June 2010
Notes from the Field: The PPI, A Sum of All Its Parts
“Can you drive a wheel? Can you drive a door?” As pictures of pieces of a car were passed around the room, these are the questions our trainers asked. Of course, the response was a resounding “No.” Just so, the trainers explained, “The PPI is like a car, you can only drive it if you have all the parts in place.”
The most common questions during training are usually around specific PPI indicators and how they are chosen, why they are chosen, and if they can be changed. However, the PPI is not just a compilation of random questions; each question is carefully chosen through a statistical logit regression process, based upon the national survey and the correlating strength of the questions, to determine poverty likelihood. PPI trainers use exercises like the one about the car to show how those indicators are chosen, Trainees learn that the PPI is the sum of its parts, not to be broken apart. This said, it is common practice in the PPI development process and it is absolutely vital that we obtain input from institutions working on the ground to determine if there are large concerns with any of the indicators and, if so, to consider putting in a different indicator that is statistically relevant.
These exercises go a long way. They help assure participants that this is an objective process based on real data that drives the indicator selection process: “It’s not a person, it’s the machine that does the math.”
To learn more about how the PPI is developed visit our "What is the PPI?" section!
Preeti Wali is Communications Officer at the Grameen Foundation Social Performance Management Center (SPMC). She is based in Washington, DC.
Notes from the Field: The TOTOT, A Training of Trainers of Trainers
The PRE-training. It’s the first time we’ve tried this approach--training a group of PPI trainers and then having them immediately train a group of participants from MFIs that are committed to social performance and interested in using the PPI. Why do it this way? We’re building capacity among our partners who, in turn, will build it further. This approach allows Grameen Foundation staff to provide immediate feedback to our newly trained colleagues, providing clarifications and strengthening their understanding as needed. Sharlene and I will go back to DC at the end of this trip, and when that happens, who’s on the ground to be able to answer questions? Who can talk to and train other institutions interested in understanding how to use a poverty assessment tool like the PPI? Our PUCA partners can. 
Catholic Relief Services, Oikocredit, Terrafina Microfinance, and Planet Rating are on the ground in Mali and Senegal. They are committed. They are willing to learn and willing to teach. This collaboration is just that, a joint venture where we work hand-in-hand to ensure that anyone who wants to use the PPI is able to do so with a support network of trainers in place.
Our group of six trainers in Bamako, Mali:
Sharlene Brown, lead facilitator
Boubacar Diallo – Mision II Afrique, lead facilitators
Bart de Bruyne – Terrafina, trainer
Sadio Diallo – APIM, trainer
Ibrahim Mare – Terrafina, trainer
Oumar Tangara – Oikocredit, trainer
(Left to Right, B. Diallo, I. Mare, S. Brown, B. de Bruyne, S. Diallo, O. Tangara)
Preeti Wali is Communications Officer at the Grameen Foundation Social Performance Management Center (SPMC). She is based in Washington, DC.
Notes from the Field: Teranga, Trainings, and Tea
Teranga is a traditional Senegalese term meaning hospitality. Our wonderful colleague Babacar Sambe’s family did not hold back in showering us with all the teranga possible, taking us around, feeding us, and always having tea ready for those long days. Teranga gives the “T” in TLC new meaning . For me, teranga resonates with the cultures of so many developing countries--when a guest is present, the host will prepare atleast one extra serving than is necessary for meals. When you first hear this, you think, Isn’t that a waste of food in a region that suffers from famine and prevalent poverty? When we asked Babacar this question he said, “Nothing goes to waste; if it isn’t eaten here, we give it to a poor family nearby. That is the way.” I’ve just arrived but I already feel at home and, I’ll add, very full. The majority of these countries’ populations may be poor in income but there is no dearth in generosity and hospitality.
Tomorrow we’ll be leaving for Bamako to begin the pre-training and prep for our PPI training and Executive Day with our PUCA partners in Mali. More to come!
Preeti Wali is Communications Officer at the Grameen Foundation Social Performance Management Center (SPMC). She is based in Washington, DC.
Notes from the Field: Setting the Stage, Poverty in Mali and Senegal
Today I arrived in Dakar to join Sharlene Brown from our Social Performance team and Babacar Sambe, our West Africa representative. Along with our partners in the PPI Users Collaborative for Africa (PUCA), we were gathering for the second installment of PUCA PPI trainings.
PUCA is a two-year initiative designed to help African MFIs understand the poverty outreach of their portfolios and better track the numbers of clients are moving out of poverty. The initiative is currently working with three MFIs—Caurie Microfinance and U-IMCEC of Senegal and Kafo Jiginew of Mali. All three MFIs were trained between December and February, and began piloting the PPI shortly afterwards. In the next few days, we are going to train the staff of PUCA members – Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Oikocredit, Terrafina Microfinance, and Planet Rating – and a few of their MFI partners as a means of expanding local capacity and the use of the tool in both countries. Even more importantly, we will enlist the experiences of the MFIs already trained to help us do that. The plan is to do a pre-training, host an Executive Session where leaders of all the invited MFIs gather to discuss the benefits and challenges of doing SPM and using the PPI, and then host a full training. There’s a lot to prep work involved for all of this, but we we’re ready to do it!
My role here is to help capture the experience through a number of different media – Twitter, videos, and blogs! I’ll also be compiling information for a PUCA case study planned for release next year. The case study will outline the experiences and feedback of the three MFIs that have piloted the PPI in Senegal and Mali in the past year as well as the benefits and takeaways of working within a collaborative structure with other networks.
Just so we’re all on the same page, It’s important to set the stage of what poverty is like in West Africa, so here’s a little background on the countries we are working in and more on the PUCA initiative.
SENEGAL*
Population: 14,086,103 (July 2010)
2000-2007 Population living below $1.25 a day = 33.5%
2000-2007 Population living below $2 a day = 60.3%
2000-2006 Population living below the national poverty line = 33.4%
MALI*
Population: 13,796,354 (July 2010)
2000-2007 Population living below $1.25 a day = 51.4%
2000-2007 Population living below $2 a day = 77.1%
2000-2006 Population living below the national poverty line = 63.83%
*This information is taken from the CIA factbook and 2009 UNDP Report
To learn more about the PPI Users Collaborative in Africa (PUCA):
- - View the blog on the PUCA launch.
- - Download our PUCA Fact Sheet in English or French
- - View the PUCA Press Release in English or French
- - Learn more about Grameen Foundation's work in Sub-Saharan Africa
Preeti Wali is Communications Officer at the Grameen Foundation Social Performance Management Center (SPMC). She is based in Washington, DC.
Grameen Foundation and Oikocredit: A PPI Partnership in Six Countries
Whe
n Oikocredit joined forces in 2007 with Grameen Foundation, it became the first social investor to support the use of the Progress Out of Poverty Index (PPI). For the next two years, Oikocredit sponsored—and participated in—PPI pilot training for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in three countries: the Philippines, Peru and Ecuador. Then,early this year, Oikocredit doubled the number of its targeted countries to six—adding Senegal, Mali and Cambodia. The result is significant growth of PPI users in these critical countries.
“With this increased roll-out of the PPI, we can assist our partners in monitoring the effects of their loans and operations,” said Oikocredit director of Social Performance and Financial Analysis, Ben Simmes. “It means Oikocredit can be certain our financing is reaching the right people, and making a genuine difference in the lives of the poor.”
With Oikocredit’s support, Peru has become a key proving ground for the PPI. Oikocredit has seven partners in Peru currently using the PPI: PRISMA, Manuela Ramos, Pro Mujer Peru, ADRA Peru, FINCA Peru, Fondescuro, and NGO Alternativa, with an additional partner, Edaprospo, in the pilot process. There are three more in their pipeline for this year.
PRISMA was the first MFI in Peru to complete its pilot and analyze the results. PRISMA has used those results to help shape program products and services, focusing on the rural poor women whose poverty levels were verified by the PPI. PRISMA Director Diego Fernandez seeks to reach even more deeply into this community through the use of village banking or regular, local meetings for small groups of clients, usually 12 to 15 in number. “Village banking strengthens social networks,” Fernandez says. It is the best way to educate and motivate clients because they can learn from and support each other, he says. This year, PRISMA will encourage its loan officers to grow these village banks in an effort to reach more rural women more effectively.
For PRISMA, expanding its use of the PPI has been a process. Its pilot study in 2008 focused on a representative sample of clients from two branches: Huancayo and Pampas. In 2009, the MFI sampled clients in all of its 17 branches, and added a new cohort: new clients. In its 2010 survey, PRISMA will go back to those new clients from 2009 and track their progress, even among possible drop-outs, to determine their current poverty levels. In this way, PRISMA has been building its use of the PPI. By next year, the MFI anticipates surveying all clients.
PRISMA’s early PPI results have attracted new investors to the MFI. By being able to demonstrate that it is reaching rural poor clients, PRISMA has found a range of social investors who are interested in supporting and encouraging this outreach through loans with favorable conditions. Since the first results were posted, at least six investors reduced loan rates or proposed preferential terms for their loans. This funding will enable PRISMA to target its microfinance loans to even more poor people living in hard-to-reach rural areas.
Oikocredit has released its first Social Performance report, detailing its commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of the poor through access to financial services. The report shows the progression and results of Oikocredit’s many years evaluating social performance. It was presented June 10 at Oikocredit’s Annual General Meeting in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. For more information, visit Oikocredit's press section at, http://www.oikocredit.org/en/news-events/press/press-releases.
