Making Microfinance Investment Responsible - State of the Practice in Europe

Prepared by Cécile Lapenu and Bonnie Brusky in collaboration with the e-MFP Making Microfinance Investment Responsible Action Group, November 2010.

This publication is a follow up to the 2008 issue, “The Role of Investors in Promoting Social Performance” which set out to take stock of investment funds' practices in terms of promoting and assessing social performance. In the last two years, practices have become more systematic and refined, as social performance assessments of MFIs have become commonplace. The time has come to see how far we've come to “Making Microfinance Investment Responsible”.

What are investors doing to systematize social performance management at the MFI level, and what are they doing to improve their own practices as responsible investors? What tools and approaches are being used? What data is being collected and analysed, and how is it being used? What kinds of relationships are investors building with their MFI investees? In short, what are funds doing to ensure their investments are socially responsible?