Asasah | MFIs in Pakistan

Data provided through PMN

Mission:

A program to enhance Micro productivity and alleviate poverty". Mission: Improve the living standards of very poor people, safeguard the interests of stake holders, improve community well-being, keep employees motivated through capacity building.

Background and Main Challenges:

Asasah was formed in 2003 as an NGO with the objective of Microfiannce institution replicating the grameen bank approach. Operations were conducted effectively and attained quaility growth in the first seven years. From 2009, the key area was consolidation; from 2011 Progress out of Poverty ... Read more

Address:

249- A1 Wafaqi Colony

Lahore

Punjab

54000

Pakistan

Phone:

+92-042-35175707-09

Fax:

0092 42 5436796

Email:

asasah [at] nexlinx [dot] net [dot] pk

Website:

www.asasah.org

Main Funding Sources:

Loans

Products and Services:

Loans

Voluntary Savings

Insurance

Products:

Financial Services

Services Provided:

Full-scale Financial Services

Looking for (Investment Types):

Equity

Loans in Local Currency

Loans in USD

Capacity-Building Grants

Donations

Guarantees

Loans in EUR

% Operations Comprised by MF:

91 - 100

Date established:

Mar 1 2003

FYE:

30-Jun

Current Legal Status:

NGO

Regulated:

yes

Social Performance Profile


+ Mission specifics
+ Target markets (ranked by importance)
Women	1
Other target market:	1
Clients living in rural areas	1
Clients living in urban areas	2
Adolescents and youth (below 18)	2
Int msg targetmothertext c	People living below the National Poverty line
+ Development goals (ranked by importance)
Growth of existing businesses	1
Gender equality and women's empowerment	1
Poverty reduction	1
Improvement of adult education	1
Increased access to financial services	1
Health improvement	2
Children's schooling	3
+ Poverty targets
Very poor clients	1
Poor clients	1
+ Governance
Has trained members of its board on social performance management
+ Range of products and services
+ Financial products and services offered
+ Credit products offered
Microcredit loans for microenterprises	1
SME loans
Loans for education	1
Other credit products offered:	1
Int ps offerothercreditloanstext c	Education Scholarship
+ Savings products offered
Voluntary savings accounts
+ Compulsory insurance products required
Compulsory credit life insurance	1
Other compulsory insurance required:	1
Int ps offerinsuranceothertextcompulsory c	Health Insurance
+ Voluntary insurance products offered
+ Other financial products and services offered
+ Non-financial services offered
+ Enterprise services offered
+ Education services offered
Financial literacy education	1
Child and youth education	1
Other education services offered:	1
Int ps nonfinsvcedothertext c	Education Scholarship
+ Health services offered
+ Women's empowerment services offered
Other women's empowerment services offered:	1
Int ps nonfinsvcwomenempothertext c	Financial literacy training institutionalized
+ Products and services targeting the poor
Products and services specifically designed to target the poor:	Interest free loan for Poor.
+ Social responsibility to clients
+ Client protection principles in use
The loan approval process requires evaluation of borrower repayment capacity and loan affordability. Loan approval does not rely solely on guarantees (whether peer guarantees, co-signers or collateral) as a substitute for good capacity analysis.
Internal audits check household debt exposure, lending practices that violate procedures including unauthorized re-financing, multiple borrowers or co-signers per household, and other practices that could increase indebtedness.
Productivity targets and incentive systems value portfolio quality at least as highly as other factors, such as disbursement or customer growth. Growth is rewarded only if portfolio quality is high.
Prices, terms and conditions of all financial products are fully disclosed to the customer prior to sale, including interest charges, insurance premiums, minimum balances, all fees, penalties, linked products, third party fees, and whether these can change over time.
Staff is trained to communicate effectively with all customers, ensuring that they understand the product, the terms of the contract, their rights and obligations. Communications techniques address literacy limitations (e.g. reading contracts out loud, materials in local languages).
Acceptable and unacceptable debt collection practices are clearly spelled out in a code of ethics, book of staff rules or debt collection manual.
The organization's corporate culture values and rewards high standards of ethical behavior and customer service.
A mechanism to handle customer complaints is in place, has dedicated staff resources, and is actively used. (Suggestion boxes alone are generally not considered adequate.)
Customers know how their information will be used. Staff explains how data will be used and seeks permission for use.
+ Cost of services to clients
Flat interest method
+ Social responsibility to staff
+ Human resources
Transparency on salary (a clear salary scale based upon market salaries)
Equality (anti-discrimination, equal pay for men and women with equivalent skill levels)
+ Basis of staff incentives related to social performance
Portfolio quality
Active borrowers growth and increase in member saving
+ Social responsibility to the environment
This institution raises clients' awareness about environmental impacts
This institution identifies enterprises with environmental risk
+ Poverty measurement tools in use
Grameen Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI)