Recently, some of my colleagues and I had the opportunity to attend a two-day workshop to learn data analysis techniques for the Progress Out of Poverty Index® (PPI®), developed by the Grameen Foundation. At our MFI, the Banco Solidario – a regulated financial institution that operates nationwide in Ecuador – we started to use the PPI in 2009 to help monitor our social performance. Like many other MFIs, we made a commitment to poverty reduction in our mission statement. Over time, the PPI will help us to better understand the progress out of poverty amongst our clientele.
Given our experience with the PPI, the topic of the workshop piqued our interest. I had my doubts about the two day agenda at first. How could we possibly spend two days talking about data analysis? Since we had already implemented the PPI at my organization, I wasn´t sure how much was left to learn.
I couldn´t have been more mistaken. My colleagues and I all completed the workshop feeling like it was a great investment of our time. The PPI team at the Grameen Foundation has traveled around the world, observing and collecting best practices for PPI implementation. During the workshop our instructors presented a process based on their research on best practices for collecting and analyzing PPI data. We found the detailed, step-by-step explanation of each phase of the process extremely helpful...
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