Measuring Results of Microfinance Institutions: Minimum Indicators That Donors and Investors Should Track

July, 2009     Richard Rosenberg

Funding agencies’ microfinance interventions produce better results when design, reporting, and monitoring focus explicitly on key measures of performance that are measured and reported regularly. The more transparent the results, the more likely funders are to learn from successes and failures, and to take corrective actions when needed. Unfortunately, many projects that support retail microfinance providers fail to include such measurement. This is especially true of programs that channel support indirectly (through networks or wholesale “apex” facilities, for example) and credit components of nonfinancial programs (such as revolving funds lodged in social projects).

This Technical Guide is written for funding agency staff who design or monitor projects that finance microfinance institutions (MFIs) or community-managed loan funds (CMLFs). The main text covers indicators for MFIs; CMLF indicators are treated in an Annex A.