Project design & Evaluations: A Microfinance Institution in Syria was recapitalized to diversify its financial services. Then, the Syrian civil war started and decisively changed the programme environment. In this context, we conducted an ex-post evaluation and found that despite the challenges (high inflation, physical damages to branches, payment defaults), the MFI was still in business and serving its clients. Strikingly, it had even adapted its services to its clients’ changing needs (e.g. start-up loans for internally displaced persons, secure money transfers between branches).
Process facilitation & Training: Without being able to travel to Syria for security reasons, we remotely managed local consultants who conducted focus group discussions, field audits and interviews in different regions of the country. We assured the quality of this work through initial coaching, structured formats, close interaction and extensive debriefing. Among MFI staff, an online survey in Arabic shed light on the institutional changes and processes in the face of conflict.