Videoconferences: Schedule and Overview

Videoconference sessions will be held on Thursday, 3 August; Friday, 8 September; Thursday, 12 October; and Thursday, 9 November 2006 at these times: 14:00-17:00 (Japan), 13:00-16:00 (PRC, Philippines), 12:00-15:00 (Viet Nam), 10:30-13:30 (India and Sri Lanka), 10:00-13:00 (Pakistan).

The videoconferences will be webcast. Please review webcast details.

Commercialization of Microfinance and Tips for TOT Participants

Speaker: Heather Clark, International Consultant on Microfinance

Heather Clark is a microfinance consultant and the former Director of UN Capital Development Fund’s Special Unit for Microfinance. She developed the Microfinance Distance Learning Course and has taught microfinance at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, the American University School of International Service, and international microfinance workshops. She has been the Senior Technical Advisor with USAID’s Microenterprise Development Office, and has worked with NGOs, specialized banks, and member-owned organizations that provide microfinance services. She is the author of a book on the organizational history of ACLEDA Bank in Cambodia, a commercial bank that specializes in microfinance. Ms. Clark serves as a faculty member at the Microfinance Training Program (Boulder, USA and Turin, Italy).

Heather Clark’s presentation

The first part of her presentation will provide an overview of commercial microfinance and lay the ground work for the sessions that follow. It will explore the key concepts of commercial microfinance, how it is integrated into the formal financial sector, and discuss the financial infrastructure necessary to support commercial microfinance. It will also examine some of the common debates surrounding commercial microfinance, such as “mission drift”, the role of subsidies, and the ability of MFIs to offer an array of products that respond to diverse customer requirements for financial services.

The second part of the presentation will offer several tips for trainers who will use the Microfinance Distance Learning Course and the tools they can use as instructors to engage participants.

Issues in Microfinance Interest Rates

Speaker: Nimal Fernando, ADB Focal Point on Microfinance

Nimal A. Fernando is a Principal Microfinance Specialist at the Asian Development Bank. He is the Editor of ADB's quarterly newsletter on Microfinance, Finance for the Poor. He has published extensively on various aspects of microfinance development, and has designed and conducted training programs in rural finance and microfinance. Prior to joining ADB he worked at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for over 15 years. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the CGAP during 2002-2005. He has microfinance/rural finance work experience in many countries in the Asia and Pacific region.

Nimal Fernando’s presentation

Conventional wisdom holds that poor households are insensitive to interest rates, but it seems that a fresh look at this issue is needed. Can the poor afford high interest rates? Do microcredit interest rates have to be high? How can the rates be meaningfully reduced? Mr. Fernando’s presentation will deal with these critical questions. Please read his recent publication Understanding and Dealing with High Interest Rates on Microcredit*prior to the videoconference.

Can Microfinance Serve the Poorest of the Poor? Experience from Bangladesh

Speaker: Stuart Rutherford, Founder and Chairman of SafeSave, Bangladesh

Stuart Rutherford is a researcher, writer, teacher and practitioner of microfinance. His main interest is studying how poor people manage their money. This interest is reflected in the name of his best-known book, The Poor and Their Money. Currently he is researching the reception that clients and village-level staff are giving to the new products offered by Grameen Bank under its Grameen II project. He is a visiting fellow at the Institute for Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester, UK, and has also taught on the microfinance training programs in Boulder, USA and Southern New Hampshire University, USA. He was on the board of ASA, the fastest-growing Bangladeshi MFI. He is the founding chairman of SafeSave*, an MFI which experiments with flexible products for poor Bangladeshis.

Stuart Rutherford’s Presentation

Stuart's presentation will be based on his experience in providing microfinance services to the poorest Bangladeshis. Using Grameen II, the revised set of products that the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh has offered since 2001, he will show how a microfinance institution can provide a more complete service to its customers and at the same time improve its own sustainability, by the careful design and delivery of a mix of loan, savings, and insurance products.

Suggested readings:

1. The Financial Diaries Project* presents research about the financial behavior of poor people
2. General information on Grameen Bank*
3. Grameen II Briefing Notes*

Special Topics in Microfinance

Speaker: Jun Wang, Senior Financial Specialist, World Bank Office in Beijing

Jun Wang has been a leading advocate for commercial microfinance in People’s Republic of China (PRC) and has actively promoted reforms in China’s loan reclassification methodology and banking regulation and supervision. Prior to joining the World Bank he worked at the People’s Bank of China for 18 years. He represented PRC at the IMF in the Bureau of Language Services and the Asian Department while affiliated with the People’s Bank of China. He was a banking supervisor at the People’s Bank of China and represented on the Liaison Group of the Core Principles of the Basle Committee and the EMEAP Working Group of Banking Supervision. Mr. Wang was once a tree plantation farmer, a coal miner, and a primary school teacher.

Speaker: Jaime Aristotle B. Alip, Founder and Managing Director of Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Philippines

Jaime Aristotle B. Alip is the Founder and Managing Director of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (MRI) which consists of CARD NGO, CARD Bank, CARD Microinsurance, and CARD MRI Development Institute. CARD MRI employs over 1,300 staff and serves more than 234,000 poor women with a total outstanding loan of abuot US$20 million. Under his leadership CARD MRI received several awards for its contribution to poverty reduction in the Philippines. He has served in various key positions in the Philippine Government: Undersecretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (2002-2003); Assistant Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform (1996-1998); Deputy Executive Director of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (1988-1992). He has extensive international experience in microfinance and rural development and has advised on many microfinance projects in Asia and the Pacific.

Jaime Aristotle B. Alip's Presentation

He will discuss why a non-profit microfinance NGO would decide to transform itself into a for-profit, regulated financial institution, based on his own experiences in CARD NGO and CARD Bank. He will discuss the impact of the transformation on access to commercial capital, the ability to mobilize local savings, customer services, and outreach.  Since CARD NGO still continues to operate alongside CARD Bank, he will discuss its synergism as well.