Social performance research: FMFB joins hands with Harvard University

The First MicroFinance Bank Ltd (FMFB) and Harvard University of the USA recently signed an agreement to develop social performance indicators through a bottom up participatory approach whereby the poor identify, prioritise and assess their needs as clients and help develop a set of tools, concepts and instruments which are used in the formulation of services and products to meet the unique needs of the poor.
As part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), FMFB is guided by the AKDN philosophy that a humane, sustainable environment must reflect the choices made by people themselves of how they live and wish to improve their prospects in harmony with their environment.
The Social Performance Research (SPR) project, undertaken with financial assistance from the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), epitomises this philosophy and had evolved out of the Bank's experience, interactions and engagement with the poor populations across the Pakistan. The project is also in line with the global drive in the microfinance sector to integrate social performance into the organisational performance management system.
The collaboration between FMFB and Harvard Business School gives an impetus to FMFB's social mission of poverty alleviation by bringing together a unique blend of cutting edge research methodologies by Harvard University and decades of field knowledge of the FMFB staff. Social Performance Management (SPM) is an emerging field of knowledge within the microfinance sector to improve the social responsibility through an integrated and cost efficient model. FMFB as a member of the Global Social Performance Task Force had also been engaged to translate its social development mission into practice through implementation of social performance management into its core operations.
As part of the SPR project, FMFB had conducted a series of participatory need assessment surveys across Pakistan in addition to Participatory Wealth Ranking (PWR) exercises. Through these exercises, FMFB engaged a cross section of the poor households both in rural and urban areas to identify, assess and prioritise their needs so that the Bank could address them through targeted financial services. Once the quality of life indicators had been developed, the indicators will be integrated into the FMFB MIS so that the Bank can easily track the changes in the livelihood of the poor vis-à-vis its services.
PWR exercises are also focused to engage creatively the women of poor households to deliberate upon the socio-economic factors and causes of disempowerment and intra-households' disparities. The qualitative data generated through women discussions was then transformed into statements and indicators of women disempowerment.-PR