A Credible Tool

In 2005 when the PPI was launched, Grameen Foundation set out to prove the concept. They closely observed the first organizations to adopt the tool so that they could understand its accuracy and feasibility. Today, demand and acclaim for the PPI validates our belief that the concept is proven.

But don’t take our word for it. The following publications, written by third parties without Grameen Foundation or IPA’s influence, detail the ways in which the PPI can benefit development practitioners.

• Testing the PPI in the COSA Platform
  The Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA), a global consortium that researches and promotes science-based impact assessment tools for agricultural producers, tested the PPI and found that it was highly correlated with net income from crops and food security. The results provided COSA with confidence to incorporate the PPI into its impact assessment framework. 

• Using the PPI in Agricultural Value Chains
  Published in 2014 by the Sustainable Food Laboratory, this report details Unilever's use of the PPI to measure poverty of smallholder producers in three of their supply chains in late 2013. 
   
• The PPI: A Detailed Analysis of MFI Implementation
  Published in 2014 and commissioned by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank, this report examines the benefits and challenges related to implementing the PPI in the microfinance industry. 

• The COSA Measuring Sustainability Report
  This January 2014 report by the Committee on Sustainable Assessment (COSA) describes a common set of practical indicators and metrics it has tested in collaboration with many organizations and experts, including the PPI.

• Towards a Shared Approach for Smallholder Performance Measurement: Common Indicators and Metrics
  This 2013 paper proposes a shared but flexible approach to measuring common indicators of farm-level sustainability in smallholder agricultural supply chains. The PPI is included as an attractive method to measure poverty.

• The New Microfinance Handbook: A Financial Market System Perspective
  Published in 2013 by the World Bank, this report highlights the PPI as one of multiple poverty measurement tools available to microfinance practitioners. The report finds that when measuring absolute poverty, the PPI and the Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT) are most accurate, but of these the PPI has the advantage of allowing for targeting, while the PAT does not.

• Measuring Socio-Economic Impact: A Guide for Business
  Published in 2013 by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the report profiles the PPI along with other recommended socio-economic measurement tools that can be used by the sustainable business community.

• The Accuracy, Precision, and Implementation Challenges of Three Different Poverty Measurement Tools in El Salvador and Guatemala
  Brendan Scott Janet's 2011 thesis on the use of the PPI, PAT and Multidimensional Poverty Index offers a detailed literature review of the tools and a discussion on the feasibility of implementing poverty measurement tools.

• Making Microfinance Work: Managing Product Diversification
  Published in 2011 by the International Labour Organization, this report highlights the PPI as a poverty measurement tool that microfinance institutions can use to segment clients by poverty status, track changes in poverty over time, and target poor clients.

• New Pathways out of Poverty
  Published in 2011, this book by Sam Daley-Harris and Anna Awimbo seeks to guide microfinance practitioners towards better social performance, and it cites the PPI as a practical poverty measurement tool for microfinance practitioners to use in their assessments of important factors, such as poverty outreach.