This 5-Day Workshop takes the form of a train-the-trainer programme targeted at the project staff in development NGOs which provide microcredit facilities to their beneficiaries as part of a larger poverty reduction programme.

Benefits to Your Organisation

The recipients of socio-economic programmes in communities have long been faced with marginalisation and literacy issues, which dampen the full benefit of these pro-poor initiatives. Sustainable microcredit programmes can only be realized through the development in the community of a strong nucleus of competent and committed leadership, combined with informed, progressive-looking self-help groups. This workshop combines the art and science of community lending principles towards building community knowledge, by developing authentic and sustainable self-help microcredit programmes at village and community level.

Desired Project Outcomes

At the conclusion of this workshop, participants should have acquired a working knowledge of how to:

• Apply an enlightened approach to low literacy participants
• Enable communities to participate and determine their needs
• Overcome gender and other marginalisation issues
• Conduct a basic training needs analysis
• Apply process mapping to operations in the SHG
• Conduct training programmes relating to bookkeeping, operational processes, loan management and accountability, at community level
• Mainstream quality and accountability issues into their work

Workshop Overview:

• Enabling community leadership to catch the vision
• Creating viable lending opportunities for poor entrepreneurs
• The appreciative inquiry approach
• Developing operational procedures and selection criteria
• Practicing portfolio management: loan monitoring and follow up
• Process mapping: record keeping, loan disbursement, collection & follow up
• Accountability mapping: peer review, reconciliation reports, auditing
• The identification of programme pitfalls, and their avoidance

Learning Features

The workshop methodology is to combine the use of interactive facilitation supported by participatory learning through case-studies, creative thinking exercises, group exercises and presentations by the participants. This is followed up by a complimentary three month period of expert tutor support by email for all participants.

Who Should Attend

This workshop is best conducted with a maximum of 15 participants. It will benefit those involved in supervisory roles within projects providing microcredit facilities as part of a larger socio-economic development programme. An intermediate knowledge of microcredit procedures is required to obtain benefit from this programme. To obtain full benefit from hands-on participation in the exercises, participants should have access to a computer, or bring along a laptop/notebook, and have a working knowledge of MS Excel. The sharing of computers of up to 3:1 ratio is acceptable.

Training Fee for In-House Delivery

We would be please to provide our quotation, which would include:

• A limited, single-use programme copyright
• Facilitator’s delivery fees
• Printed material and CD-Rom’s for exercises
• Printed workshop notes.

Not included in the training fee are venue and equipment costs, meals & refreshments, transportation, and the trainer’s accommodation and international travel costs.