Enhancing Clients' Livelihoods: Design, Implementation and Impact Evaluation of Decent Work Innovations in Microfinance

'In 2008, the International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the “Microfinance for Decent Work” (MF4DW) action research programme, which was intended to foster the development of innovative financial and non-financial products and services for microfinance clients. A bottom-up approach was pursued where microfinance institutions could propose innovations that promised to have a social impact. The piloting of these interventions was complemented by an impact evaluation. In this article the 17 selected innovations are described as well as the accompanying impact evaluation approaches. Even if final evaluation results are not available yet, lessons learnt during the implementation of the MF4DW initiative seem worthwhile to be made available to other programmes targeting a systematic improvement of microfinance impact.'