Case Study of KOMIDA: A Journey to Implement the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management

This case study describes Koperasi Mitra Dhuafa’s (KOMIDA's) journey to improve its implementation of the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management. KOMIDA is the second largest microfinance institution in Indonesia. It provides financial and non-financial services to low-income and financially excluded women, with the goal that these services will help clients to improve their health, education, and income.

KOMIDA worked particularly intensively on strengthening its social performance management (SPM) in 2015 and 2016. In February 2015, an external consultant helped KOMIDA assess its current practices using the SPI4 social audit tool. KOMIDA reports that it has retained three major lessons from the experience:

1. Adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to SPM. SPM is not a separate project in addition to daily operations. SPM affects all aspects of how an institution works, and therefore is integrated into routine activities.
2. Go beyond client targeting. Focusing only on client-targeting tools, such as the CHI or PPI, will help with certain aspects of SPM: getting the right clients, understanding the profile of clients, and monitoring the poverty levels of the clients. However, several aspects of client outcomes get missed with a focus only on targeting, including consumer protection, ensuring client education is clear and useful for clients, and monitoring social indicators to understand if the institution is fulfilling its mission.
3. Different departments have a role in implementing SPM; it is not the responsibility of the SPM team alone. Before the TA support, KOMIDA’s SPM team alone was responsible for the implementation of social performance management practices, which had been defined narrowly as using the CHI and PPI. With the assessment and action planning, KOMIDA realized that each department had a major role to play in implementing SPM and should own its responsibilities. However, having an SPM champion at the management level does help to ensure that all the loose ends get resolved and all departments work in harmony.