Monday, February 5th, 2007
Third Microfinance Trainers Course Accredits 45 New Trainers
Participants Give High Marks to Course Organization and Tutor Support
After successfully completing the third “Training of Trainers Course on Microfinance”, it was time to celebrate for the 45 participants who were newly accredited as trainers of the Microfinance Distance Learning Course. At a ceremony held via videoconference on February 5, 2007 connecting the TDLC, China, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, “graduates” congratulated each other against fireworks bursting on the big screen from Tokyo and vowed to use their knowledge to help build microfinance capacity in their countries. A wider audience viewed the ceremony via webcast, and added their thoughts through the chat room.
First delivered in February 2005, MFToT has now produced 91 fully accredited trainers who serve as tutors and leaders of localization efforts. Each time, the course has continued to reinvent itself, adding new features to scale-up its e-learning potential building on an innovative blended learning approach combining textbook, CD-Rom, videoconferencing and web-based tutoring. For the third course, applications were received on-line and all videoconference sessions were web-cast for the first time.
This course has also demonstrated the strengths of joint efforts by various partners. Organized by the TDLC, Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and the World Bank Institute (WBI), learning materials were developed by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the learning platform was provided by the GDLN. The China Development Bank added its support for the third run by bringing in participants from its 28-center domestic network and distributing 500 sets of learning materials.
The new Dean of ADBI, Dr. Masahiro Kawai attended the accreditation ceremony in person to congratulate participants. “With millions of poor people still without affordable financial services, more hard work will be needed from all of you” said Dr. Kawai from the TDLC studio. “The short supply of microfinance experts in many developing countries has been the main constraint of microfinance development. I hope the certificate will be a stepping stone for you to become instrumental in expanding financial services, and the beginning of another professional journey”.
WBI China Program Coordinator Philip Karp, who joined from Beijing, stressed the importance of localization efforts and encouraged participants to continue their work. “When learning activities are delivered in local languages by local trainers and local training institutions, we’ll be on our way to building a learning network, or community of practice, on microfinance in Asia”.
Participants of the third course began their studies in August 2006. Of the 78 that were selected from 120 applicants, 80% or 56 completed all 11 assignments and one final exam for trainer accreditation. 4 participants whose average score topped 90% were certified with distinction. A total of 700 participants in 7 countries also studied through videoconference or webcast as regular members.
In an evaluation survey conducted after its conclusion, the third course received a positive rating of 4.29 overall on a scale of 1 to 5, with participants giving high marks for course organization (4.57) and support from tutors (4.26). On webcasting, 52% found it useful for reviewing, and 40% for receiving the course live. An overwhelming percentage of participants ---91%, or most of those from non-English speaking countries--- pointed to the need for localization.
Localization is already underway in Vietnam and China. A translation of the textbook into Vietnamese was completed in July 2006, and was used to support the third course. Local tutorials were also given in conjunction with the main course, providing a discussion forum for participants on microfinance issues. In China, the CD-Rom has been translated into Chinese with extra care given to quality control.
