Microfinance Poverty Assessment Tool

September, 2003     Carla Henry, Manohar Sharma, Cecile Lapenu, Manfred Zeller

The Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT) was developed for CGAP by the International Food Policy Research Institute. The multi-dimensional Poverty Index constructed by the tool is for donors and investors who require a standardized, globally applicable set of poverty indicators to make poverty-focused funding decisions and to compare MFIs across regions and countries. Although it is more complex and expensive than the simpler client-targeting tools used by MFIs , and less comprehensive than the World Bank's Household Expenditure Survey, PAT yields rigorous data that can also be used to rank large populations, determine the poorest inhabitants of large geographical regions, and make valid comparisons across regions and countries.