At the beginning of 2008, the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) embarked on a new program on capacity building for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in cooperation with the Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Foundation (BSAF) and PinoyME Consortium. The partnership is aimed towards increasing their reach and scaling up their services in microfinance and microenterprise development, and ultimately, contributing to poverty reduction in the Philippines through strategic areas of intervention in education and training, research and development, and network building.
The program will provide support to key officers and staff as well as leaders and trainers of microfinance institutions, small and micro-enterprises, microfinance training institutions, and partner schools/universities.
It has four components, namely, Curriculum Development and Standardization, Organization of a Training Faculty for Microfinance Courses, Research and Development for New Microfinance Loan Products and Services, and Organization/Networking of Training Institutions/Service Providers for Microenterprise Development.
In pursuit of one of the program objectives, that is, to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of current capacity building efforts, MFI-members of the PinoyME Consortium has adopted the Dual Training System Competency-Based Curriculum (DTS-CBC) for Microfinance. The DTS CBC is an alternative instructional delivery system of education and training whereby a “ladderized” curriculum is being developed by industry experts (microfinance sector) and the academe, and employs the dual training approach (in-school training with a partner school covering 40% and on-the-job training with a partner MFI at 60% for its students/trainees. This training program intends to address the recruitment and formation of highly skilled and well trained frontline staff (loan officers), which is one of the biggest challenges to MFIs, and, at the same time, provide the opportunity for further studies through a standardized job-focused learning process, thus, enabling its graduates to be more productive and having higher chances of immediate employment.
The development and implementation of the DTS Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) for Microfinance is being undertaken together with the participating schools, MFIs and national and regional microfinance councils, and the Dual Training System Networking Foundation, Inc. (DTSNETFI). At present, a 2-year course for Loan Officer (TESDA format) as well as the courses for Loan Officer, Team Leader/Supervisor and Branch Manager (CHED format) have been developed. The courses for Team Leader/Supervisor and Branch Manager (TESDA format) are scheduled for development during the first half of 2009. Self-contained Learning Packages (course modules) are currently being developed in several phases to prepare for the pilot run of the different courses.
The pilot run for the 2-year Loan Officer course is scheduled on June 2009. Courses on “Training of Trainers” for the effective implementation of DTS CBET for Microfinance will be conducted before this time. Four schools in the provinces (College of Immaculate Concepcion and Araullo University in Cabanatuan City; Bicol University and Cagayan de Oro College) will be participating in the pilot phase.
The “Ladderized” Program is shown below:
Course Title |
Program Level |
Job Qualification |
On-the-job Training |
|
|
4-Year Bachelor of Science in Microfinance |
Degree |
Branch Manager |
On-the-job Training |
|
|
3-Year Diploma Course in Microfinance |
Diploma |
Team Leader/ Supervisor |
On-the-job Training |
|
|
2-Year Associate Course in Microfinance |
Certificate |
Loan Officer |
High School Graduates |
|
|
