In January 2013, the Smart Campaign launched the much-anticipated Client Protection Certification Program, an independent, third party evaluation to publicly recognize financial institutions that meet adequate standards of care in how they treat clients. The first five microfinance institutions (MFIs) that have been certified are from two hot spots: Bosnia-Herzegovina and India.

This blog series offers different perspectives on how certification can benefit clients, individual MFIs, and the broader sector. Contributors also explore the role of funders in driving responsible finance improvements of the type that certification is meant to document. In the first post, Philippe Serres of the Agence Francaise pour le Developpement (AFD) shares how AFD and FMO, the Dutch Development Finance Institution, are supporting client protection improvements in Cambodia. In the second, independent consultant Daniel Rozas makes the case that exactly this kind of collaboration is what is needed to drive responsible finance and challenges the DFIs as a group to step up to the plate and make certification the norm in key microfinance markets.