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EU/ACP Microfinance Programme offers scholarships to ACP policymakers for top class training in microfinance

For the third year in a row, the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme is offering scholarships for ACP policymakers to participate in the Boulder Microfinance Training Programme that takes place in Turin, Italy, from 20 July to 7 August 2009.

The Boulder Microfinance Training Programme, which is hosted by the International Training Centre of the ILO, is considered one of the best international microfinance training programmes. It offers a specific “policy track,” with courses dedicated to policymakers, and is taught in English and French by respected microfinance experts. Policymakers that participated in last year’s training highly recommend the course. Read their testimonials on the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme website.

Eligible candidates are government officials from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean or Pacific (ACP) who make, or implement, policies that impact on access to finance, including senior staff of Central Banks, Supervisory/Regulatory bodies and Ministries of Finance. The scholarship is worth 3,100 Euros and covers the tuition fees for the three week training. Selected candidates need to demonstrate they can cover their own travel, accommodation costs and per diem, and that they are proficient in English or French.

How to apply: Eligible ACP policymakers, who wish to attend the Boulder Microfinance Training, and need a scholarship to cover their tuition expenses, can apply by downloading the registration form msw8 - 92 KB [92 KB] and sending it by email or fax: +32 2 552 0025. The deadline for application is to 1 May 2009.

Selection criteria: The EU/ACP Microfinance Programme will make a selection among the candidates based on the following criteria: the applicant’s

(i) position in the organization that enables him/her to influence policy and affect change,

(ii) experience in microfinance

(iii) previous training on finance matters,

Please note that due to the increased interest in the scholarships a maximum of two applications per country can be considered. Applicants that are selected will be notified by the end of May 2009. Successful candidates will receive participant status, which allows them to make their course selection.

With this training opportunity, the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme hopes to contribute to enhancing the capacity of ACP policymakers and help them in their efforts to build more inclusive financial systems in their countries.

2008

European Microfinance Week

The EU/ACP Microfinance Programme participated in the fourth European Microfinance Week, organized by the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) and hosted by the Luxembourg Government. The e-MFP now has more than 100 members from 15 European countries. The microfinance week attracted more than 250 participants and focused on frontier issues in microfinance, including technology, social responsibility, reaching the most vulnerable people, credit crunch, food crisis, microinsurance and local currency risk management. On the occasion of the meeting, the Luxembourg cooperation awarded its second European Microfinance Award of 100,000 Euros to Buusa Gonofaa from Ethiopia to recognize their social performance. EC Commissioner Michel delivered the keynote speech at the award ceremony.

Partners highly value Microfinance Peer Learning Event

Between 1 and 3 October 2008 the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme held a Peer Learning Event pdf - 227 KB [227 KB] with partners of its capacity building initiative. Twenty five representatives of the Programme’s grantees from Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific participated in the 2,5 day event in Brussels. They shared lessons learned, their challenges and practical solutions to problems. Project profiles pdf - 3 MB [3 MB] , developed by the partners and the learning facilitator, Lillian Diaz, assisted in the process. Discussions were of high quality, very practical and participative. Participants highly appreciated the peer learning (score of 4.5 out of 5) and, if anything, wanted more learning opportunities and earlier in the Programme. The main highlights of the event included a discussion on incorporating “Responsible Finance” in participants’ work and the learning products - voice recorded PowerPoint presentations with short movies and pictures – created by the participants that can be shared with others. Learn more about the outcome of the event in the e-booklet.

To view the learning products click on the titles below to open a ZIP file, copy the ZIP on your computer and click on the " ppt.exe" file to open run the presentation. Put on slide show and click to go through the entire presentation.

Good Practice Microfinance Training at the EC

The EU/ACP Microfinance Programme contributed to a two-day microfinance training to headquarter and field staff of the European Commission. Much of the training focused on the EC's new approach to microfinance pdf - 414 KB [414 KB] that prioritizes capacity building rather than credit lines. It also includes tips on how to operationalise CGAP's Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance . Given that the EC has limited in-house microfinance expertise, management considers this kind of training a priority to professionalize the agency's support to microfinance.

Mid term review EU/ACPMicrofinance Programme praises succes

A mid-term evaluation of the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme completed in May 2008 concludes that the Programme has successfully achieved its objective of improving the overall effectiveness of microfinance operations in ACP countries through institutional strengthening, microfinance rating and increased efficiency and transparency. Just after three years, it has already achieved many of its five-year targets. This success is attributed to different factors such as high level commitment from EC and ACP, strong project design and implementing partners, the use of performance based contract, and solid supervision mechanism with the support of CGAP.

The review recommends that in the remaining two years, the Programme should focus on ensuring the sustainability of supported partners, incorporating tools to measure impact and extracting lessons learned. The evaluation also recommends that the EC and the ACP launch a successor programme, even larger than the current one, and with increased linkages with the EIB and other microfinance funders to respond to the high demand for capacity building among ACP microfinance actors. In its conclusion, the report advises the EC and ACP to further institutionalize their support for microfinance and to build up the necessary capacity and expertise to manage new activities and ensure the effective quality control.

Read the executive summary pdf - 81 KB [81 KB] or the full report pdf - 738 KB [738 KB] of the Mid-term review.

EU/ACP supports Central African Policy Forum, Yaoundé, 18-20 March 2008

The EU/ACP Microfinance Programme co-funded the Central African POlicy Forum organised by CGAP, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Central Africa in Yaoundé from 18-20 March.The event attracted 54 participants, including 38high level represnetatives such as Governors and Deputy Governors, Ministers and senior staff. The Head of the EC Delegation spoke at the opening of the event at the Central Bank together with its Governor and Minister of Finance of Cameroun. Princess Maxima of the Netherlands gave a keynote speech during the Forum.

The main issues addressed included. supervision of financial cooperatives, new technologies and payment systems, financial transparency and consumer protection. The 10 participating countries were Cameroun, Chad, Congo, Central African Republic, Gabon, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Madagascar. Read more about the event or what the press said.

Sixteen ACP policymakers participate in top class training in microfinance with scholarship of EU/ACP Microfinance Programme

The EU/ACP Microfinance Programme offered scholarships to 16 ACP policymakers, including public agency staff of Central banks, Ministries, supervisory bodies etc to cover their tuition expenses, worth 3,100 EUR, to participate in the Boulder Microfinance Training Programme held in Turin, Italy from 21 July to 8 August 2008. The Boulder Microfinance Training Programme is one of the best international microfinance training programmes; it has a specific “policy track” with courses dedicated to policymakers and is taught in English and French by top class microfinance experts.

The training was attended by more than 260 students from all over the world. The ACP policymakers highly appreciated the training and particularly liked the opportunity to meet and network with a wide range of faculty memebers and participants, and the exposure to good practice MF and a wide variety of topics. Read their testimonials. pdf - 296 KB [296 KB]

With this training opportunity the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme hopes to contribute to enhancing the capacity of ACP policymakers and help them in their efforts to build more inclusive financial systems in their countries.

Seed grant of EU/ACP Microfinance Programme to MicroInsurance Agency leads to more

The MicroInsurance Agency that was established by Opportunity International UK with a grant from the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme received a 24,2 million $ grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "This funding is due entirely to the MIA’s recent successes in Africa, for which the seed grant from EU/ACP Microfinance Framework Programme played a key role", commented Deborah Foy of OI UK.

The new funding from Gates means that the MIA will be able to provide life, health and crop insurance to 21 million poor people in 11 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Read more

TheFuture of Microfinance: Changing Role for Public and Private Funders, 14 February 2008

Future of Microfinance and the changing role of funders.

On 14 February 2008 Koos Richelle joined Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of CGAP and Axel de Ville from ADA for a lively discussion on opportunities and challenges facing access to finance and the evolving role of public and private funders in responding to them. The event was held at Europeaid’s InfoPoint and attracted over 80 Brussels-based microfinance practitioners and EC staff.

Elizabeth Littlefield highlighted the changes in the funding landscape with the increasing interest from socially responsible investors and nearly 100 specialised microfinance investment vehicles. She argued there continues to be a role for public funders like the European Commission to support organisations that push the frontiers of microfinance. The European Commission is the largest grant donor for microfinance with a portfolio of microfinance projects over 200 million Euro and on average 20 million Euro in new projects every year.

In response to specific questions about the EC's microfinance policy, Koos Richelle, Director General of EuropeAid, emphasized how the CGAP-facilitated microfinance peer review had helped the EC professionalize its support to microfinance, including a reorientation of funding to capacity building (as opposed to credit lines) and the establishment of criteria for NGOs applying to EC funding for microfinance activities. Mr. Richelle also stated that though this new approach may result in a smaller EC microfinance portfolio, the impact was likely to be much more significant. He also highlighted the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme as a flagship initiative for the EC's new approach to supporting microfinance focusing on capacity building of ACP microfinance actors.

Axel De Ville representing his NGO called for more ethics in microfinance and emphasized the need for organizations to invest in measurement of social performance. In reaction to concerns among the audience that microfinance is becoming increasingly commercial, Ms Littlefield stated that not all commercialization is bad. For instance, in order to capture deposits an organisation needs to get licensed in most cases. The type of institution providing the financial service is not what matters most, but it is their social and financial vision and that of their shareholders that counts.

2007

Microfinance training for European Commission staff, 4-5 September 2007

CGAP delivered a two-day microfinance training to headquarter and field staff of the European Commission (EC). Much of the training focused on the EC's new approach to microfinance that prioritizes capacity building rather than credit lines. It also included tips on how to operationalise the Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance endorsed by the EC and 28 other development agencies in October 2006. The training was well received and the Commission plans to organize it again in March 2008.

Accès BanqueMadagascar opens its third branch, 4 September 2007

AccèsBanque Madagascar, the first Microfinance Bank to open its doors in the country earlier this year, has already opened its third branch.

Read what the press wrote pdf - 221 KB [221 KB]

Pacific Islands Financial Sector Assessment concludes that use of new technologies can help to scale-up access to finance in the region, 27 August 2007

The EU/ACP Microfinance Programme participated in a Financial Service Sector Assessment (FSSA) commissioned by UNDP/UNCDF. The FSSA covered five Pacific LDCs: Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, and (by way of desk study) Kiribati and Tuvalu. The Pacific islands face serious challenges on access to finance in terms of geographic fragmentation and demographic dispersion. The FSSA concluded that new technology using innovative models and delivery channels may enable improved delivery of financial services in the Pacific.

To scale-up access to finance, the FSSA team recommended a strategy that involves the creation and dissemination of knowledge and support to champions for the implementation of innovations. The EU/ACP Microfinance Programme and UNDP/UNCDF envisage a Pacific Financial Inclusion Program (PFIP) to channel their support for the implementation of this strategy in coordination with the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat and Microfinance Pasifika. The Programme is expected to start early 2008.

Read more about the assessment pdf - 970 KB [970 KB]

URWEGO, EU/ACP Microfinance Programme partner in Rwanda, merges with Opportunity Microfinance Bank, 7 August 2007

World Relief, World Relief Canada, and HOPE International who created URWEGO, have partnered with Opportunity International (OI) to open a microfinance bank in Rwanda. The URWEGO Opportunity Microfinance Bank (UOMB) of Rwanda will open a new branch using state of the art technology in early fall 2007. The combined operation has offices in 27 of the 30 districts in Rwanda, more than 28,000 loan clients and over 3,000 savings clients. UOMB has 4.5M USD in equity capital and a loan portfolio of 1.7M USD.

Over the next 12 to 18 months, UOMB expects to further expand banking operations across the country using innovative technologies to provide poor Rwandans easy access to safe and secure financial transactions.

The EU/ACP Microfinance Programme supports URWEGO to expand its savings services specifically to rural households and women. UOMB is also expected to benefit from the regional grant of the Programme to Opportunity International UK which supports the improvement of transparency of OI banks in Africa.

Read the complete article

EU/ACP Microfinance Programme supported participation of ten ACP policymakers in Boulder Microfinance Training, September 2007

Ten ACP officials of Central Banks and Ministries of Finance participated in the Boulder Microfinance Training Programme in Turin, Italy, this summer. The policymakers from Angola, Guinee Conakry, Kenya, Madagascar, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC and Sierra Leone, received a scholarship from the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme to cover their tuition fees (worth 4,200 USD each) for the three week training. The training is considered among the best microfinance trainings in the world and has a special policy track provided in English and French. Several CGAP staff members served as trainers.

The Boulder training attracted more than 250 students from all over the world, more than 40% from ACP countries and about one fifth of the attendees were policymakers. The interaction between the wide range of participants and high quality microfinance expert trainers enriches the discussions, enhances learning, and is one of the training’s key success factors. By facilitating the participation of ACP policymakers in the training, the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme contributes concretely to a more enabling environment for microfinance in the ACP (see Box 2). Next year, the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme will repeat the scholarship programme to offer the same opportunity to other ACP policymakers.

Immediate impact of Boulder training on ACP policymakers’ actions

Policymakers that received the scholarships valued the training enormously. It has already affected their work. Here are a few examples highlighted in reactions from the policymakers:

• In Kenya, our fellows organised a workshop on transformation of credit-only MFIs to deposit-taking institutions with one of Boulder’s trainers and applied learning in new policy documents.
• An inspector of the Central Bank of Guinee Conakry changed his method of analysis of MFIs with the knowledge gained in the training.
• A policymaker from Cote d’Ivoire better understands the government’s role in microfinance and applies her learning in the drafting of the country’s microfinance strategy.
• A central banker from Sierra Leone has been able to contribute successfully to the drafting of operating guidelines for credit-only microfinance institutions in his country following the training.

AdvansCameroun microfinance institution opens its doors in Douala with support of EU/ACP Microfinance Programme, 22 May 2007

La Fayette Investissement launched Advans Cameroun, the first of an expected ten microfinance banks for the Advans Group. They received technical assistance from Horus Development and were co-financed by the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme. Advans Cameroun will offer sustainable access to a wide range of financial services including loans, savings products, and money transfers tailored to Cameroonian entrepreneurs and their families. It will focus specifically on micro-lending, and by 2010, aims to serve 6,000 clients who would usually be excluded from the Cameroonian banking sector.

In order to reach the largest number of clients, Advans Cameroun will extend its network over the next five years and open around ten branches in Yaoundé, Bafoussam, Garoua, Bamenda, Maroua and Ngaoundéré.

Caribbeanroundtable on microfinance, 17 May 2007

The Caribbean Microfinance Network organized the 6th Caribbean Microfinance Roundtable in Jamaica. The Europeaid Task Manager, Ms. Huda-Sara Bakhet, of the EU/ACP Programme participated. Together with the team of the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB) and Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), Bahket discussed Carib-Cap, the proposed capacity building project for Caribbean microfinance institutions .

Caribbean microfinance lags considerably behind that of its Latin American neighbours and is challenged by lack of scale. While most countries in the region have fairly sophisticated financial systems, access to a range of financial services is limited for low-income people, the self-employed and small businesses. The Carib-Cap Programme aims to strengthen their capacities. It envisages providing technical assistance to financial service providers; benchmarking their performance; supporting collective training efforts; mentoring; facilitating exchanges and providing assistance to the regional microfinance network. The Programme is expected to start early 2008.

2006

Firstmicrofinance bank established in Madagascar by AccessHolding & Partners, 4 November 2006

With support from the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme, LFS provided the technical assistance for the creation of AccèsBanque Madagascar S.A. (ABM). The island’s first microfinance bank offers a broad range of financial services to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and other clients in the lower income strata. Subject to license approval by the local banking authorities, ABM commenced operations at the end of 2006. ABM is managed by AccessHolding’s technical partner, LFS Financial Systems GmbH, on the basis of a management service contract.

ABM is endowed with an equity capital in the local currency equivalent to 1.66 M Euros, of which AccessHolding has subscribed a share of 560.000 Euros (33.7%). Co-investors include AfriCap Microfinance Fund (25.3%), the Triodos-Doen Foundation (20.5%), as well as BFV-Société Générale (20.5%), the local subsidiary of the French banking group.

Procreditlaunches first ever ATMs in Democratic Republic of Congo June 2006

The ProCredit Bank in Democratic republic of Congo is the first bank to install ATMs in the country. The bank received support from the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme to use new technologies to expand financial services in the country.