Microfinance Initiatives: QAT

MFC Quality Audit Tool for Managing Performance (QAT)

The QAT was designed by the MicroFinance Centre (MFC) in Poland in conjunction with the Imp-Act Consortium. It has been designed to correspond with social rating methodology used by M-CRIL and Microfinanza Rating. The QAT examines management processes and internal systems and assesses the status and effectiveness of each for achieving the MFI's states social mission and for aligning the MFI's social performance with accepted social values. Based on this assessment, it identifies areas, along with recommended actions, in which the MFI should focus its attention so as to better align internal processes and systems with social performance and make more effective and balanced decisions.

The QAT is designed to be primarily an internal review and therefore focuses on gathering different perspectives within the MFI rather than trying to look for "objective" evidence regarding the alignment of an MFI's processes and systems with its social mission. The QAT focuses on process management and not procedural compliance. It looks at the MFI's stated objectives and the effectiveness of its systems for achieving this. Given that MFIs have different goals and capacities, and work in different contexts, the focus is to review the coherence and effectiveness of the route an individual MFI charts rather than strictly defining specific procedures or activities it must follow.

For more information, go to www.mfc.org.pl/index.php?section=R&page=Project, or www.mfc.org.pl/images/pliki/223_fma_qat_overview_eng.pdf or contact Katarzyna Pawlak at kasia@mfc.org.pl.