New Horizons > December 2002

Bold in Boulder

When Dr Priscilla Daniel from ECLOF International attended the eighth annual Microfinance Training Programme in Boulder, Colorado, USA, she did some effective straight talking to specialists and the general public. New Horizons asked Dr Daniel for more details.

Robert Christen of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) at the World Bank directed and designed this year’s course, in which almost 200 people participated. Other faculty came from the World Bank, the Harvard Institute for International Development, Credit Union, international non-governmental organizations (NGO), and private sector financial agencies.

The course focused on best and worst practices, as well as paradigms in programme design and management. We heard an overview of essential concepts and analytical tools, and had the opportunity to hear personal experiences from leading experts. I found the courses on accounting, financial analysis and microcredit for the very poor particularly useful.

It was also helpful to meet other microfinance practitioners, and share and learn from each other’s experiences, as well as to meet and discuss with participants who were associated with ECLOF in many countries.

My presence at the meeting also gave visibility to ECLOF among other donor agencies, microfinance institutions and the local public. I was one of two participants selected to address a public meeting on microfinance.

Robert Christen impressed me with his academic honesty and by the way he gave equal exposure to the conflicting concepts and practices of the ‘commercialisation’ and ‘pro-poor’ approaches within the microfinance industry.

He mentioned that in the initial years of this training programme, it had been criticised for not providing an adequate platform for African and ‘pro-poor’ speakers. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why I was asked to address the public meeting because during the course I had openly challenged some of the concepts and practices of the commercialisation approach. The organisers might also have wished to hear more about the pro-poor innovative approach of India, which is now reaching millions of ‘very poor’.

Small Bank Manager course participants with developer, Nigel Derby (centre).

Small is beautiful

If you think that a Small Bank Manager is a reference to the height of someone who runs a finance house, then ECLOF

Philippines will soon put you straight!

During a two-day workshop, 11 members of ECLOF Philippines, along with the Vice-Chairperson and Programme Manager of ECLOF Sri Lanka learnt all about the computer programme called Small Bank Manager (SBM).

Nigel Derby, who developed SBM, explained the main points of his system, as well as methods of interest calculation, the collection of reference data and other essential background details.

After a demonstration of SBM, course members each worked with the programme on a laptop computer and simulated each aspect of the loan tracking process the program offers, from the entry of client details to the production of reports.

The training course also covered new features added to the system following an SBM course in Kenya last year. This year’s group added their own ‘wish list’ for additional features and worked through procedures where ‘bugs’ in earlier versions of the program had been discovered.

Those taking part in the training said they felt SBM should be very useful in loan management and tracking. They pointed out that certain changes would be needed in order to customise the software to accommodate the different programmes of the NECs, and the ways the NECs implement their programmes.

ECLOF Technical Assistance Fund covered the costs of the course for all the participants.

Geneva learning

Internship results in improved reporting

Mauricio Dupleich, head of the credit department at ECLOF Bolivia, spent three weeks in May working with staff at the ECLOF secretariat in Geneva. Now, the Bolivian NEC has a better idea of the secretariat’s systems, and the secretariat has a better understanding of those of ECLOF Bolivia.

The internship provided a valuable opportunity for Mauricio to familiarise himself with how ECLOF International works and to improve ways of reporting to the secretariat.

In addition to the detailed operational issues, Mauricio shared future possibilities for ECLOF Bolivia. He also held a meeting in Geneva with entrepreneurs interested in purchasing different types of coffee beans from ECLOF Bolivia. Some initial possibilities for future partnerships were examined, including a hope that companies interested in purchasing other Bolivian products, such as flowers, might be identified.

At the end of his visit, Mauricio said that, in addition to all the practical knowledge he had gained, he believed Geneva now had an increased understanding of ECLOF Bolivia’s operations. In turn, he had gained a new awareness of the importance of ECLOF International to ECLOF Bolivia.

The visit has already resulted in improved reporting from ECLOF Bolivia and the internship will be extended to other large NECs in the future.