The QAT is a practical diagnostic tool that supports managers in reviewing the status and effectiveness of an MFI’s management processes in achieving social goals. It helps in ensuring if an MFI is on track towards achieving its social goals. The QAT helps identify strengths to be built on and gaps for improvement, while avoiding overloading management and staff. QAT is aligned with the Social Performance Management (SPM) approach developed by the Imp- Act Consortium.
The QAT focuses on:
- examining process management
- assessing the status and effectiveness of internal systems in supporting achievement of social goals
- acknowledging good social performance practice up to date (strengths) and
- identifying gaps (weaknesses)
- identifying and prioritizing necessary actions to improve social performance
The QAT may be implemented by internal staff or with an external consultant, although the MFC
recommends that the tool be implemented for the first time with an external consultant.
There are four steps of the QAT process:
- Gap analysis conducted with senior management as an initial social audit.
- In-depth follow-up, to gathering more detailed information to verify and better understand the gap analysis.
- Analysis and draft report that examines the material collected in detail and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the organization in each of the dimensions covered by the gap analysis.
- Audit panel, to present findings to a group of key organizational stakeholders, agree on the final results, and win organization-wide buy-in to improvement actions. Following detailed discussions on the improvement action plan, a final audit report is produced.
Outputs
The QAT yields a concise report on the strengths and weaknesses of an MFI in each dimension of social performance management. The report also provides key supporting evidence and prioritizes activities to be undertaken by the MFI in order to improve social performance management by addressing identified gaps and building on identified strengths.
QAT is recognized as one of 7 most important and widely used tools related to social performance, according to User Reviews published by Social Performance Task Force (www.sptf.info).To learn more about QAT click here
