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>Posted by Josh Goldstein aka Mr. Provocative
What do we know about gender wage equality at microfinance institutions? Is greater operational efficiency at MFIs achieved in part at the expense of women’s pay? Discrimination against women as employees is pervasive around the world. For example, in the United States, it was only in 2009 that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became law. Even today, American women continue to earn significantly less than men for comparable work—77 cents to every dollar, according to some studies. I have looked around for evidence that MFIs are conscious of this issue, but my research uncovered no clear insistence for compensation equality for the employees of microfinance institutions from either social investors or industry standard setting groups. In fact, the issue isn’t discussed or even raised.
The highly regarded and influential Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) recently adopted Universal Standards for Social Performance Management, which sets social performance goals for MFIs. The standards are representative of this striking silence on the issue of gender wage equality. While the document includes treating “employees responsibly” as one of the six key areas that must be addressed, it merely affirms blandly: “5a.2 Employee compensation levels constitute a living wage for employees.” It is only in the “Additional Good Practices” annex that the SPTF is more expansive about management standards when it comes to employees, but even then it does not specifically address wage discrimination, see the following: Read the rest of this entry »
>Posted by Sergio Guzman
Today, we link to Accion Ambassador Juan Rubio’s post describing a social rating by Planet Rating at El Comercio in Paraguay.
Juan starts out with an interesting question–is measuring social performance similar to measuring love? How can it be quantified? Indeed, social performance can be an abstract concept and at times it seems a bit difficult to measure. However, there are Social Performance Standards have been specially designed in order to give us a better idea how MFIs are working not only towards the idea of improving clients life, but also making sure that their products are not making them any worse off.
Now, with some markets showing signs of saturation, managing social performance goals might be secondary for some bottom line focused institutions who might want to focus on their core business. Notwithstanding, this has proven to be a differentiating factor for many microfinance institutions like El Comercio who see this as a strategic objective. Or as we call it, Smart Microfinance.
Read the rest of Juan’s excellent post here and further stories from the field through the Accion Ambassadors blog.
Image credit:pastorgraphics.com
Have you read?
>Posted by Meghan Greene
Last month, microfinance stakeholders from around the world gathered at the Dead Sea in Jordan to mark the launch of the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management, the culmination of 18 months of effort by hundreds of industry experts, led by the Social Performance Task Force.
The Universal Standards are management standards relevant to all microfinance institutions pursuing a double bottom line. The Standards
cover six categories, with topics like “Define and Monitor Social Goals” and “Ensure Board, Management, and Employee Commitment to Social Performance.” They outline the essential practices organizations must have in order to achieve strong social performance management.
The Standards are based on the belief that “we can only manage what we measure,” so in order to achieve our social performance goals, we must actively measure and monitor our progress. The Standards are intended to help institutions elevate the profile of social performance to that of financial performance, so institutions can actively manage toward both goals.
Many hours and much thought have gone into the development of these Standards, with the SPTF soliciting feedback through several industry-wide comment periods. However, the Standards presently exist primarily on paper – they have not yet been road tested in MFIs themselves. Therefore, many questions remain: How do we assess our institution against the Standards? Are some standards more difficult to assess than others? Are they specific enough, or overly prescriptive? And most importantly: How do we use the information an assessment reveals to improve our practices? Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
As the microfinance industry works to make clients central to their mission and practice, the value of guidelines for Social Performance Management (SPM) becomes ever-more apparent. The Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) is addressing this need by developing standards that can be used by microfinance institutions, associations, networks, and all stakeholders to assess and improve efforts in SPM – and your input is needed!
The current version of the “Universal Standards for Social Performance Management” was developed through broad industry consultation and is composed of six sections: Read the rest of this entry »
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