How Do I Get Started?
1. Define Your Social Objectives. No matter whether you are an MFI, a network, an association, an investor, a donor, or any other type of stakeholder, your first step is defining your own social objectives. What are the specific social goals you are seeking to accomplish?
2. Measure Your Social Performance. Once you have clarified your goals, identify the metrics you can use to establish how well you are meeting your goals, and then measure your performance. USE that information to identify in what ways have you been successful and what areas need improvement.
3. Be Transparent about Your Performance Data. Measure, monitor, and publish your performance according to social performance metrics. What to measure, and to whom you report, will depend on your stakeholder group. For example, if you're an MFI, report to the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX) by completing MIX's Social Performance Standards Report. If you are an investor, report your data according to the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), developed by the Global Impact Investing Network, and/or fill out CGAP's MIV Survey, which is based on the industry standards for MIV reporting, the CGAP Microfinance Investment Vehicle Disclosure Guidelines.
4. Manage Your Social Performance. For all organizations, effective performance management involves a continual process of translating mission and values into practice. This process has several key steps:
- Setting clear objectives and creating a deliberate strategy to achieve them
- Monitoring and assessing progress towards achieving objectives, and
- Using information to improve overall organizational performance.
The more that management integrates social performance values and data into decisions about the daily operations and strategy of the organization, the more likely the organization is to attain its social objectives.
5. Take Advantage of Existing Tools. Click on the link below to be directed to a toolkit that presents the variety of tools that are available to help your type of organization get started.