Commitment, learning and celebration
In April, ECLOF managers from 25 countries plus members of the international secretariat committed themselves to the agency's strategic plan for 2005/09 during a workshop in the Philippines. Rev. Prof. Christoph Stückleberger gave the keynote address on "Responsible leadership" (see www.eclof/english/newhorizon/nheng35/la03.htm).
Members of the workshop, ECLOF clients and other visitors joined the gathering to take part in discussions, as well as to commemorate and celebrate ECLOF's 60th anniversary. National church leaders present included Sharon Rose Ruiz-Duremdez, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), and the NCCP president, The Most Reverend Ignacio Soliba, who is the primate of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. Both leaders called on the churches to support ECLOF's mission, and challenged the managers present to make ECLOF an instrument of change in the lives of the people it seeks to serve.
Sharon Rose Ruiz Duremdez.
ECLOF Philippines clients from the Benguet branch contributed indigenous songs, dances and testimonies to the celebrations. Managers had the privilege of visiting some of the clients' projects and to buy products made as a result of ECLOF loans.
Workshops are always used for serious training, and this time managers learnt about evaluating national ECLOFs (NECs) according to present international standards within the microfinance community. Discussion also took place on internal affairs, with the main focus being on how to attain the objects of ECLOF's current global strategic plan, and especially how this could be done in concrete terms at national and local levels.
Given the plan's stress on rural credit and credit to women, the workshop took the ECLOF Philippines Benguet branch as a case study of how both of these objects could be successfully addressed. Managers were also able to see the variety of ECLOF Philippines' unique programmes for every type of client served, most of whom are women.
Most Rev. Ignacio Soliba.
Strategic plan
Other related discussions included:
establishing benchmarks and key result areas;
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peer review and self-regulation;
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evaluation of ECLOF's "Minimum Standards of Performance";
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human resources management;
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dealing with foreign exchange gains and losses;
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effective and sustainable expansion and 'up-scaling' strategies;
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crisis management, resource mobilisation, and areas needing support and the means of support.
The managers agreed on a set of benchmarks for mutual accountability that should be shared among the ECLOF network. They also agreed to set up discussion groups to comment on current issues, as well as to provide support and the exchange of experiences.
Planet rating
Because of the need for ECLOF to maintain internationally accepted standards, the workshop included two-and-a-half days 'GIRAFE' training by Planet Rating, which is based in France.
Minh-Huy Lai and El Hajji Diop from Planet Rating led the GIRAFE training and explained that is not used for the purpose of taming a certain animal but for exploring issues of governance, information, risk management, activities, funding and liquidity, and efficiency and profitability. The object of the training was to learn about this rating methodology in detail, to show how Planet Rating applies GIRAFE as an evaluation tool, to teach national NECs how to apply GIRAFE in a real life case study, and to teach NECs how to use GIRAFE to evaluate their own institution, and provide a basis for developing appropriate policies and procedures.
