FINCA’s microfinance institutions aim to have a positive social impact on the people we serve, while also being financially sustainable.
We have created our own specific, comprehensive tool for measuring social impact, which enables us to assess our outreach and measure change—and improvements—in our clients’ lives, over time.
FINCA is committed to excellence, and we invest in research and development for two main reasons:
- Impact. We conduct monitoring and evaluation studies to track the impact of FINCA’s services on the lives of our clients, their families, and their communities.
- Innovation. We invest in exploratory research to help develop innovative technologies, products, and distribution methods to reach more people in need, while improving client protection standards.
Impact Research
We collect data directly from our clients, using survey instruments that we have tailored specifically to FINCA’s mission. Each survey is administered to a representative sample of randomly-chosen borrowers. We use a proprietary digital data collection platform, ValiData, which features real-time survey controls, ensuring that our data are of the highest possible quality, and representative of the people we serve. The data we gather provide us with important insights about our clients on the following indicators: Financial inclusion, living standards, employment, women’s empowerment, and personal aspirations.
Customer Research
FINCA has always been dedicated to finding new and better ways to improve our clients’ lives. We are leading the way as a truly responsible microfinance institution committed to putting clients first. For over 10 years, we have been working with clients to gather information about their lives across multiple dimensions—their businesses, home lives, and experiences with FINCA.
All this information helps FINCA to better understand the needs of our clients, and make decisions about how to best serve them, including the products and services they require to succeed and to improve their standard of living.
Tablets are enabling FINCA to collect client household and geographic data quickly and accurately.Innovation Research
FINCA is always looking to improve our services and devise new ways to fulfill our mission. We carefully identify our clients’ needs, and then we explore solutions that are sustainable and scalable.
Some solutions make it easier for our customers to do business, such as mobile phone banking. Others, such as insurance, strengthen the safety net that helps keep families out of poverty.
