How Green Is My Office?

According to HIVOS, 'Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) not only face the challenge to measure the social and environmental impact of their products and services on a client level, but increasingly think about the environmental impact of their own office as well.'

HIVOS selected some toolkits and references, that in our opinion are quite relevant and useful.
Click here for the full article in PDF.

TSF III takes flight

The TSF project was initiated in 2004 by Triodos Bank in collaboration with GRI in response to the interest of Triodos investees -MFI in implementing the GRI sustainability reporting concept. Two coaches –Teodorina Lessidrenska, GRI Associate and TBL expert consultant, and Geert Jan Schuite, formerly Triodos’ Sustainability Reporting Coordinator and currently consultant at FACET, are providing hands-on assistance to the TSF banks. The second phase of the TSF (2006-07) focused on deepening and broadening of the TSF initiative. Deepening, through coaching, and advice on further improvement of the reporting process, identification of relevant indicators and development of TBL strategies (including the implementation of sustainability management systems); and broadening, is to expand the group of MFIs initiating these concepts in their organisations. Other proposed activities included facilitating (web-based) knowledge exchange in GRI reporting and sustainability management.

Ultimately, these activities have become a foundation for the TSF third phase, when the coaches focus on training development, and also on possible development of a GRI sector supplement for MFIs.

The training modules that are currently being prepared are:

1. Principal and practical implications of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL- What, Why, How?)
2. Understanding the strategic context of sustainability (Basic concepts; Business case and value for the MFI).
3. Guidance and tools for external Triple Bottom Line Reporting (How step-by-step to build a reporting process)
4. Guidance and tools to develop and use indicators to measure and report Triple Bottom Line impact (Introduction of the G3 and practical session on selection of indicators and measurement methods)
5. Assessing relation between Triple Bottom Line and Risk Management (What are TBL risks; Conceptual models for addressing TBL risks on strategic and governance levels)
6. Building and maintaining a Triple Bottom Line Management System (Basic concepts and winning approaches and models)
7. Guidance and tools for evaluating social/environmental relevance of client’s activities
(Overview of existing evaluation methods and their application; examples; development of action plan)

SEEP's Social Performance Progress Brief

The SEEP Network just released its latest Social Performance Progress Brief (March 2007, Vol 1, Nr 3). This briefing series is a SEEP Network initiative to introduce the concepts of social performance to the microenterprise field.
In the brief the authors state that ‘…. for many MFIs [the starting point] has been their mission and commitment to providing access to the poor and helping them improve their social and economic conditions. But while the microfinance industry over the years has adopted a set of financial indicators with clear reporting standards and guidelines to determine the financial health of institutions, there exists no corresponding set of social performance indicators. Recently, the microfinance industry’s widespread interest in complementing financial assessments of MFIs with assessments of their social performance has blossomed into a number of different tools for this purpose.’

Three initiatives are being presented in this Brief, including the FACET BV operated Triodos Bank and the Global Reporting Initiative:Transparency in Sustainability and Finance (TSF) project. For a link click: Social Performance Progress Brief vol. 1 no. 3

Acleda Bank's website has Sustainability Pages

Recently, Cambodian Acleda Bank Plc. made the content of it's Environmental and Social Sustainability Report available via the Company website. You can click on the thumbnail below to visit the report. The Bank is now in the process of producing the 2006 version.

UPsides

'UPsides' is a new magazine about finance and development. It's a quarterly international magazine, published by FMO, the Netherlands Development Finance Company. The first issue is available online: http://www.upsides.nl/Download/Upsides_1.pdf

On Page 24 and 25, the TSF Project is being presented.

Two New Articles

Dear reader,

Two recently published articles are both very interesting to check out (links attached to the covers above)

First off, a document titled "Sustainability Management and Reporting' (UNEP FI, Dec 2006). The document zooms in on the benefits for financial institutions in developing and emerging economies. Quote: ' It is becoming increasingly apparent that full disclosure and transparent reporting around environmental, social and governance issues – in fact the whole spectrum of issues that make up sustainability – is a key differentiating factor between those institutions that are leading and those which are reactive in this complex area.'

The second document, titled 'The do's and dont's of Sustainable Banking' (BankTrack, Nov 2006), challenges banks to 'embark upon the journey towards sustainability'. This document is written not especially for microfinance banks or emerging countries, but it nevertheless contains some interesting viewpoints, for instance this:

' Don’t treat sustainability as a niche market. Do recognize that sustainability is already at the core of all your business activities, as most activities financed by your bank have social and environmental impacts, be they positive or negative. The challenge is to recognize these impacts and shift their balance in a positive direction.'

New TBL Site

I produced a new site, dedicated to the Triple Bottom Line in Microfinance: www.tblmicrofinance.com

Check it out and tell me what you think!

Geert Jan

Newsletter !

Dear Participants,

The 5th TSF Newsletter is OUT!
We think this Newsletter will give you a good impression of how the Project is developing by reading about the October Workshop and GRI event in Amsterdam, the TSF Project Webspace, Halifax discussions on social performance, and the way forward (including coming Worksheets).

Click HERE to view the newsletter on line.

Do you all remember to feed-back your answers to our latest Worksheet??

Thank you all, and

Warm season greetings from The Netherlands!

Question to Reader

Dear reader of this Post,

For us to understand who is checking these pages, may we ask you to either leave a comment OR send a direct email to gj.schuite@facetbv.nl (indicating 'I visited the TSF Blog').

On top of this, of course ALL comments and replies are more than welcome. We promise to get back to every one commenter personally.

Teodorina
Geert Jan

Four Scenarios for the Future of Microfinance

Here's a link to a recent 'Focus Note' by CGAP, summarizing the results of a 'scenario-building exercise to help anticipate and prepare for the (...) forces that will shape the future of microfinance'.

A quote:
" ... it is essential to temper expectations about the extent to which microfinance can eliminate poverty or reach the very bottom—destitute households—sustainably. A realistic evidence-based story must be provided. The search for better measures of impact remains an important
strategy to prepare for the critiques that will inevitably come and capitalize on the real potential of microfinance."