Building Community Capacity

Self-Assessment Performance Metrics for Canadian Microcredit Programs

Abstract

Microcredit programs operating in high-income countries with well-developed banking systems present unique challenges for performance assessment that are addressed by neither professional microfinance institution evaluation systems nor social performance indicators. The potential contributions of microcredit programs designed to supply small loans for business incubation and development in Canada’s inner cities may extend beyond supplementing individual income to include community capacity-building outputs and impacts such as social capital development, business skills development, and promoting financial inclusion. This article shares our recommendation for a set of performance metrics that accounts for these additional contributions. Developed in partnership with a small inner-city program, these performance metrics are suitable for use by small community-based microcredit programs staffed largely by volunteers.