Having escaped the stifling heat of New York City, it seemed strange to think about winter in August. I landed in Lima, Peru in the heart of the coldest winter in nearly 50 years. As could be expected, weather was a popular topic of conversation; though not everyone was worried about warm coats.

I first met Iris, founder and executive director of a local microfinance institution (MFI), FINCA Peru, at headquarters in downtown Lima. She too was concerned about the weather because the temperatures had dropped to a point where livestock, the primary source of income for her clients, were literally freezing to death. Her concern for her clients, not for her collateral was evident.

As a volunteer for the Grameen Foundation Bankers without Borders® program, my goal in Peru was to conduct a Grameen Foundation certification of the use of the Progress out of Poverty Index™ (PPI™) at FINCA Peru.

The PPI is a 10-question poverty assessment tool that helps poverty-focused organizations to understand the poverty distribution of the their clients and target clients, track poverty over time, and to adjust their products and services to best serve their clients in moving out of poverty.

It was encouraging to see that Iris had learned as much from the PPI questionnaires completed by her clients as I did. She was surprised to glean from a PPI sample study that fewer than expected of her clients sampled were below the poverty line. The information reinforced FINCA Peru’s strategy to focus on more rural clients to reach the poorest in Peru.

This trip to Lima has confirmed that giving my time is much more inspiring to me than simply mailing in a check. The ability to see the poverty assessment tool in action and evaluate FINCA Peru’s implementation of the PPI to better understand the clients they serve and enhance the way they serve them was well worth the shivering.

Mia Feldman is an associate at J.P. Morgan in New York. She traveled to Peru in August 2010 to work on the PPI Certification (Progress out of Poverty Index) pilot project with FINCA Peru in Lima, Peru. Mia's participation in this project is part of J.P. Morgan's partnership with Bankers without Borders as the program's presenting sponsor.

I arrive in Kerala in the middle of the monsoon, with days characterized by gray skies and consistent rain, heavy only at times, but invariably rainy. Kerala is situated on the country’s southwest coast. It has the highest literacy rates in the country, and while predominantly Muslim, holds the country’s largest Christian population. Kerala is a contradictory state. It produces one-third of the world’s tea and has an economy propped up by expatriate remittances from the Middle East, while also having approximately 90 percent of its indigenous population living below the national poverty line.

I am here to work with ESAF India, a microfinance institution (MFI) headquartered in Thrissur, Kerala, serving approximately 225,000 clients through 125 branches throughout India. ESAF India is the first MFI to pilot the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) certification process, applying standards recently developed by the Grameen Foundation Social Performance Management Center to validate the use of the PPI. The PPI is a tool developed by Grameen Foundation to measure poverty results, giving MFIs information that will allow them to ensure they are sticking to their social mission serving the poor and to develop products to meet the assortment of client needs. The standards are designed to help MFIs use the PPI correctly. They cover five areas of use:: intent, collection, process, training and reporting of poverty results.

Over the course of one week, I work closely with ESAF’s PPI Manager, Benita, and am privileged to have access to staff from the managing director to the loan officers, as well as to be introduced to several ESAF India clients. Based on my interactions, it seems to me that ESAF India is committed to meeting their clients’ needs and social goals. As the PPI contributes to both, they are in the process of implementing various processes and training to achieve best-in-class PPI use. Even more apparent is the confidence that microfinance loans and membership in a sangam has instilled in the clients. These women have gained not only financial benefits, but also greater independence, practice managing money and people, and, according to one loan officer, “social fearlessness.”

With the development of the new standards, Grameen Foundation is helping ESAF India, and all MFIs that go through the PPI certification process, to accurately measure poverty results and fulfill its social mission.

Jamie Dunchick is an associate at J.P. Morgan in New York. She traveled to India in July 2010 to work on the PPI Certification (Progress out of Poverty Index) pilot project with ESAF India in Thrissur, Kerala. Jamie's participation in this project is part of J.P. Morgan's partnership with Bankers without Borders as the program's presenting sponsor.