Good Practise Award

Good Practice Award. Recognizing Client Protection efforts.

2012 MFC Award in cooperation with the Smart Campaign

Microfinance Centre together with the Smart Campaign is pleased to announce the second edition of Good practice award. Recognizing Client Protection efforts for microfinance providers in the Region of Europe and Central Asia.

MFC and its members recognize the 7 Client Protection Principles, summarized by the statement: Do not harm; treat your clients with respect and dignity, as a fundamental standard for the microfinance industry.

The MFC Good Practice Award aims at promoting the 7 principles among the sector and  recognize those institutions which have developed good practices in at least one of the 7 principles:

  1. Appropriate product design and delivery
  2. Prevention of over-indebtedness
  3. Transparency
  4. Responsible pricing
  5. Fair and respectful treatment of clients
  6. Privacy of client data
  7. Mechanisms for complaint resolution

The MFI  whose practice is best in the context of other MFIs in the region and the market where it operates, wins:

  • one place at an MFC training of choice
  • free participation at the Conference for one of it’s staff
  • documentation and publication on the MFC and Smart Campaign newsletter and website

The Award ceremony will take place at the 2012 MFC Annual Conference and will attract publicity to winners within the local and national microfinance industry, from investors, policy makers, donors and regulators.  The winners will also have an opportunity to present their Good Practice in the form of participation in one of the conference workshops as a guest speaker.

Eligibility Requirements

MFIs can nominate themselves or be nominated by any other organization working closely with an MFI such as a network partner, investor or regulator. The competition is open to formal regulated and non-regulated financial institutions and non-governmental organizations that offer retail microfinance services anywhere in the Region of ECA.

Application

The Application Form with Getting Started Client Protection Questionnaire for MFIs should be submitted in English to MFC award[at]mfc.org.pl by March 30, 2012.

Review and Selection

Basic criteria used by review committee which includes representatives of MFC, Smart Campaign, to evaluate the Good Practice in Customer Protection include:

  • How well  the various dimensions of the specific Principle are addressed by the organization?
  • How effectively is the specific Principle mainstreamed in all organizational systems (Operations, HR, Internal Audit, Marketing, Finance, etc.)
  • What is the effectiveness of the practice?
  • How well evidence of the above supports the practice

Beyond this, the selection criteria are flexible, which allows the program to respond to a wide range of interests in the broader MFI community.

The MFC Award review and selection process is simple. There are no site visits, and the winners are chosen by an internal review committee based on information in the applications, previous knowledge of the organizations, and telephone or e-mail reviews via local, national or regional contacts (associations, networks, donor field staff, etc.).
 

Award Ceremony

The winners will be informed about the results by 7th May 2012. The official announcement of results and Award ceremony will take during MFC annual conference on 29-30 May 2012 in Tbilisi.

Terms and Conditions

  1. You promise that you or an immediate family member are not part of the operational team of MFC or Smart Campaign.
  2. You are entering this contest at your own risk. Decisions regarding the MFC Award are final. You must agree that, regardless of the outcome, you will not challenge the decisions of the MFC Award or file any claims or suits against MFC and their affiliates, directors, officers, or employees, arising from the conduct of the contest. You agree that MFC may, in its sole discretion terminate this contest without any liability to you.
  3. MFC may, in its sole discretion, prohibit any person from entering any contest whom they believe to be abusing the rules. Such abuse includes entering false information and entering more than once.
  4. MFC reserves the right to alter any rules of any contest at anytime.
  5. All materials (including, without limitation, text, data, information, images, illustrations, logos, and surveys) (collectively, the ”Content”) are owned and controlled by MFC or third parties. You shall not sell or modify any of the Content or reproduce, download, upload, transmit, republish, display, publicly perform, distribute or otherwise use any part of the Content in any manner whatsoever without the prior written consent of MFC or the applicable third party or except as specifically permitted by MFC. MFC disclaims any and all liability for any consequences that may result from any unauthorized reproduction or use of the Content. However, only MFC Award winners are granted permission by MFC to use the MFC Good Practice in Client Protection Award name and logo in association with announcements of their accomplishment in electronic and print media.
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