“More hard work will be needed from all of you”. The new Dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute, Dr. Masahiro Kawai expressed hopes for accelerated microfinance capacity building at an Accreditation Ceremony held on February 5,2007 connecting 6 sites.
The third “Training of Trainers Course on Microfinance” (MFToT) began at the TDLC on August 3, 2006, incorporating new approaches to broaden its impact on building training capacity in Asia. Newcomers India, Pakistan and China joined Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan for the opening videoconference session connecting via the GDLN, with Beijing bridging to the China Development Bank’s national network to further expand the course’s reach. The session was also webcast live through the internet for the first time. See full story to access an archived version of the webcast.
In an event leading up to the G8 Summit to be held in Russia in July, Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) from 7 G8 countries participated in an information exchange session via videoconference on June 7, 2006.
The Second “Training of Trainers Course on Microfinance (MFToT) gave accreditation to 32 new microfinance trainers from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka at a ceremony moderated from the TDLC on April 12,2006. The course, a blended distance learning program which combines various technologies, aims to build microfinance capacity in Asia, and will be delivered for the third time later this year.
Mr. John Hegarty, Manager of Financial Management for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank spoke on “Institutional Foundations for Sound Finance in Developing Countries: The Importance of Financial Reporting” at a WB Public Seminar held on March 29, 2006. Over 50 participants gathered at the TDLC with Kobe University and Hiroshima University joining the session via videoconference.
“An International Accounting Seminar on Public Sector Issues” was held by the Japan Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA) on March 24,2006. Organized in conjunction with a meeting of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board held in Tokyo, JICPA incorporated videoconferencing for the first time, connecting 8 countries in Asia. The TDLC provided technical support for the seminar in recognition of the significance of accounting issues for developing countries, and hopes to continue to support such efforts by JICPA as a valuable opportunity for development learning.
Due to popular demand, the “Training of Trainers Course on Microfinance (MFTOT)”, first held as a blended distance learning program last spring, will be given again this autumn over 13 weeks by the TDLC, The Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). Based on performance of assignments, e-discussions and final exam, participants who meet standards will be given accreditation to become a certified trainer of the Microfinance Distance Learning Course.
The first session of the Training of Trainers on Microfinance course was held February 17.
In October last year we announced the development of a collaborative program with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) on training for microfinance.
The Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP) is one of the remarkable success story of Japan’s overseas development assistance.
Over a period of six months, more than one hundred accountants and auditors in eight Eastern European countries are using GDLN to work together and prepare themselves for joining the European Union on May 1, 2004.