Advisory Services & Technical Assistance for Impact Investing
CERISE provides social investors with tailored support to define, refine or implement their social strategy and measure their contribution to change.
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Support to Microfinance Enhancement Facility
The Microfinance Enhancement Facility (MEF) adopted ALINUS end-2019 as the standard social reporting format. MEF’s four investment advisors Blue Orchard, INCOFIN, ResponsAbility and Symbiotics planned to use ALINUS in 2020 to collect data on investees receiving funding from MEF.
The COVID-19 crisis resulted in a partial adoption of the framework by IAs in 2020. Nonetheless, the past months have been beneficial for building a working relationship between CERISE and the Investment Advisors for sensitizing Impact/ESG teams to social performance assessment using ALINUS, reporting meaningful and practical information in the 2020 social report, and preparing the path for next year’s reporting.
In 2021, CERISE will again coordinate the social reporting process and help analyze the data for the MEF’s Annual and Impact Reports.
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Impact assessment of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation
Since 2019, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation (GCAF) and CERISE have been working together to clarify and strenghten the Foundation’s impact strategy, monitoring tools and procedures.
In 2020, through this methodological support from CERISE, GCAF published its first Impact Report that provides an objective overview of its contribution to the fight against poverty.
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Microfinance Initiative in Asia (MIFA) TA Facility managed by BlueOrchard
From 2017 to 2020, BlueOrchard MIFA TAF has worked with CERISE to support 11 MIFA investees in Asia and Central Europe in improving their SPM and Client Protection practices in an efficient and effective manner. The objective was to strengthen the knowledge and capacity of MFIs to better balance financial, social and environmental considerations in decision-making.
The first phase focused on understanding each MFI’s state of practices, listening to their perceived needs and clarifying how these fit with their strategy. Then the TA support provided was diversified, customized and adapted to each MFI’s needs and preferences. The large range of support was appreciated by the MFIs, and made possible by the broad experience of CERISE and its expert network. Thanks to the duration of the support, mix of on-site and off-site support, regular exchanges and a “learning by doing” approach, the project has allowed for iterative processes to build internal capacities for assessment, analysis and implementation.
BlueOrchard Impact Report 2019/2020
