PKSF is a company not for profit set up by the Government of Bangladesh in 1990, for poverty alleviation through the provision of micro credit through its Partner Organizations (POs) presently numbering 199 - 3 big, 189 small and medium, and 7 Pre-PKSF. PKSF so far has disbursed about Tk. 13826.695 million among about 4.08 million poor borrowers through its POs. PKSF, however, is not just a fund disbursing organization, it is also directly responsible for and involved in institutional development of its POs.

PKSF, as a funding agency, is concerned about its loan recovery. However, as micro finance is a powerful instrument for poverty reduction on a sustainable basis, PKSF is also interested in finding out whether the programme has desirable impacts on poverty reduction both at the participant level and the society level. It is in this context that PKSF, through BIDS, conducted a longitudinal Monitoring and Evaluation System (MES) study spread over 4 years, from 1997 through 2000. The main objective of the study was to monitor and evaluate poverty reduction effects of targeted micro finance programmes financed by PKSF. The study covered 3026 households - 2735 from 80 programme villages and 291 from 11 control villages of the country. Thirteen (13) PKSF POs were included in the study. PKSF now wants to carry out a follow-up study of the same households (with exception of dropouts, migrants etc.) with the broad objective of determining and capturing the changes since the MES study was conducted. The specific objectives of the study are as follows:

• determine changes in economic (income, wage, employment, savings, assets, net­worth, investment, wage and employment - by types and gender etc.) effects of micro finance;
• identify the changes in other development impacts of the different alternative programmes of POs on such indicators as impact on fertility, contraceptive use, health and nutrition, literacy, school enrolment of children etc;
• ascertain if exposures of target population to contingencies, insecurities and risks have reduced further; their ability to adapt, cope and choose has further increased; and their dependency on the traditional patrons and the rural powerful has further diminished;
• compare the poverty reduction impacts of credit only and credit plus, micro credit programme interventions;
• assess and quantify the costs including subsidy of alternative micro credit programme interventions (e.g., credit only and credit plus) for poverty reduction;
• determine relative efficacies and efficiency of various size categories of POs (small, medium, and big);
• evaluate financial and institutional sustainability of PKSF POs;
• examine the sustainability of micro credit borrowers;
• recommend measures to further improve and sustain the performance of micro credit financed programme and to indicate development interventions including those for generating income;

• Conduct a thorough review of the MES study report and survey methodology followed by the MES study carried out by BIDS with a view to determine indicators and household information to be used for in depth interviews. Also review other previous and on going impact studies on microcredit financed programs in Bangladesh to gather an in depth understanding of the methodology and to identify indicators to be used for the impact assessment; Define possible impacts to be evaluated and determine indicators that will be used to evaluate those impacts.
• Determine changes in economic (income, wage, employment, savings, assets, net worth, land ownership, access to land rental market and operational holding, livestock, pond fishery, investment, household income by sources, the expenditure and consumption profile of the households, wage and employment-by types and gender etc) effects of microfinance for comparison of the aggregate scenario of economic well being of the sample households in the two periods of observation;
• Identify the changes in other development impacts of the different alternative programmes of POs on such indicators as impact on fertility, quality of residence, contraceptive use, health and nutrition, literary, school enrollment of children, female participation in gainful socioeconomic activities etc.Assess how efficiently the participants are using the loans by examining changes in their debt-income ratio as well as repayment performance measured by the ratio of cumulative cash payment to cumulative dues over time
• Ascertain if exposures of target population to contingencies, insecurities and risks have reduced further; their ability to adapt, cope and choose has further increased; and their dependency on the traditional patrons and the rural powerful has further diminished;
• Distinguish performances of the ‘credit only' and ‘credit plus' institutions breaking down the POs into three groups, ‘large', ‘medium' and ‘small'. Compare the poverty reduction impacts of credit only and credit plus microcredit programme interventions;
• Study and compare changes in employment generation in non-farm activities with that of the status recorded in the MES study in order to reveal whether program participation has contributed to further expansion of income generating activities in the non farm sector. Conduct a duration analysis to find out whether the unemployed are able to exit their status with the help of funds provided by microcredit and whether their entry into the working state is sustained.
• Study whether participation has reduced underemployment, which is more widespread than unemployment in Bangladesh ;
• Assess exposure to crisis and vulnerability measuring variance of income of the households. Compare variances across participation status to analyze the impact of microcredit program on the vulnerability and crisis coping capacity of the participating households.
• Study direct positive consequences of microcredit programs in empowering women in term of economic well being and increased household decision making etc. Also study other indirect and unintended consequences of microcredit on the participating women.
• Study institutional changes (e.g. management style and capacity, system of repayment of loans, conditions of repayment etc) of the POs taken place in between the MES study and this follow up study in response to the outcomes of the program, also study the changes that might account for changes in the participation behaviors; Study cost effectiveness of different programs of POs and compare them with the programs offered by other MFIs.
• Study potential endogeneity problem in explaining the differences in outcomes with the participation behavior. Identify instrumental variables (IV) in course of the survey to explain participation behaviour and explain the differences in outcomes using the predicted behavioral pattern;
• Determine a mechanism to study and compare the process of graduation of targeted groups out of poverty resulting from the microcredit operations of PKSF; Assess and quantify the costs including subsidy of alternative microcredit programme interventions (e.g credit only and credit plus) for poverty reduction; Determine relative efficacies and efficiency of various size categories of POs (small, medium and big);
• Evaluate financial and institutional sustainability of PKSF POs; assess programme level data on operational costs, loan disbursement, amount of subsidy, income etc. Examine the sustainability of microcredit borrowers.
• Recommend measures to further improve and sustain the performance of microcredit financed programme and to indicate development interventions including those for generating income; Assist in designing the methodology, data collection methods, work plan, manning schedule and sample survey questionnaires.
• Will take the overall responsibility for the design and implementation of the survey. Conduct surveys in each village of households-participants, non-participants and non target/non-eligible covered under the MES study.
• Responsible for ensuring that the field supervisors/enumerators receive appropriate training, and that the fieldwork is properly conducted and of a high professional caliber.
• Assess the viability of the POs as lending institutions; obtain an overview of the amount of loan sanctions, disbursement and recoveries by the POs over time. Review perceptions of the participants as well as PO staff about problems of loan operation and recovery; Review informations on the neighborhood conditions and study whether there was any major shock event in the interim period of the surveys;
• Administer preparation of case studies on 3 POs with a view to assessing results relating to strategic and financial management, and organizational and incentive structures of the selected POs; review the achievements made in these areas in comparison to the achievements recorded in the MES study; Supervise development of computerized database as per the requirements stated in the ToR
• Conduct and organize two workshops to discuss study findings, the first one to discuss the first draft report and the other to discuss the final report. Ensure that feedback as suggested by the clients and other concerned agencies are incorporated in the repot after each workshop.
• Overall responsibility to oversee and manage the data processing, cleaning and analysis of the derived data. Also will ensure the accuracy of data processing, sample integrity, and robust analysis of the data. He will share and receive feedback of the team leader and other consultants on the preliminary findings, if required.