Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

MFToT With a Local Touch

7-Country Translation Project to Boost Microfinance Training Capacity in Asia

Participants in 7 countries will now be able to study the Microfinance Training of Trainers (MFToT) Course in their own language. By popular demand, the World Bank/Tokyo Development Learning Center, Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Planet Finance Japan and course “graduates” have collaborated to implement an ambitious localization plan in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Mongolia. The workbook and interactive computer-based instruction CD-ROM for participants are being translated into each language, and will be available for trial use in the current MFToT 5 course.

Since 2005, MFToT has accredited 224 trainers in 28 countries through 4 course deliveries. It takes a unique blended learning approach, combining workbook, CD-ROM, videoconference, on-line tutoring and local face-to-face sessions. From the start, demand for the course proved strong -- and MFToT met expectations by adding new features to expand outreach quickly. Introducing webcasting, for example, made it possible for participants living in remote areas worldwide to have access. Moodle, a free open source learning management system (LMS) was incorporated to manage hundreds of participants from more than 30 countries..

With the success of the course came additional needs. The workbook and CD-ROM, originally developed by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), consistently received high marks from participants. All materials were in English, however, proving to be a barrier for non-native English speakers. In addition, the number of accredited tutors working to train professionals within their own countries grew, necessitating materials in local languages.

As the course matured, MFToT faced the need to improve accessibility within countries. Vietnam, for example, had an early start organizing translation of course material to use in local sessions. Other country teams started translation of text and multimedia contents in the CD-ROM, but the challenge was substantial – a 144 page workbook and an interactive self - study CD-ROM of over 7 hours.

Course organizers Jiping Zhang of TDLC and Setboonsarng Sununtar of ADBI supervised the multi-country process; for the CD-ROM, the China team, consisting mainly of accredited participants, created the transcript for all audio files, and developed a procedure for making new audio files in local languages. Patrick Tse at the World Bank Institute’s Multimedia Center provided technical support for CD-ROM translation and reproduction, and guided the completion of CD-ROM in Chinese version. To reassemble thousands of translated files, Ron Bevacqua at PlanetFinance Japan, an international microfinance NGO based in Europe, identified and outsourced the work to 2 companies in Thailand and Lao.

The workbook and CD-ROM are complete in most countries, and will be used on a trial basis by participants of MFTOT 5, which will run from July to October 2008. Working with tutors and with feedback from users, localized learning packages will be produced for mass distribution in 2009 with the support of the TDLC and ADBI. It is hoped that this will help boost microfinance capacity building efforts within each country, eventually leading to the creation of a global community of microfinance practitioners.