Evaluating Mission Drift in Microfinance

Gaamaa Hishigsuren
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Gaamaa Hishigsuren: Mennonite Economic Development Associates

Evaluation Review, 2007, vol. 31, issue 3, 203-260

Abstract: The article contributes to a better understanding of implications of scaling up on the social mission of microfinance programs. It proposes a methodology to measure the extent, if any, to which a microfinance program with a poverty alleviation mission drifts away from its mission during rapid scaling up and presents findings from a field research using the proposed methodology at Activists for Social Alternatives (ASA), a microfinance organization that serves poor women in rural India. The findings indicate that mission drift is not a result of deliberate decisions by the management or board but rather is a result of the challenges posed by the scaling-up process. At times, changing trends in social outcomes were not obvious, and management was not aware of the changes indicated by the proposed measures of social performance.

Keywords: microfinance; mission drift; poverty alleviation; scaling up (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:evarev:v:31:y:2007:i:3:p:203-260

DOI: 10.1177/0193841X06297886

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