Veena Yamini is a Senior Analyst at MicroSave.

The Grameen Foundation and MicroSave have joined together in Asia to implement the Progress out of Poverty Index® (PPI®), a social performance management (SPM) tool that enables pro-poor organizations to measure whether they are reaching and helping the poor, and better align their products and services to serve the needs of the poor. This is especially critical in the current microfinance environment, where there have been concerns that microfinance institutions (MFIs) are
more focused on profits than fighting poverty.

MicroSave is a consulting firm that helps financial service providers implement market-led approaches to serve low-income markets. It has developed an SPM methodology and toolkit that provides simple, low-cost, fast and effective ways to align systems and procedures in line with the mission of the organisation. MicroSave adopted the PPI late last year as an element in its Social Performance Management Implementation Project (SPM IP).

"Grameen Foundation is pleased to be working with a strong partner like MicroSave, and welcome them as a new service provider for the PPI. We especially look forward to collaborating at this critical time for microfinance in India, where recent events in Andhra Pradesh showed that it’s more important than ever for MFIs to demonstrate their commitment to a double-bottom-line approach to microfinance," said Steve Wright, Director of the Social Performance Management Center at Grameen Foundation.