Project Information

The program which started in 1997 in Mindanao and eventually expanded to the entire country, focused on increasing microenterprise access to financial services provided by the formal financial sector, the Rural Banks (RB), through technical assistance and training activity with no provision of loan funds or guarantees. It had four phases of program implementation (MABS 1-4) with each phase having specific targets on financial services or products using MABS technology.

The MABS Program assists RBs in developing the capability to profitably provide financial services - loans, deposits, micro insurance, remittances, and mobile phone banking services - to micro entrepreneurs, small farmers, and other low-income households.

The MABS Program has helped over 115 RBs with more than 1,100 branches and other banking offices to expand and offer new microfinance products and services. As of June 2012, MABS participating RBs have disbursed over 3.33 million loans with an aggregate total over PhP 43.1 billion to more than 1,019,183 new bank borrowers. These partner banks also managed more than 1.4 million micro deposit accounts with an overall balance of more than PhP 2 billion ($48 million).

MABS-4 of this program commenced in May 1, 2008 with the main objective of ensuring the continued and expanded availability of bank-provided financial services to the micro entrepreneurs and resource-poor segment of the population. This phase assisted in expanding the range of services that RBs can profitably provide to their microenterprise clientele. MABS-4 ended in September 2012 and USAID and the GPH decided to gauge the results (outputs and outcomes) of MABS-4 by commissioning Sustainable Development Solutions (SDS) to conduct the Final Performance Evaluation.

Evaluation team specifically assessed the outcomes and outputs linked to the various products and services promoted under MABS-4; reviewed program performance; the process and results of training and technical assistance activities; consumer protection and consumer education activities; reviewed process, results, and lessons learned in the development of an enabling policy and regulatory environment for microfinance services; and evaluate process, good practices and lessons learned in the public-private partnerships supportive of MABS-4. The evaluation which studied the process involved in the implementation have analyzed and established the common factors or patterns that contributed to the success, and identified impediments as well. As well, the study collected data on sustainability mechanisms; contractors performance, client satisfaction and it also looked at how were gender considerations integrated in MABS-4 and identified effects on male and female beneficiaries.

MABS-4 Performance evaluation entailed the conduct of a qualitative study and review of secondary data to achieve its purpose. Qualitative data were derived from focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) or Key Informant Interviews (KIIs)) with key stakeholders: people who are involved in the project or the targeted partners or beneficiaries of the project.

a) Conduct of desk review of various sources of information from MABS-4 and Philippine government that included contracts; quarterly and annual reports; work plans; M&E plans; final report of MABS-4; CHEMONICS International MABS-4 reports and publications; program videos; USAID Gender Policy; amongst others.

b) Conducted FGDs. Through purposive and stratified sampling method, the Study Team conducted a total of seven (7) FGDs representing the three island groups, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Further, the banks considered in this Study were selected according to performance based on available reports, documentation and notes from KII/discussions held with competent implementers and stakeholders from MABS Program prior to fieldwork.

c) Conducted KII with various stakeholders

d) Analyzed data and presented evaluation results to stakeholders.