFSI’s model to other countries by
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: GGF Lending $1.9m to Microcredit Foundation Sunrise Sarajevo for Energy-efficiency Measures Expected to Prevent 2k Tons of Annual Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Microcredit Foundation Sunrise Sarajevo, which the World Bank founded in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, recently borrowed EUR 1.5 million (USD 1.9 million) from the Green for Growth Fund (GGF), which is domiciled in Luxembourg, to on-lend to homeowners, farmers, and micro- and small enterprises to fund energy-efficiency measures. GGF will also provide an unspecified amount of technical assistance funding to Sunrise for capacity development and marketing.
Samir Bajrovic, the director of Sunrise said, “Our organization is committed to continuously support programs and activities resulting in the reduction of energy poverty, improvement of air quality and
SPECIAL REPORT: e-MFP’s Microfinance & Environment Action Group Focuses on Quantitative Measures
As part of the first day of the European Microfinance Platform’s (e-MFP’s) European Microfinance Week, e-MFP’s Microfinance & Environment Action Group met today to elaborate its plan for the next two years. Marion Allet of the Paris-based Participatory Microfinance Group for Africa (PAMIGA) led the group in a set of exercises to explore the Action Group’s three areas of focus:
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda (IRA) to Reduce Minimum Capital Requirement for Microinsurers to $30k, Increase Client Protection Measures
The Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda (IRA) recently urged insurance companies in the country to work with microfinance institutions (MFIs) to develop and promote microinsurance products.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: US-based Startups First Access, Cignifi Analyze Mobile Phone Usage to Measure Creditworthiness of Unbanked
A number of startup companies are employing analytical techniques based on “big data” to interpret the mobile phone usage of poor people to assess the creditworthiness of those applying for loans in developing economies.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroScore From MicroNed Measures Success of Microfinance Institution Capacity Building Programmes
MicroNed, a network of Dutch organizations involved in microfinance, has introduced MicroScore, a tool intended to help microfinance institutions (MFIs) and cooperatives assess themselves before, during, and after conducting capacity building programmes. MicroScore measures the following four performance ratios: governance, institutional, financial performance management, and services and social performance management.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Impact Investment Fund Managers Calvert, Cordes and Giving Assets Plan to Establish “Global Impact 50” Alongside Rockefeller Foundation to Measure Social, Environmental and Financial Impacts of Impact Investment
A group of United States-based impact investment fund managers, namely the Calvert Foundation, the Cordes Foundation and Giving Assets Inc, recently announced plans to collaboratively establish the Global Impact 50, a global index for measuring the social, environmental and financial impacts of the top 50 impact investment fund managers.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Peter Van Dijk Outlines Measures to Strengthen Rights of Microfinance Institution Customers
Peter Van Dijk, a consultant based in Indonesia, recently wrote an opinion piece that appeared on the Microfinance Focus website outlining measures to enhance the rights of consumers of microfinance institutions (MFIs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) Takes Measures to Assist Farmers and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Affected by El Nino
The Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), an organization founded to promote the rural banking industry in the Philippines, recently stated that its members will take measures to assist farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises affected by El Nino, a climate pattern that often results in weather disturbances.