Assessing whether institutions are effectively fulfilling their social missions and implementing measures to enhance their impact has been a longstanding priority for many e-MFP members and the inclusive finance sector worldwide. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that one of the pioneering e-MFP Action Groups, the Making Microfinance Investment Responsible (MIR) AG, concentrated on social performance and client protection. The close partnership with Cerise+SPTF on outcomes management builds on the foundational work of the MIR AG, evolving over the years to engage a diverse array of stakeholders in exchanging knowledge and practical experiences as well as in developing relevant guides and tools, which are readily accessible through the e-MFP website and the Cerise+SPTF SPI Online Resource Centre.

Start Year: 2016 – on-going

Objectives:

Push the agenda of outcomes, engage investors, FSPs and other relevant stakeholders

Current activities:       

• Research on Social and Environmental Management Practices (SPEM) and Client Outcomes (2022 – on-going)

Research collaboration with 60 Decibels and MFR aiming to study the relations between social and environmental performance practices and better outcomes for clients. Research led by Cerise+SPTF. The preliminary results of this study were presented during EMW 2022 panel session ‘The Drivers for Better Outcomes’.

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) outcomes framework (2019 - on-going)

Exploring innovative approaches to measure and report outcomes using the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this activity aims to develop tools and resources available in 3 languages (EN, FR, SP), including a client questionnaire, an outcomes dashboard for FSPs and investors, and supporting documents on evaluation methodologies.

This work has been led by Cerise+SPTF, initially through the LabODD project, drawing on the insights of a diverse range of stakeholders, including investors, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and FSPs. The lively multi-stakeholder discussions moderated by Cerise at the European Microfinance Week conferences in 2020 and 2021 were instrumental in shaping the report ‘Outcomes Management for Financial Service Providers: A proposed standard framework aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals’ published by e-MFP.

Between 2022 and 2023, the focus was on a series of events designed to facilitate knowledge sharing and exchange among stakeholders that laid the ground to develop specific tools. These events included a workshop series on outcomes management with online meetings with Investors (13 September 2022) and FSPs (20 September 2022), an online workshop to develop a standard client questionnaire (4 May 2023) as well as in-person meetings at SPTF Annual Meeting 2022 and EMW 2022 and 2023.

Throughout these events, both virtual and in-person, discussions focused on establishing a common set of outcome indicators and a core questionnaire to gather reliable and useful outcome data from end clients. The selected indicators will be integrated into the new version of SPI online assessment tools. This can support both FSPs and related stakeholders (e.g., investors, networks, regulators) collecting and analysing  crucial data that can inform decision-making and facilitate the development of robust social and environmental strategies and operations, ease the reporting to the various funders, and better understand the impact of financial services on end clients.

Past activities:

• Social Performance Outcomes (2016-2017)

In 2016, recognizing the increasing demand from its social investor members for more robust social reporting, e-MFP launched the Social Performance Outcomes Action Group (later Investors AG). Collaborating with the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) and drawing upon the Universal Standards of Social Performance Measurement (USSPM), the Action Group delved into the role investors can play in encouraging and supporting outcomes measurement and management aiming to gather data that not only meets reporting requirements for funders but also contributes to the decision-making processes of their investees/ financial service providers.

Concurrently with the efforts of the SPTF Outcomes Working Group, which produced two dedicated publications on outcomes management for financial service providers ('Making the Case for Outcomes Management to Financial Service Providers' and 'Guidelines on Outcomes Management for Financial Service Providers'), the e-MFP AG developed guidelines for integrating outcomes measurement into the operations of inclusive finance investors.

Resources

• Tools:

o   Standard Client Outcomes Questionnaires (English, Français, Español)

• Reports and Briefs:

o  Outcomes Management Workshop Series – summary report, prepared by Cerise, September 2022

o Outcomes Management for Financial Service Providers: A proposed standard framework aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, prepared by Cerise in collaboration with SPTF Outcomes Working Group and e-MFP Investors AG, March 2022

o  European Dialogue No. 10: Guidelines on Outcomes Management for Investors, prepared by Lucia Spaggiari, Microfinanza Rating in collaboration with e-MFP Social Performance Outcomes Action Group, October 2016

o  Guidelines on Outcomes Management for Financial Service Providers, prepared by Frances Sinha, published by SPTF, 2016

o  Making the Case for Outcomes Management to Financial Service Providers, prepared by Frances Sinha, published by SPTF, 2016

• Blogs:

o  Outcomes Measurement and Management - Taking the pulse of the e-MFP Investors Action Group and Cerise+SPTF LabODD collaboration, prepared by Célia Fernandez and Joana Afonso, March 2023

• Workshops and Conference Sessions:

o EMW 2023 Panel Session: Social Performance and Outcomes: Where Do We Stand?, November 2023 (presentation and recording)

o  EMW 2023 Panel Session: The Power of the Client Voice: Using Survey Data to Understand and Improve Clients' Lives (presentation and recording)

o  EMW 2022 Panel Session: The Drivers for Better Outcomes, November 2022 (presentation and recording )

o  EMW 2022 Investors AG working session, November 2022 (presentation Investors AG & LabODD, presentation ADA, presentation Oikocredit)

o   Cerise+ SPTF Annual Meeting panel session, September 2022 (session notes)

o   Cerise+ SPTF Annual Meeting working session, September 2022 (session notes)

o  Outcomes Management Workshop Series # 2 – FSPs, September 2022 (presentation Cerise, presentation SEF, presentation Opportunity International, presentation Juhudi Kilimo)

o Outcomes Management Workshop Series #1 – Investors, September 2022 (presentation Cerise, presentation Incofin, presentation Kiva, presentation FGCA)

o   EMW 2021 Panel Session: Impact and Outcomes Measurement – Investors’ Perspective (summary and recording)

o   EMW 2020 Panel Session: Impact investing and reporting on SDGs outcomes (summary and recording)

Contact

Joana Afonsoemail: jafonso@e-mfp.eu