This article reports how the Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) has responded to an opportunity provided by the Imp-Act program to raise awareness on monitoring and assessing client impact indicators.
For most development programs or organizations in the Philippines, impact assessment (IA) is a donor-driven, one-off activity. MFIs feel that IA or market research, being very expensive to undertake, should be left to donors or external consultants. Despite IA tools being available, there is very little awareness and understanding about them. The article also states that although microfinance was established as a poverty alleviation tool in the Philippines, the sector has mainly focused on scale and sustainability.
The experience indicates that in addition to internal capacities, MFIs must also develop serious commitment to institutionalize impact and client monitoring. The article presents the following details of IA at CARD:
* Background information and development of internal impact monitoring and assessment systems;
* Client assessment training workshop conducted by Freedom from Hunger;
* Planned role of the Microfinance Council of the Philippines (MCPI) in sharing these experiences with the microfinance sector;
* Issues and challenges ahead.
