By Gabrielle Athmer and Fion de Vletter
Contact email: g.athmer@chello.nl
Commissioned by the Netherlands Platform for Microfinance
Available in Portuguese and in English (see below)
The multi-phase impact assessment study (2004-2006) was undertaken with two principal goals: to justify the use of public funds and to help improve strategic planning of the MFIs. The simultaneous research for the three MFIs gave insight in the microfinance market of Maputo, capital city of Mozambique.
The management of the MFIs played an active role in each stage of the study. Clients were divided in three categories (by loan size), premised on the understanding that impact of microfinance varies for different types of clients
The study used a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Client portfolio analysis for assessing changes over time, using internal appraisal data disaggregated by gender, loan size and loyalty/exit status. Poverty assessment: benchmarking against official household survey & identification of correlates. In-depth interviews as the basis for assessing and attributing impact.
Key findings on outreach include the following:
- High rate (>70%) of loan exit among clients within 2 years of receiving the first loan.
- Saturation of the collateralised market.
- Untapped demand for flexible savings services
- Clients older and more experienced than the population as a whole.
- Few clients below the national poverty line; more than 40% from the top quintile
- Small loan group are less stable borrowers
Key findings on impact include the following:
- Growth in sales for most of more than 2 year old borrowers
- Small loan group is most vulnerable to shocks.
- Fastest business growth for small loan group (more likely to be liquidity constrained).
- Negative business growth for clients starting with high loans
- Credit used mostly as working capital, and also for house improvement.
- Savings intended for investment, but often diverted during crises.
- High general level of satisfaction with services: except for interest rates, guarantees and loan recovery processes.
