Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: How Microfinance Institutions Can Track the Health of Clients – Health Outcome Performance Indicators (HOPI) Project Report

This paper seeks to share experiences in selecting and pilot-testing a minimal set of health indicators that practitioners in the microfinance sector can use for performance management purposes. It states that MFIs may find it useful to monitor health of clients as health is seen as a contributing factor to the overall performance of the client which can have a direct impact on the overall financial portfolio of the MFI. The paper also provides recommendations for developing standardized client outcome monitoring indicators including:

• Efforts undertaken to standardize indicators across the globe in order to assist in drawing broader conclusions about changes in client outcomes should proceed with caution;
• Theories of change established by an MFI need to be built upon the clear understanding of their context to ensure that the right decisions are being made when interpreting and using the data;
• If baseline levels for any indicator have a positive performance of 80% and higher, it might not be as useful to track those indicators as those below 80%;
• Organizations need to consider the client who is being tracked and the period for which s/he is to be tracked while choosing health performance indicators.