Report of Virtual Meeting: CGAP Working Group Impact Assessment Methodologies

Summarises the debate held at the virtual meeting on microfinance impact assessment conducted by the CGAP Working Group on Impact Assessment Methodologies in April 1997. The conference debated three themes: the objectives, methodologies and standards for conducting microfinance impact assessments.

Recommendations agreed at the meeting include:

• Comparison and/or control groups are essential for credible impact assessment;
• Not only is longitudinal analysis essential for credible impact assessment, but the time period covered by the longitudinal study should be long enough for impacts to manifest themselves;
• The scope and scale of impact assessments need not be as extensive as is often demanded by donors;
• Rigour relates to both the design of the impact assessment as well as to the particular methodology;
• Interviewers should be carefully trained and questionnaires should be translated into the "local language";
• Protocols should be established to introduce the study to respondents.

Also includes a discussion paper prepared for the meeting by David Hulme, "Impact assessment methodologies for microfinance: a review".

[Author's abstract]