Evaluating the Impact of European Microfinance: The Foundations

The present Working Paper - providing a detailed literature review and setting the framework for an approach to impact assessment in the field of microfinance - results from a project on the Impact of European Microfinance, initiated by EIF and funded by the EIB Institute. The aim of this project is to contribute to the debate about whether microfinance is able to deliver the expected impact in terms of financial and social inclusion, developing an impact self-assessment tool for microfinance services providers and an impact enhancement dashboard to help policy makers identify what types of microfinance services are the most appropriate to different institutional settings (i.e. type of credit market, labour market, welfare state).

The role of this literature review within the project is to provide the foundation for making informed decision when designing these outputs, particularly regarding impact evaluation methods.