Maximum knowledge in minimum time

In a Geneva-based internship of just five weeks, Rajadurai Norton, Accounts Officer for ECLOF India, gained an amazing amount of new insights, as he now reports.

Finance has been my professional life since 1987, when I began work as an audit clerk with a firm of chartered accountants in Chennai (formerly known as Madras) in South India. I then moved to the Church of South India, and am now in the same city with ECLOF India.

During my July/August internship with ECLOF International, I was able to reflect on and learn about a number of areas of microfinance work.

New practices and innovations
I found a number of areas where ECLOF India could introduce new ways of working. For example, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) (www.cgap.org), a consortium of 28 public and private development agencies working together to expand access to financial services for the poor, has published financial standards and a ratio analysis for microfinance institutions. ECLOF India could use this information in order to compare its own operational performance with other similar microfinance institutions (MFIs).

ECLOF India should also divide its General Fund from its Development Capital Fund, in conformity with the ratio of these funds as reflected in the balance sheet, as well as to meet the requirement of ECLOF's Minimum Standards of Performance. I would like this bifurcation to be completed before the end of this year.

We should also make use of the exchange programmes that ECLOF International arranges between National ECLOF Committees (NECs). This makes possible the sharing of and learning from each other's valuable experiences.

During my internship, I also came to a new realisation of the importance of the sharing of databases and other information with all management staff in order to quicken the delivery of credit to the poor. People are waiting for our product and we should get it to them as speedily as possible!

We also need to fine tune our existing systems to adhere closely to the provisions in ECLOF's Global Policies Guidelines, and its Minimum Standard of Performance in all operational areas, particularly as all NECs were involved in the consultation process that produced these two documents. This would strengthen our internal control systems and facilitate the building of an even more fruitful relationship between ECLOF International and our NEC.

Future action
I left Geneva determined to encourage ECLOF India to put into operation within two months the practice of a quarterly review of its budget, and to compare this with the actual performance of the staff and board in order to arrive at concrete measures to improve our surplus and to arrest any deficit.

I also am now aware of the need to strengthen ECLOF India's networking operations with other MFIs in which we are already enrolled as members, in order to gain good credit ratings.
We need to ensure that we have the most up-to-date information and communication systems, in order to increase the efficiency of all staff. We also need to subscribe to, and ensure staff read, appropriate journals and periodicals on microfinance so that we are properly briefed about the latest developments and thinking in our field of work.

Other learning
During my time with ECLOF International colleagues, I gained an increased awareness of the need to provide for loan losses, not only when there are loans in arrears but also at times when a loans portfolio is performing well, so that there is provision for dealing with future uncertainties.

There is also the need to provide a way for dealing with inflation in order to secure an NEC's capital against any possible loss in its purchasing power.

In our operations, I am convinced that it is vital to plan ahead for at least three years. I also believe we should improve our transparency and integrity with outsiders by arranging for clients directly to confirm their loan balances with the auditors.

My internship program was well planned to expose me to all operational matters, and to gain the maximum possible knowledge on the topics covered. I hope other NEC staff may have a similar internship opportunity. This would help them gain a better understanding of the systems and procedures that are necessary in order to develop and build mutual confidence among the NECs and ECLOF International, and all who make up the global ECLOF family.

War, poverty and HIV/AIDS

Poverty is the main cause of the spread of HIV/AIDS in times of war, according to research carried out by an international women's group.

Isis - Women's International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE), based in Kampala, Uganda, interviewed 50 African women in Burundi, which is one of the countries in the Great Lakes area of Africa. Asked to choose factors that contribute to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in times of war, all of the women selected poverty. Promiscuity and rape were the next most-chosen categories, with only seven women choosing indifference to AIDs as a cause.

"Poverty can drive someone to do the unimaginable in order to feed her child", said Isis-WICEE. "Sometimes women are forced to sell their bodies in order to cater for their children's vital needs."

Those interviewed said that in war, poverty is exacerbated by the impossibility of getting into their fields to grow food to feed their families, and to sell. In addition, former neighbours now occupy much of the land, and its former owners are unable to claim it back.

Isis-WICEE says that women are particularly impacted by war: "Desperately poor widows find themselves forced to have commercial sexual intercourse without condoms since they find that this service is all they can offer to people to earn a living." Moreover, says Isis-WICEE, the more women have unprotected sex the greater are the financial rewards because the highest paying clients do not want to use condoms.

The agency, which exists to promote the self-determination of women, says that poverty cannot be separated from the challenge of HIV/AIDS: "Since many women do not have any property to cultivate, they stay in camps waiting for assistance from NGOs and international agencies but this is never sufficient. So, in order to meet their family's needs, they are forced into prostitution. This exposes the women to sexual violence and hinders the women from enjoying their full human rights as enshrined in various international conventions."

Main factors contributing to HIV prevalence in times of War
(50 women interviewed)

Causes	Number	Percentage
Poverty	50	100%
Promiscuity	39	78%
Rape of Women & Girls	35	70%
Alcohol and drugs	32	64%
Widowhood	28	56%
Juvenile delinquency	18	36%
Culture related facts	8	16%
Indifference to AIDS	7	14%