Micro-Start Program: Local Technical Services Provider - Impact Study of the Zakoura Microcredit Program

Summary of Results and Main Recommendations of the Study Institutional Framework Zakoura Micro-Crédit (ZMC) is the microfinance arm of the Zakoura Foundation, a national NGO devoted to increasing the quality of life of the most underprivileged Moroccans. ZMC provides credit and training to a target market of economically disadvantaged women using a solidarity group methodology. Between its founding in 1995 and September 2000, ZMC had disbursed 82,814 loans totaling 121,489,000 Dirhams. Its current repayment rate is 99.69%.

Goals of the Study ZMC is a participant in the UNDP’s MicroStart program, which provides training and technical support to promising microfinance institutions around the world. This impact study was conducted by the Local Technical Service Provider (LTSP) DIS .

From ZMC’s point of view, the study had four main objectives:

To better understand their clients’ requirements in terms of products; To allow them to assess client satisfaction; To evaluate the impact of the program on clients’ lives and businesses; and To understand the reasons clients leave the program.

The results of the study will be used to “prove and improve”: to develop an objective sales argument about the impact of ZMC, useful for both management and external partners; and to develop a set of recommendations for enhancing the institution’s operations and impact. To that end, the study analyzes ZMC’s impact at three levels: on clients’ enterprises, on their households, and on clients as individuals. In order to gauge these effects, we utilized “Learning from Clients: Assessment Tools for Microfinance Practitioners – Draft Manual” (AIMS Tools) developed by the SEEP Network. These tools include a series of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods.

This report is divided into two parts. The first part gives a description of the context of the study, lays down the hypotheses to be examined and presents the methodology to be employed while collecting information during the surveys.

The results of the study are presented in the second half. Rather than presenting them in a linear fashion by giving the results for each of the tools used, we chose to combine all that we had learnt from each of the tools and present the results thematically, divided into chapters and sections.

Here, we shall give a summary of the most salient results and then sum up the main recommendations.

Micro-Start Program: Local Technical Services Provider1Impact Study of the Zakoura Microcredit Program Fouzi MOURJI (December 2000)

To learn more about this author, visit United Nations Capital Development Fund's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

E-Mail | Print | More

Related Articles
Micro-Start Program: Local Technical Services Provider - Impact Study of the Zakoura Microcredit Program
	Zakoura Micro-Crédit (ZMC) is the microfinance arm of the Zakoura Foundation, a national NGO devoted to increasing the quality of life of the most underprivileged Moroccans. ZMC provides credit and training to a tar...
Viewpoint of outgoing clients - Impact Study of the Zakoura Microcredit Program
	On the whole, the program was viewed positively, even by clients who had left it. It may be noted that for 32.8% of them, the loan was considered easy to reimburse, but the loan amount was believed to be too small t...
Does It Make Sense for UNDP to Help Launch Small and New Organizations?
	The most fundamental question that this evaluation addresses is the validity of UNDP's decision to build a program focused on supporting small MFIs.
What keeps MicroStart from selecting more high-performing organizations?
	The desire to reach a target number of organizations in each country
MFI Performance in Countries Visited: A Few Numbers
	Before reviewing the performance of MFIs in MicroStart, it is useful to consider what minimum level of performance would justify the expenditures MicroStart is making.

---

Related Forum Posts
	Food Marketing Entrepreneur Assistance
	Think like an Association
	Setting up Revenue Sharing Program
	Re: The Secret
	SR & ED website
	Man, I'm Just So Unsophistiocated Then!
	Simpleology - science of getting what you want
	Are There Any Affiliate Marketers In This Forum?