AZMJ

AZMJ

Welcome to AZMJ

 AZMJ is a small, women-owned, international development consulting firm with a mission to provide high quality global consulting services and investments in support of financial service and enterprise development. We are committed to providing integrated financial services which will make a positive impact.

-Anita Campion
President

The Complexity of Social Performance Management

Anita Campion, President, AZMJ recently wrote an article on the complexities of Social Performance Management (SPM) for Microfinance Focus and this was also published on the Microfinance Focus Blog for Microfinance Conference 2009. The article was based on a situation in the Philippines where many farmers were unable to repay their loans because of falling crop prices and were at risk of losing the land they had pledged as an asset upon which the loans had been made.

Campion raised many SPM-related questions surrounding agricultural lending.

  • To what extent should we empower clients to decide what level of risk and indebtedness they are willing to take on? And to what extent do MFIs or the government need to protect individuals from borrowing too much?
  • Should MFIs even use land as collateral for agribusiness loans, when it means potentially stripping someone of their livelihood in the case of non-payment?
  • Should MFIs only lend to business owners to the extent that they can be ensured of repayment, perhaps by covering risk through crop insurance or weather-related index-based insurance?
  • When whole sectors are negatively impacted, what is the appropriate response of the MFIs and of the government? What will these responses mean for future lending to that sector?

Providing a guiding principle for answering these tough questions, Campion suggested that improving the lives of microfinance clients is at the heart of SPM and when our actions cause the opposite effect, regardless of our intention, we should do whatever we can (within our means and without creating unrealistic future expectations or market distortions) to correct any negative consequences.

News and Events

September - Anita Campion visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, to provide technical support to USAID funded Youth Enterprise Development project in Bukavu.
July - Anita Campion visited Managua, Nicaragua as a representative of The Calvert Foundation for a microfinance investors meeting with the Government and local MFIs.
May - Anita Campion visited Bukavu, Democrative Republic of Congo to work on the Youth and Enterprise Development Project with Education Development Center (EDC) and USAID.
April - Stephanie Charitonenko (team leader), Rashmi Ekka and Jehiel Oliver visited Afghanistan to conduct a program progress review of FINCA Afghanistan and WOCCU.
February - Chris Linder visited Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo for the Youth and Enterprise Development Project with Education Development Center (EDC) and USAID.
January 17-30 AZMJ's Anita Campion and Jehiel Oliver visited Afghanistan and reviewed MISFA for an AED/USAID project.
January 8-9 AZMJ successfully rolled out it's first 'Training of Trainers: Building Analytical Skills for Microfinance Decision Making' in Washington DC.
December 1: AZMJ has been commissioned by the Inter-American Development bank to conduct two research projects. The first is on interest rate structures and implications for MFIs in Latin America and the Caribbean. The second is on financial agricultural value chains in Latin America
December 5:Click here to download or order your hard copy of the Social Performance Management Practice Guide