Unitus Labs began research for our social performance management (SPM) program in 2008 and began pilots with SPM partners in 2009. \u00a0In the Fall of 2010, Unitus Labs transitioned resources and responsibility to complete this program to India-based\u00a0MicroSave<\/a>.<\/p>\n An area of growing importance in microfinance, Social Performance Management (SPM) is defined as “an institutionalized process which involves setting clear social objectives (e.g. improved quality of housing), monitoring and assessing progress towards achieving these, and using this information to improve overall organizational performance.”<\/p>\n At its core, SPM involves evaluating what actually happens to the clients of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in practical terms of quality of life and income levels. In addition to providing an avenue for qualifying impact, SPM is a tool for MFIs to evaluate and improve financial products, services, and operational procedures in order to increase client satisfaction and retention.<\/p>\n With the explosion of interest and rise in diverse microfinance programs over the past decade, Unitus Labs believes that it can no longer be assumed without question that genuine poverty alleviation automatically results from microfinance. Rather, with the belief that high-impact microfinance depends on measured outcomes and tailored services, Unitus is pioneering work in the area of SPM to identify implementation best practices and serve as a model worldwide.<\/p>\n Unitus Labs launched the Social Performance Management Implementation Project (SPM IP) in Fall of 2009 with the support of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Boeing Corporation and Deutsche Bank. A worldwide endeavor, SPM IP will work to increase adoption of social performance practice among microfinance institutions both as a gateway to smarter growth for MFIs and to ensure that microfinance has the best possible outcome for the greatest number in need.<\/p>\n The SPM IP program has two phases:<\/p>\n At launch, the SPM implementation project <\/em>was India\u2019s most comprehensive network-implemented SPM project, harnessing Unitus\u2019 solid understanding of MFI strategies and operations to aid partners in integrating these tools into business practices.\u00a0 Over time, the project will expand to MFIs in other countries.<\/p>\n Unitus Labs staff spent nearly a year working with partners to evaluate the possibilities of SPM and amassing feedback as to what the potential opportunities and barriers to effective adoption will be, and designed the SPM IP to best navigate this course.<\/p>\n Unitus Labs partnered with the following organizations to develop and operate SPM pilot projects.<\/p>\n \u201cInitial projects we had done in monitoring and evaluating the impact of microfinance on the lives of our clients revealed some very interesting\u2014and sometimes surprising\u2014outcomes,\u201d commented Mr. Samit Ghosh, CEO of Ujjivan<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to take this opportunity to continue that survey work and to use the findings to tailor our services to better serve our clients.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe SPM IP is a unique opportunity to be more innovative in how we collect information and integrate client-centric evaluation into our operations, building on the social performance management strengths for which AMK is already recognized,\u201d said Paul Luchtenburg, CEO of AMK<\/a>. \u00a0\u201cI am very excited to be partnering with Unitus on the SPM IP, as I think together we can ensure that our organization is best positioned to meet the needs of our borrowers.\u201d \u201cThis is a very exciting opportunity for Grama Vidiyal, especially as our 25th anniversary approaches,\u201d said Grama Vidiyal<\/a> Founder & Chairman Managing Director Mr. S. Devaraj, \u201cWe are confident that the insights gained from a stronger understanding of our clients\u2019 needs will ensure a more impactful and prosperous second quarter century for our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Program overview Unitus Labs began research for our social performance management (SPM) program in 2008 and began pilots with SPM partners in 2009. \u00a0In the Fall of 2010, Unitus Labs transitioned resources and responsibility to complete this program to India-based\u00a0MicroSave. What is Social Performance Management? An area of growing importance in microfinance, Social Performance Management… Read more ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":73,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_aioseop_title":"","_aioseop_description":"Unitus Labs funded development of practical tools and methodologies for MFIs to measure the economic improvement of their clients","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unituslabs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What is Social Performance Management?<\/h2>\n
Why is SPM important?<\/h2>\n
– Geeta Goel, Director, Microfinance at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation<\/a><\/div>\nSPM Implementation Project Overview<\/h2>\n
\n
What Makes the SPM IP unique?<\/h2>\n
SPM Partners<\/h2>\n
Ujjivan<\/h3>\n
Angkor Microfinance Kampuchea (AMK)<\/h3>\n
<\/em><\/p>\nGrama Vidiyal<\/h3>\n