The Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc. (MCPI) conducted the Social Performance Country Report Dissemination Forum on March 29, 2017 at the Century Park Hotel, Manila. The forum aimed to share the status of social performance management in the Philippines to microfinance institutions (MFIs) as well as other stakeholders in the Philippine microfinance sector, such as the government’s regulatory agencies and allied support institutions. Sixty representatives from thirty-two different organizations attended the forum.
MCPI Chairperson Fr. Jose Victor Lobrigo welcomes participants to the SP Fund Dissemination Forum.
Ms. Lalaine Joyas, MCPI Consultant, presented the contents of the report, including how MFIs define and monitor social goals, the range of products and services offered by MFIs, and how the microfinance sector is currently preventing client over-indebtedness. To help participants understand better how MFIs implement social performance in their institutions, MFI practitioners were invited to present and share their experiences in a learning exchange session.
Mr. Gilbert Maramba, Deputy Director for Operations of Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF), shared their experiences in setting clear social goals. He presented NWTF’s social goals and objectives, the considerations in setting them, and how these goals are being monitored.
Ms. Amina Mendez, Corporate Planning Manager of Alalay Sa Kaunlaran, Inc. (ASKI), talked about client targeting. She shared the poverty profile of their new clients and how they ensure that most clients they reach fall below the poverty line. She also discussed challenges they encountered in client targeting.
Ms. Mendez also tackled the use of client feedback to understand their needs. This includes a discussion on how they collect client feedback, how the results are used, and the challenges that they have encountered in the aspect of data collection and analysis.
Ms. Alma Estolas, Executive Director of Rangtay sa Pagrang-ay Microfinance, Inc. (RPMI), discussed client over-indebtedness and how they are monitored at RPMI. She presented specific indicators on client over-indebtedness and how RPMI developed these indicators.
Ms. Evelyn Narvaez, Research Director of Center for Agriculture and Development, Inc. (CARD), presented their experience with the use of credit bureau information from MIDAS, the microfinance credit bureau, as a means to prevent client over- indebtedness.
At the end of the forum, participants agreed that a social performance country report can be produced every three years. The results of the report and learnings from the forum will be helpful to regulators including the Microfinance NGOs. Regulatory Council (MNRC) under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) as it develops indicators on social performance as part of the accreditation standards for Microfinance NGOs.