Incofin announces the launch of a multi-year partnership with French association CERISE and Asia focused, responsible development research, ratings and analytics firm M-CRIL that will support investees of Incofin’s agRIF Fund to rigorously track their impact among target clientele by collecting key information and using pragmatic “impact dashboards.”
A pioneer in social performance management, CERISE brings an impressive depth of experience in developing innovative tools and support to help mission-driven organizations in realizing their social goals. M-CRIL complements this expertise with years of practical experience in implementing outcomes measurement systems with financial institutions globally. The consortium will draw on an international network of experts to provide on-the-ground guidance adapted to the local context.
The partnership stems from a major Technical Assistance (TA) project, financed through the agRIF Technical Assistance Facility (agTAF). Though this is not the first collaboration between Incofin and CERISE, this time the organizations take their partnership one step further in providing in-depth coaching on outcomes measurement to individual organizations. The TA project will support a group of 8 equity investees around the world, each with diverse business models – from more traditional microfinance institutions, to a motorbike leasing company, a fintech P2P lending platform and a banking correspondent institution. The project aims to develop an impact measurement methodology flexible enough to respond to the unique nature and objectives of each institution, while furthering industry-wide efforts to make social performance management more standardized and practical.
Each participating institution will receive tailored TA and coaching at all levels of the organization – from branch staff up to Board and Management – to define a “theory of change” based on their unique social mission, identify priority social indicators mapped to the most relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), establish a rigorous yet practical data collection system, and feed this data into strategic decision-making processes to better adapt the company’s products and services to their end-clients’ needs.
“We spent 20 years building standards of Social Performance Management, with the Social Performance Task Force, we now need to add the missing piece of the puzzle: impact through outcome, with a pragmatic approach, building on digitalization, the SDG common framework, and the willingness of the sector to take data-driven decisions in favor of their clients. It is an innovative and logical next step!” – Cécile Lapenu, CERISE executive Director
“We look forward to building on and taking forward our work so far in social performance and outcomes management. Partnering with a committed social impact investor, this will be a pioneering contribution for practical social outcomes reporting systems, data management and use, working with both traditional and new-age Inclusive finance providers.” – Frances Sinha, Director M-CRIL