Background

Using ICT in Capacity Building for Poverty Reduction in Asia: Lessons Learned from the Microfinance Training of Trainers Course ¹

The need for capacity building in Asia is enormous, particularly for pro-poor development strategies. In recent years, developments in ICT have made possible capacity building through distance learning modalities as an alternative to conventional face-to-face training. In the Asia Pacific region, interest in distance learning has been vigorous, with over 70 open virtual universities (UNESCO, 2004) and more than 500 million potential participants of distance learning courses (Jung, 2005, citing Shive & Jegede, 2001). As the use of ICT in capacity building in developing countries is relatively new, knowledge on what works and does not work in different development contexts remains limited. Systematic documentation and evaluation of pro-poor distance learning initiatives to extract lessons learnt would be useful for future development.

Microfinance is a development intervention which has been recognized as a powerful instrument for poverty reduction. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide low-income households and enterprises with access to a wide variety of financial services, which in turn has enabled the poor to build assets, increase incomes, and reduce their vulnerability. Nevertheless, there are still relatively few financially sustainable MFIs with significant breadth and depth in outreach in Asia. It has been widely recognized, however, that the main constraint for the sector is not the lack of funds but the lack of capacity in operating sustainable institutions.

To help address this constraint, the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) of the World Bank, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) launched the Microfinance Training of Trainers (MFTOT) Course in 2005, using a blended approach to distance learning. While the ultimate objective of the MFTOT is to strengthen the institutional capacity of microfinance in the Asia Pacific Region to better serve the poor, the immediate objective is to increase the number of accredited microfinance trainers.

The first course organized in early 2005 certified 10 local trainers in microfinance and reached over 100 participants in seven Asian countries. Based on the success of the first course and favorable feedback from the participants, a second course was held in late 2005. The second course certified 32 trainers and again trained over 100 participants in eight countries.

This paper presents the results of the evaluation for the second course and summarizes the lessons learned after two courses. This paper is organized into five major parts. Following this introduction, Section II gives a brief overview of concepts related to distance learning, discusses the prospects and challenges, and highlights the key elements for a successful distance learning activity in developing countries. Section III gives an overview of the Microfinance Training of Trainers Course, while Section IV presents profile of participants of the 2nd MFTOT. The main findings of the course evaluation are presented in Section IV. Section V concludes.

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