My job with MicroLoan

I’ve been tasked with looking at MicroLoan’s ‘social performance management’. The Imp-Act Consortium defines social performance management as an “institutionalised process which involves setting clear social objectives, monitoring and assessing progress towards achieving these, and using this information to improve overall organisational performance” (http://www2.ids.ac.uk/impact/). Said another way, microfinance institutes are a hybrid of financial and social objectives. Financial benchmarks are relatively easy to measure – repayment rates, portfolio at risk etc – but social benchmarks are less tangible and harder to measure. I’m therefore working with the UK and Malawi MicroLoan teams to define what their social objectives are and putting in place piloting activity that will ultimately be operationalised. This will mean a better understanding by MicroLoan of its clients, a better ability to respond to their needs and therefore better social outcomes for the clients themselves. But that’s enough jargon – what I’m doing day to day will hopefully give a much better insight!