March 11, 2014- Truelift has partnered with Red Financiera Rural (RFR), the microfinance network in Ecuador, to provide key support in Truelift’s efforts to renew the focus on pro-poor microfinance. RFR is widely respected as a pioneer in promoting social performance management, including practitioner use of the PPI and compliance with client protection principles.
In the partnership, RFR will become the pilot network organization to conduct third-party verifications of Truelift self-assessments completed by RFR’s member institutions through the Truelift Indicators Tool. RFR will review self-assessments for organizations seeking recognition up to the Emerging Practitioner Milestone. Truelift and RFR will work together to increase the uptake of the self-assessment tool in Ecuador, and streamline the process of granting the proper recognition to microfinance institutions aligned with the Pro-Poor Principles: 1) Purposeful Outreach to People Living in Poverty; 2) Services that Meet the Needs of People Living in Poverty; and 3) Tracking Progress of People Living in Poverty.
Javier Vaca, Executive Director of RFR and a Truelift Steering Committee member, said, “Red Financiera Rural’s main objective is the expansion of financial services to rural and excluded areas; for this reason it is important to promote tools and methodologies to constantly assess compliance with the social objectives of microfinance institutions, especially those whose priority mission is to care for poor and excluded populations. For this reason, our joint work with Truelift is very important to be an initiative focused on highlighting those institutions with a vocation to serve the poor and thus bring awareness to microfinance institutions, financiers and international cooperation, on the urgent need to revisit social objectives with which microfinance was born.” *
* This quote is translated from Spanish. See original text below:
“La Red Financiera Rural tiene como objetivo principal la expansión de servicios financieros a zonas rurales y excluidas, por esta razón es importante promover herramientas y metodologías que evalúen constantemente el cumplimiento de los objetivos sociales de las instituciones de microfinanzas, sobretodo de aquellas que tienen como prioridad de su misión la atención a población pobre y excluida. Por esta razón resulta muy importante el trabajo conjunto con Truelift al ser una iniciativa enfocada en destacar a aquellas instituciones con vocación para atender a sectores pobres y de esta manera concientizar a las instituciones de microfinanzas, financistas y cooperación internacional, sobre la imperiosa necesidad de retomar los objetivos sociales con los que nacieron las microfinanzas.”
Truelift 