Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Work Plan 2012 | Members | EECA Resources | Historical Information

Work Plan 2012

In 2012 SPWG EECA has decided to focus on gathering comprehensive feedback on the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management (USSPM) as well as building associations’ capacity to provide technical assistance to member MFIs on different social performance topics and tools.

The group views gathering feedback on the benchmarks of the USSPM as a very important exercise because the benchmarks will be the standards that MFIs are held to regarding good social performance management. Having MFI input on these benchmarks is a priority for the group and so in order to gather robust feedback they have decided to hold country-level roundtables in various countries. By meeting in-person it allows the group to answer questions and have a deeper conversation with practitioners about the standards and the essential practices for their implementation.

Providing trainings and technical assistance to member MFIs are key functions for many associations, but one that they are sometimes not equipped to implement efficiently. It is important to build its members’ capacity to work with MFIs on the topic of social performance management (SPM) so that current practices can be improved, which ultimately moves the sector towards practicing responsible microfinance.

The main activities for 2012 can be found below:

Gathering feedback on the essential practices of the USSPM
- Hold country-level roundtables in various countries (February – April 2012)
- Encourage MFIs to respond via online survey (January – April 2012)
Build capacity of associations on SPM tools and topics
- Hold a peer – learning event on different SPM topics and tools that focuses on building associations’ capacity to provide technical assistance to member MFIs (July 12 – 13, 2012)