The Bicol Microfinance Council, Inc. (BMCI), together with the National Livelihood and Support Fund (NLSF), People’s Credit and Finance Corporation (PCFC), TRIAS NGO and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc., held a strategy workshop on Social Performance Management (SPM) in Sto. Domingo, Albay last February 18 – 22, 2008.

The 5-day workshop, which was developed by the Imp-Act Consortium, is intended to help MFIs begin the process of developing their SPM systems. The workshop started with definitions of social performance and social performance management, including the framework and definition as agreed and recognized by the International Task Force on Social Performance. Most of the workshop sessions tackled the three components of SPM – (1) social goals and objectives development, (2) social performance monitoring and assessment, and (3) operations improvement.

The SPM strategy workshop is intended to help both senior decision-makers and operational staff of organizations translate their mission into practice. The Board and managers of development organizations are encouraged to align management systems, performance indicators and monitoring systems with the mission to achieve 3 critical ends: reaching target clients, meeting those clients’ needs and, in turn, contributing to positive change in clients’ lives.