Throughout the credit process there are service points (SPs)—points of interaction with the clients—at which microfinance institutions can implement good client protection practices. This guide is designed to help MFIs incorporate good client protection practices into their group lending policies and operations. The tool is applicable to a wide range of credit methodologies and can be adapted for use by various forms of group lending including village banking methodology and “group of groups” methodology.

The group lending process is organized into five key phases: (1) Client Recruitment & Group Preparation, (2) Evaluation, (3) Group Loan Approval, (4) Disbursement, and (5) Customer Service and Collections.

Each of these phases is further segmented into distinct Service Points—or points of interaction with the client. For each Service Point, the tool:
•    Demonstrates how an MFI can model good practice in client protection in their policies and operations;
•    Identifies which Client Protection Principles are affected; and
•    Provides recommendations for the use of client protection tools that could help MFIs improve their client protection practices. Some of these tools have already been developed by The Smart Campaign, but for those not listed on our website, we encourage you to share your tools and/or tool ideas with us ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

While the guidelines offer suggestions for operational steps and policy consideration, they are not a complete solution for implementing client protection in the group lending process. They do, however, help institutions identify areas where additional steps on their part may be necessary to adequately implement client protection practices.
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