Entries tagged with social performance

As the program officer responsible for PPI deployment in Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East North Africa, I have the opportunity to meet people from many countries and help them to understand social performance management better. I also have the opportunity to help reshape their perceptions of an American. When I first began working with our West African representative based in Senegal, we had many phone calls, but he never realized that I am a woman of Caribbean descent since I have no accent.

It’s Friday and it’s all coming to a close. Participants from FDEA and and MEC Feprodes are preparing their action plans—getting ready for their PPI pilots and ensuring appropriate allocation of time and resources for using the PPI. This is an incredibly important step in the process; we find that without action plans, many participants would return to their institutions, overrun with work, and PPI plans would lag.

“Pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat” - the sound of heavy rain on a zinc rooftop. “Image is important,” I hear Alou Sidibe’s* words in my head.

“Pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat,” the rain continues. “Kafo is serious,” says Bourama, the first client interviewed with the PPI in the field test**, as we converse in his sitting room and he sweeps away the water that seeps in from the heavy rain outside.

The PRE-training. It’s the first time we’ve tried this approach--training a group of PPI trainers and then having them immediately train a group of participants from MFIs that are committed to social performance and interested in using the PPI. Why do it this way? We’re building capacity among our partners who, in turn, will build it further.