An impact evaluation of the Confía microcredit programme — run by voice AI, in the women’s own language, mapped end-to-end to the European Pillar of Social Rights.
These women don’t fill in questionnaires. Only an open voice conversation holds them — and surfaces what nobody thought to ask.
Not translation. A Spanish avatar with a Latin American voice, built to feel close to a migrant cohort. Trust carried 89% to the end.
Every indicator mapped to the European Pillar of Social Rights — legible to the EU funders Treball reports to, not a scorecard taken on trust.
No panel to recruit, no enumerators to train. One link, five weeks, a fraction of the cost — repeatable every year against this baseline.
Most evaluators offer one of these. A few offer two. Treball needed all four, in the same study.
We didn’t invent a scorecard. We built the instrument around the EU’s own social-rights framework — so Confía’s results read directly against targets the Commission, Council and Parliament already track.
Who the programme reached — vulnerability, legal status, prior work.
What changed — employment, income, resilience, training, banking.
Linked to Eurostat population trends, as the evidence base matures.
Facilitators sent a link over the WhatsApp channels they already use. Each woman spoke, at her own pace, to an avatar built to feel culturally close.
Interviewed 290 of the 292 women. Built to sound like someone from the communities Confía serves.
For participants who preferred English. Same instrument, same warmth — the language met the woman.
52 questions, mapped to the EU indicators, co-built with Treball.
One link, over WhatsApp, across centres in multiple regions.
Women spoke to Mariana or Ada in their own time.
Voice coded to rubrics; every indicator human-reviewed.
Of participants were of migrant background — those most excluded from mainstream credit.
Of business owners report income increased or stayed steady. Only two reported a decrease.
Report their household is better off since joining — 39% say markedly so.
Could face an unexpected expense on their own.
Alongside credit — and 78% among women aged 50+.
291 of 292 — the clearest measure of value felt.
I feel more secure. At first I came with depression — I had just arrived… I learned not to feel humiliated for being from another country, to start from zero in a country I didn’t know.
Without a work permit I can start a business while I regularise my status. Confía helped me a lot — because as an immigrant no one lends you money.
Other organisations offer very short courses and that’s it — you never hear from them again. Confía accompanies you through your whole process.
I have a different vision of how to save, how to invest… I’m clearer now about how a stable business can be managed.
The EIF, the EIB, EaSI, national promotional banks — this is evidence in their own language. Indicators mapped to the European Pillar of Social Rights read against targets the institutions already track.
This set the baseline. The 24-month follow-up measures survival and sustained income against it — same instrument, a fraction of the cost. An evaluation becomes a trend line — and a trend line is what a funder renews on.
Thirty minutes. Or we’ll stand up a demo interviewer in your clients’ language first, so you can hear it before you decide.
Book a call with Talía Jiménez Romero, Director