Why Client Assessment Matters

Publication Date: Jun 2006
Published by: Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network
Document Type: Newsletter

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Examining the benefits, approaches, challenges, tools and importance of client assessment

This news letter explores the major benefits and challenges of client assessment through an interview with Christian Loupeda, a participant in the program Freedom from Hunger.

The newsletter makes the following points:

• A microfinance institution (MFI) needs to have a good sense of its clientele;
• Client assessment (CA) is a good way for an MFI to verify that its services address the specific needs of its clients;
• The CA can be of three kinds:
  • Market research,
  • Client monitoring,
  • Impact assessment;
• An MFI needs to make itself client- and market-oriented from the beginning by following the steps listed below:
  • Sharing the rationale for CA with every member of the organization,
  • Defining the objective of CA work,
  • Securing a sufficient budget for CA work;
• Following are the common mistakes that MFIs make in CA:
  • Setting too many/ unspecific objectives,
  • Lacking a tested operational mechanism to handle the process;
  • Facing financial challenges,
  • Choosing data collection tools before defining CA objectives;
• Important players in CA include all the staff of the MFI, from the CEO to the front-line staff;
• CA tools include SEEP-AIMS tools, as well as Participatory Rapid Assessment Tools and certain quantitative analysis tools;
• It is important to set a realistic level of expectations among clients in order to avoid frustration.