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The Microfinance Council of the Philippines (MCPI) has granted Micro-finance Unit of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc (RAFI-Micro-Finance) the MCPI Institutional Strengthening Program (MISP) with a component on social performance management (SPM), particularly on SPM assessment and technical assistance.

Having granted the MISP, it assists RAFI Micro-finance (RMF) to achieve both financial sustainability and social impact.

The SPM component aims to help microfinance institutions improve their social performance and client protection practices through workshops, assessments, and technical assistance. It is a follow-up to the Philippine Social Performance Country Report developed by MCPI in April 2017 and will help microfinance institutions prepare for compliance with the social performance standards being developed by the Microfinance NGOs Regulatory Council as part of the Microfinance NGOs Act.

The SPM Assessment has two main components. First is the Social Performance  assessment of microfinance institutions in relation to universal standards in six different areas—define and monitor social goals, commitment to social goals, design products that meets clients’ needs, treat clients responsibly, treat employees responsibly, and balance financial and social performance.

The other component is the client protection principles implementation which covers product design, protection against indebtedness, responsible pricing, fair and respectful treatment of clients, privacy of client data, and mechanism for complaints resolution.

Two representatives from MCPI — SPM External Consultant Lalaine Joyas and MCPI Executive Director Allan Robert Sicat—came to Cebu last February 5-9 and conducted an SPM audit on RMF through interviews and information gathered from an RMF board member, the management team, and employees.

“SPM is simply defined as the translation of RMF mission into action. The SPM assessment conducted by MCPI will help RMF assess how we are doing in SPM in terms of the ‘3Ps’- paper, people and practice. It is good opportunity to improve SPM by having measurable indicators and clear plan of actions which will also be carried out through the technical assistance on SPM offered by MCPI,” said RMF Deputy Director for Business Development Jonar Dorado.

RMF already completed the SPM Audit and received the assessment report from MCPI, this March. Following the assessment would be six months of technical assistance, capacity building support and implementation of RMF to improve on its social performance management.

MCPI is a national network of microfinance institutions working towards sustainable, innovative and client-responsive solutions to poverty in the country.

The Microfinance Program of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI Micro-finance) provides financial and non-financial services to micro-entrepreneurs with a mission of elevating lives of the vulnerable and disadvantaged communities through stable and rewarding livelihood.