PPI Blog

Portrait de Awais
Awais
• 04/01/11
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In the Punjab section of Pakistan, just south of Islamabad, is the district of Chakwal—a focal point for an innovative community development effort based on poverty measurement. Since May 2010, no fewer than 68 villages surrounding Chakwal have been participating in a new initiative to help the poorest among them. The program, Plan Chakwal, supported by microfinance network Plan International, has been leading the way in using the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) to guide its community development work.

Led by Shabbir Hussain, Plan Chakwal’s livelihood coordinator, and Aziz Malik, Plan’s community development facilitator, Plan Chakwal over a three-month period (June, July and August, 2010) collected 18,003 PPI scorecards from the 68 villages, using a census approach. Because these villages have local community base organizations (CBOs) to follow through with community development work, they were chosen for PPI data collection.

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Portrait de PreetiWali
PreetiWali
• 03/14/11
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This blog is also available in Spanish below the English copy.

For three years, PRISMA Microfinance has been using the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) to help us reach and serve our poorest clients: rural women.

We began to implement the PPI as a pilot in 2008 in two of our branches, and thanks to that good experience, in 2009 we expanded its use to all of our offices. Our goal was to reach the poorest people, and to monitor if and how their poverty levels changed. To do this, in 2010 we surveyed a sample of customers who were new in 2009, and found that--in one year--2.6 percent of these clients had moved above the national poverty line.

The use of PPI has allowed us to focus our efforts on reaching our target clients (the poor and vulnerable), and explore strategies to improve our services and deepen our efforts to reduce poverty. For us, as a microfinance organization with a social heart, the implementation of the PPI confirms that as a tool it is standardized, valid, comprehensive and flexible.

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Portrait de PreetiWali
PreetiWali
• 02/28/11
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The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) has acted as a real champion for social performance in past years as a data warehouse for microfinance institutions. They have helped lead the industry effort to create a set of social indicators through the Social Performance Task Force and have just recently revised the list.

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Portrait de thomas
thomas
• 02/25/11
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This blog is also available in Spanish below the English copy.

By carrying out the MISION Program of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), REDCAMIF, a Central American Microfinance Network, has helped expand social performance management (SPM) among microfinance institutions (MFIs) affiliated with national networks in the region. During the past four years, 52 MFIs have begun to implement SPM systems in their operations.

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Portrait de sergio.correa
sergio.correa
• 02/17/11
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As the new Latin America and Caribbean PPI specialist for Grameen Foundation, I have just completed-- and helped facilitate-- my first Training of Trainers course in San Salvador, El Salvador. During the last few weeks, Mary Jo Kochendorfer and I have been preparing all the materials for the sessions while I learn as much as possible about the PPI.

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Portrait de bsambe
bsambe
• 02/15/11
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Lift Above Poverty Association (LAPO), Microfinance Bank Limited in Nigeria—the largest microfinance institution (MFI) in the country—ended 2010 with a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop on the use of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI).

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Portrait de sbrown
sbrown
• 01/31/11
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During a recent visit with a microfinance partner in Senegal, a colleague and I encountered two of the most discussed issues related to the PPI: the kind of collection with associated advantages and disadvantages and the organization’s attitude toward cost. This blog is also available in French below the English copy, thanks to Absa Gueye, APSFD Senegal.

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Portrait de Awais
Awais
• 01/24/11
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As the Regional Microfinance Programme Specialist for Plan International in Asia, I have learned first-hand the top challenges faced by microfinance institutions in accepting—and implementing—the PPI as their poverty assessment tool. My observations led me to create the ten challenges I outline here.

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Portrait de sbrown
sbrown
• 12/31/10
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Last August, my colleague Babacar Sambe and I set out in earnest to plan Grameen Foundation’s first deployments of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). After analyzing the landscape, considering budget constraints and the location of local GF staff, we decided to begin our first efforts in Mali and Senegal. Rather than go it alone, we reached out to other international NGOs that support poverty-focused microfinance institutions (MFIs). And to round out our collaborative group, we invited other important locally based constituents-- namely a microfinance rating agency and the national associations of both countries. Our group of PPI supporters was formally branded the PPI Users Collaborative in Africa, otherwise known as PUCA (pronounced PUCK –a). PUCA includes Catholic Relief Services, Grameen Foundation, Oikocredit, Terrafina Microfinance, Planet Rating, and the national associations – APSFD Senegal and APSFD Mali.

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Portrait de conches
conches
• 11/18/10
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During its past fiscal year, Grameen Foundation’s Social Performance Management Center actively pursued its primary goal—to grow the use of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) around the world. Our success is measured both in the number of new PPIs created (10) and updated (6), and the number of new microfinance users (43). The cumulative result at the end of the fiscal year: 27 PPIs and 73 PPI users, serving about 5 million clients.

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