SmartAid 2007 - Pilot Round

SmartAid was developed over a ten-month period and piloted by seven agencies in 2007. The SmartAid 2007 pilot round was deemed successful by an external assessment. Mark Flaming, an independent evaluator and author of the assessment report, notes: “Both CGAP and SmartAid have received a broad endorsement from the agencies that participated in the first pilot round.”

Seven institutions took part in the 2007 pilot round, including two of the largest microfinance funders—Asian Development Bank and KfW. Other participating funders include CIDA, FMO, GTZ, Sida and UNCDF. Together they committed $4.2 billion, which represents about one third of total funds committed to microfinance as of December 2007.

These funders described that participating in SmartAid was valuable on several fronts. Specifically, they said that the Index process helped facilitate internal reflection and spark dialogue among staff; focus management attention on key strengths and weaknesses; define strategic options to improve microfinance programming; and prioritize changes to be implemented.

Although the participating funders represent a diverse range of development institutions, SmartAid highlighted some common findings: 

• Sector-specific expertise is becoming harder to maintain in most development institutions, which creates a need to improve the level of microfinance expertice among staff.
• Most funders need better systems for tracking microfinance projects and their performance to obtain more meaningful and timely information.
• Although the microfinance sector requires a diverse range of instruments, such as technical assistance, equity, debt and grants, the range of instruments available in a funding agency is less relevant than how they are deployed and whether they match the organization’s overall strategy.

Changes in Methodology from the SmartAid 2007 Pilot Round

Funders participating in the pilot round and the external assessment provided many lessons and recommendations for further refinement which are incorporated in the revised edition of SmartAid. The essence of SmartAid and the core components it measures remained the same.

To increase the relevance, credibility, and rigor of SmartAid, the original indicators were reviewed and vetted against the following four criteria:

• Does the indicator measures a practice that affects the effectiveness of a funder’s systems
• Would most agencies have written documentation available that demonstrates their policy/state of practice with regard to the indicator
• Can the indicator be objectively measured given the Index’s reliance on self-reported documentation?
• Is the indicator relevant for a range of agencies?

SmartAid 2009, the baseline year of the Index, includes streamlined indicators that are simple and clear and which, taken collectively, present a comprehensive picture of what funders need to support microfinance effectively.

Due to the changes made to the indicators, the scores from SmartAid 2007 and 2009 are not directly comparable. Therefore, the reports from SmartAid 2007 are not publicly available anymore. 

For further information contact the SmartAid Team.