Data Analytics & Capacity Building for Global Gender Smart Fund

The Global Gender Smart Fund (GGSF), formerly known as the Microfinance Enhancement Facility (MEF), continues its commitment to inclusive, responsible, and gender-smart finance in partnership with Cerise+SPTF. Initiated in 2019, this collaboration aims to strengthen the Fund’s approach to social and environmental performance management, while supporting its partner financial institutions in adopting best practices in client protection and responsible finance.

Since 2019, Cerise+SPTF has worked with GGSF and its portfolio managers (now Incofin, responsAbility, and Triple Jump) to design and implement a harmonized process for collecting and analyzing social and environmental data, using the SPI5 ALINUS tool. This standardized approach allows GGSF to produce consistent and comparable insights aligned with international responsible finance standards, and to use these results to inform reporting and investment decisions for client protection aspects.

Beyond data analytics, Cerise+SPTF has provided capacity building and tailored support to GGSF’s investment teams. This includes training on SPI5 ALINUS for investment analysts, guidance on interpreting social performance dashboards, and support for the integration of the Client Protection Pathway into the Fund’s investment strategy.

Through this collaboration, Cerise+SPTF helps GGSF ensure that its portfolio institutions strengthen their commitment to social and environmental responsibility, and provides GGSF with benchmarked insights, as reflected in the 2024 SPI5-ALINUS results, where GGSF PFIs outperformed the Cerise+SPTF benchmark across all dimensions, with an overall score of 79% (vs. 71% for peers).