Monday, October 24,2005
1. Value Chain Approach—An Industry-based Approach to Poverty Reduction (2 days)—Greeley Hall Globalization is changing the environment in which poverty reduction strategies are implemented. In this new context, two things are clear: 1) Poverty alleviation cannot be sustained without economic growth; and 2) Economic growth cannot be sustained in non-competitive industries. It becomes difficult to reduce poverty and/or to increase incomes for micro- and small enterprises without considering their link to productive markets. This two-day workshop will teach participants key concepts and principles used to guide research and program design based on information from Value Chain Analysis. The workshop is geared toward practitioners who are designing or currently implementing economic growth projects and/or market development programs to increase the potential for sustained reductions in poverty by enabling microenterprises to participate in and benefit from sustainable industry growth. FACILITATORS: Margie Brand, Founder and Executive Director, EcoVentures International Jeanne Downing, USAID Olaf Kula, ACDI/VOCA
2. Social Performance Task Force Meeting—Vista Room The Social Performance Task Force is working to better communicate with the industry what is meant by social performance, to describe the different levels of social performance, and the diverse range of questions that people seek to address through social performance measurement and management. This one-day meeting is open to the broader microenterprise development community—practitioners, donors, raters, etc.—who are interested in social performance and tracking the progress and achievements in the social performance agenda. Members of the task force will report on progress made on the common action plan that was developed in March and develop an integrated strategy and work plan for the next 12 to 18 months through identifying emerging challenges and opportunities. The task force welcomes new members to this meeting. FACILITATOR: Laura Foose, Alternative Credit Technologies, LLC, and SEEP Poverty Outreach Working Group (POWG) Facilitator
3. Transition to Private Capital for Microfinance Institutions (closed)— Angle Room Participants will come from the PVO communities that manage investment funds. The discussion will focus on microfinance institutions (MFIs) need for greater ongoing access to private capital by investigating the nature of MFI capital structures and needs, the supply and demand for capital, and regulatory and market constraints.
4. Global Network Summit (2 days; closed)—Board Room SEEP is proud to host its 7th Annual Global Network Summit which provides networks with the opportunity to participate in a two-day event designed to specifically address the key issues facing networks today. The theme of this year’s Summit is “Thinking Big—Maximizing the Potential of Networks”; sessions include workshops on the role of networks in remittances and social performance and presentations on new technical tools for networks. There will also be network working group meetings on Financial Sustainability Strategies, Performance and Impact Strategies, Policy Advocacy Strategies, and Service Delivery and Training Strategies.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
1. The SEEP FRAME Tool—Angle Room This all-day training will present the new FRAME tool, an Excel-based tool designed to accompany the new SEEP manual Measuring Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Framework for Reporting, Analysis, and Monitoring. The FRAME tool can be used by managers and advisers to track financial performance in a standardized format for up to three years. Participants are expected to have worked extensively with financial ratios already. This course will not cover “the basics,” but will instead focus on the use of the FRAME tool to generate the financial statement formats, financial adjustments, and ratios contained in the new manual. Though there will be many hands-on computer exercises, the course is intended to be an introduction to the tool, not a substitute for the full four-day, comprehensive training on the Framework methodology. Enrollment will be limited to 30 participants and participants must bring a laptop computer or arrange to share with another participant. Participants will receive a copy of the SEEP FRAME tool on disk and a copy of the manual. FACILITATOR: Chuck Waterfield, MFI Solutions, LLC
2. Value Chain Approach—An Industry-based Approach to Poverty Reduction (continued)—Greeley Hall See Monday for description of this workshop.
3. Next Steps in Social Performance Monitoring
4. Vista Room This day-long workshop will bring industry stakeholders together for a dialogue on the process that will be necessary to legitimize and scale-up social performance management to the broader microfinance industry. The workshop has three specific objectives with regards to social performance management: 1) to facilitate the sharing and understanding of diverse stakeholders’ perceptions, expectations, and needs; 2) to discover and explore differences and common ground among diverse stakeholders; and 3) to identify opportunities in which diverse stakeholders can work collaboratively to advance knowledge and practice in social performance management. Dialogue will take place in plenary and in small group discussions, in which small groups consist of cross-sectoral teams of participants from diverse stakeholder groups. The goal of this dialogue is put diverse stakeholders on the same page (to the extent possible), such that the industry is able to move together more productively and collaboratively in resolving the design, implementation, and other challenges posed by social performance management. FACILITATOR: Gary Woller, President, Woller & Associates and SEEP Client Assessment Working Group (CAWG) Facilitator
5. Global Network Summit (continued; closed)—Board Room See Monday for description of the Summit.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
SESSION 1: Informal. Self-employed. Successful. Some of the most credit-worthy enterprises in the communities where we work are self-employed. They don’t have a business license, they don’t keep records, and they are providing services to dozens, maybe hundreds, maybe thousands of people. And their leaders may be among the most respected persons of their community. The informal economy is an important factorin virtually every locality, and the field has recognized this in its advocacy and its methodologies, which are based on insights into the informal sector’s culture and practices. Just what is the development community’s record in dealing with informality? And what are the current and future implications of the informal sector to microfinance and enterprise development initiatives? Robert P. Christen, President, Boulder Microfinance Institute Kathleen Stack, Vice President of Program Development, Freedom From Hunger
SESSION 2: Microfinance: Extending the Network . . . Committed To Innovation. From its earliest days, microfinance has emphasized a business-like approach in tandem with its social mission. Now 20 years later, that original insight has led to the creation of an industry where borrowers exemplify incredible repayment discipline, where customer service is an important concern, and where institutional sustainability is achievable. But we also know that this isn’t enough. If microfinance is going to do all it can for its clients, and its own growth as an industry, it will have to continue to extend itself into the formal financial system. But what happens to its soul? How can the industry keep its social values while it pursues entrance into capital markets? What do those on the frontlines see as microfinance’s future? Maria Otero, President and CEO, ACCION International Larry Reed, Chief Executive Officer, Opportunity International Network Allan Sauder, President, MEDA
SESSION 3: Market-Supported Solutions: How PVOs Are Teaming With Multinational Corporations to Fight Poverty You’ve heard about the BOP. In fact, you’ve even been there. The sudden, intense interest in the “base” or “bottom” of the economic pyramid being expressed by large multinational corporations is intriguing, but also cause for concern. As an industry, we have been more concerned with the poor as producers and with getting greater market access for their goods. What does the involvement of the biggest foreign companies, often with the enthusiastic support of local officials, mean for the PVOs already active in those regions and localities? How can we work with them to see our clients’ potential as both producers and consumers? Katharine McKee, Director, Microenterprise Development Division, USAID Edward Millard, Senior Enterprise Advisor, Conservation International Starbucks Coffee Company Sanjay Sinha, Executive Director, EDA Rural Systems Pvt Ltd.
SESSION 4: Funding Our Work USAID . . . CIDA . . . Europe’s bilateral donors . . . UNDP . . . the multilaterals: Their names are still the same, but my oh my, how things have changed. And it’s not over. Central to the changes PVOs must face in their funding challenge: Higher levels of scrutiny and accountability, with a demand for quicker turnaround to success. And, oh yes: It helps if you’re big.The bigger the better. To what degree can private sector funding cure the funding ills of our industry? And what new demands does it make on us? What are private sector investors looking for, and how can we prepare to partner with them? Walter North, Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination, USAID Helen and Gordon Smith, Founders, Helen and Gordon Smith Foundation Rick Halmekangas, Vice President of Business Development, Opportunity International Network
SESSION 5: Seep Presents: A Conversation With Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the UN Millennium Project and The Earth Institute at Columbia University
Thursday, October 27, 2005
SEEP Business Meeting—Academy Hall Open to all affiliated with a SEEP member organization. Please attend and contribute to the discussion—we want your input! Meeting conducted by the Board of Directors.
Concurrent Workshops
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1. Market and Value Chain Development: Capacity Building—Vista Room New directions in enterprise development call for the development of broad markets and industries—sub-sectors, value chains, business service markets—and/or for linking small enterprises to growing global markets. These initiatives call for new strategies for achieving development goals, and new skills for program design, implementation, and evaluation. How are practitioners developing and communicating new strategies and how are they addressing the dramatic shift in required capacity? What capacity building opportunities are there for helping practitioners face this challenge? MODERATOR: Lane Pollack, Program Director, Aid to Artisans PANELISTS: Margie Brand, Founder and Executive Director, EcoVentures International Linda Jones, Project Manager, MEDA Mary Morgan, Instructor, Southern New Hampshire University Microenterprise Development Institute
Presentations: 1) Value Chain Learning Resources 2) Capacity Building Challenges
2. The Evolution of Poverty Assessment: Creating Transparency in Outreach- Angle Room The Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act mandates that half of all USAID microenterprise funds benefit the very poor. The lack of widely applicable, low-cost tools for poverty assessment makes it difficult for USAID to determine whether it is meeting these mandated targets. This workshop describes the evolution of poverty assessment in the microenterprise industry: how the legislation evolved; the challenges that are still faced in the development, certification, and implementation of tools; and examples of organizations that are using poverty assessment information for operational purposes.
Presentations: 1) Developing Poverty Assessment Tools
3. Planning the Way Forward: Accomplishments and Trends in the Financial Services and Management of MFIs—Balcony Room D
This workshop presents recent industry accomplishments in the areas of performance monitoring, board development, and developing standards. Panelists also discuss the trends and challenges in the field and the way forward for their partner MFIs.MODERATOR: Maria Stephens, Consultant PANELISTS: Bill Harrington, MEDA Sanjay Sinha, Managing Director, Micro-Credit Ratings International Limited, India Richard Shumann, Technical Officer, Cooperative Housing Foundation International
Presentations: 1) Trends in Financial Services and Governance of MFIs
4. Linking SEEP’s Pro-Client Principles to Positive Client Outcomes— Balcony Room C As microenterprise stakeholders seek to balance the drive for profit with a mission to alleviate poverty, there is increasing concern that microenterprise development programs should not inadvertently harm those they are trying to help. In adopting the SEEP Pro-Client Principles, SEEP members are helping ensure they stay true to their mission. In this workshop, SEEP members present initiatives that they are implementing based on the SEEP Pro-Client Principles. Examples of how these principles are influencing local affiliates are also presented. MODERATOR: Ximena Arteaga, Grameen Foundation USA PANELISTS: Elena Nelson, ACDI/VOCA Elisabeth Rhyne, ACCION International
Presentations: 1) Trust Through Transparency Policy for Success
5. Strategies to Improve Social Performance—Balcony Room E The purpose of the workshop is to explore and discuss the successful strategies that will enable MFIs to improve their social performance while achieving financial sustainability. In the recent past, there has been an increasing interest and recognition among the microfinance community to measure and manage the social performance of MFIs, and integrate it with the financial performance management. This has been primarily due to the concern that the drive towards financial sustainability may lead to a mission drift. Panelists will discuss new strategies and tools, such as a new social performance measurement tool that combines social performance indicators with a social audit to produce a “social rating” based on a standardized rating scale that permits comparisons across MFIs and contexts. MODERATOR: Bobbi Gray, Freedom From Hunger PANELISTS: Gaamaa Hishigsuren, Director of Research, ADBI/IDEAS Claire Kenny Siegel, Analyst, FINCA Gary Woller, President, Woller & Associates and SEEP Client Assessment Working Group (CAWG) Facilitator
Presentations: 1) FFH Strategies for Improving Social Performance
6. Promising Practices in Communities Heavily Affected by HIV/AIDS: Emerging Experience—Balcony Room B After providing a brief update on the status of the SEEP HIV/AIDS and Microenterprise Development (HAMED) Working Group programming guide, the panelists for this workshop will present emerging experiences among microfinance and microenterprise development practitioners that have implemented pilot programs in countries heavily affected by HIV/AIDS. Panelists will focus on issues in three topic areas: 1) Operationalizing Credit with Education within MFIs in the context of HIV/AIDS; 2) Emerging lessons on the role of gender, economic empowerment and the prevention of HIV transmission 3) Designing a livelihood strategy for MED- and HIV-integrated programs. MODERATOR: Ken Wesche, Vice President, Programs, Enterprise Development International PANELISTS: Laura van Vuuren, World Relief and SEEP HIV/AIDS and Microenterprise Development (HAMED) Working Group Co-Facilitator Jill Donahue, SEEP HIV/AIDS and Microenterprise Development (HAMED) Working GROUP CO-FACILITATOR Ntongi McFadyen, Save the Children Dan Norell, Team Leader, World Vision U.S.
Presentations: 1) Experiences and Challenges with Parallel and Unified Approach to Credit with Education 2) Integrated Programming in HIV/AIDs Contexts
7. New Directions in Market and Enterprise Development—Angle Room The field of enterprise development has experienced important transformations over the past five years. Beginning with the Donor Guidelines that laid out principles for promoting sustainable “business development services,” today there are a variety of frameworks, approaches, and terms that have evolved and that represent latest thinking and lessons learned. Two of these include the Value Chain Framework being promoted by USAID, and the Market Development approach being promoted by many European donors (also known by some as “Making Markets Work for the Poor”). What are the similarities and differences of these? This workshop explores this question and discuss how principles from each school of thought can be integrated into private sector development programs. MODERATOR: Frank Lusby, Executive Director, Action for Enterprise PANELISTS: Marshall Bear, IGP-BDS Learning Agenda Facilitator Jeanne Downing, USAID Mary McVay, SEEP Business Development Services Working Group (BDSWG) Facilitator
Presentations: 1) Making Market Systems Work Better for the Poor: The Basics 2) The Value Chain Framework A Bridge between Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction 3) New Directions in Enterprise
8. Promising Approaches in Serving the Very Poor—Vista Room This workshop examines recent innovations and approaches in microfinance to continue to promote down-reach to the very poor (defined as those living on less than one dollar a day, or those living in the bottom 50 percent below their country’s poverty line). MODERATOR: Laura Foose, SEEP POWG Facilitator PANELISTS: Bobbi Gray, Freedom From Hunger Lauren Hendricks, Director, Economic Development Unit, CARE USA Gaamaa Hishigsuren, Director of Research, ADBI/IDEAS Carrie Keju, Senior Program Officer, PACT Christian Loupéda, Senior Technical Advisor, Freedom From Hunger Jan Maes, IDEAS Tim Nourse, Director, Microenterprise Development, American Refugee Committee Myka Reinsch, Technical Advisor, Freedom From Hunger
Presentations: 1)
9. Planning the Way Forward: Accomplishment and Trends in the Financial Services and Management of MFIs—Balcony Room D This workshop presents recent industry accomplishments in the areas of performance monitoring, board development, and developing standards. Panelists also discuss the trends and challenges in the field and the way forward for their partner MFIs. The discussion consists of two presentations, followed by two responses, and open discussion from participants. MODERATOR: Julie Abrams, Microfinance Consulting PANELISTS: Anita Campion, Chemonics International Elena Nelson, Senior Technical Advisor, ACDI/VOCA Dan Norell, Team Leader, World Vision
Presentations: 1) Planning the Way Forward: Accomplishments and Trends in teh Financial Services and Management of MFIs 2) Planning the Way Forward: Accomplishments and Trends in Financial Services and Management of MFIs 3) Planning the Way Forward: Accomplishments and Trends for Financial Services and Management of MFIs
10. Building Successful Microfinance Institutions by Assessing Clients’ Needs— Balcony Room E This workshop presents and reviews the new SEEP publication by the same name, completed in conjunction with the Imp-Act Programme. The workshop also reviews the Social Performance Conceptual Note recently completed by the SEEP Client Assessment Working Group (CAWG) and discuss what is meant by social performance. The workshop concludes with a moderated discussion about the perceptions and needs of workshop attendees regarding social performance management, what still needs to be done in this area, and what might SEEP do to further this work. The book is available for sale at the SEEP Publications booth. MODERATOR: Sean Kline, Senior Technical Advisor, Freedom From Hunger PANELISTS: Patrick Crompton, FINCA Gary Woller, President, Woller & Associates and SEEP Client Assessment Working Group (CAWG) Facilitator
11. Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM) Reception and Annual General Meeting—Academy Hall Keynote Speaker: Michaela Walsh, Director of Women’s Leadership and the Director of the Global Student Leadership Program, Manhattanville College
Friday, October 28, 2005
Concurrent Workshops
1. Linking Microenterprise Development and Natural Resource Management— Balcony Room E An increasing demand from consumers, corporations, and environmentalists alike has led to the documentation of lessons learned focused on environmental microenterprises. Not only are these enterprises fulfilling a growing fair-trade, environmentally conscious consumer need, but can also have a significant economic impact on the products and services available to support the sustainable development of their communities. This workshop looks at what the field is learning about the development of environmental microenterprises, what opportunities exist and how these components can be incorporated into practitioner program designs. Also, how the integration of economic, environmental, and social components at program design level ensures longer-term impact. MODERATOR: Edward Millard, Senior Enterprise Advisor, Conservation International PANELIST: Margie Brand, Founder and Executive Director, EcoVentures International Consuelo Muñoz, Christen Muñoz Consulting Kaddu Sebunya, Policy and Planning Advisor, Conservation International
Presentations: 1) Integrating an Indigenous Bolivian Community into an International Tourism Market 2) Linking MED & Natural Resource Management 3) Mainstreaming NRM in Enterprise Development
2. Healthy Women, Healthy Business: Integration of Microfinance and Health Services—Balcony Room C For years microfinance practitioners have debated whether the costs and benefits of specialization in financial services outweigh those of providing integrated financial and non-financial services. This workshop does not attempt to resolve this debate, but rather to move it from the level of “Integrated services: right or wrong?” to “Integrated services: how and how much?” Panelists present a cost-allocation case study of Pro Mujer’s microfinance and health programs in Bolivia, Peru, and Nicaragua and discuss the costs and benefits of following a holistic approach to serving client needs. The case study documents Pro Mujer’s integrated methodology and how it is adapted to specific country contexts. It also explores the benefits of providing health services through client focus groups and analyzes their costs by allocating direct and indirect costs to each service. MODERATOR: John Berry, Friend of SEEP PANELISTS: Cori Evans, Senior Manager of Development Finance, WOCCU Maria Elena Pérez, Financial Officer, Pro Mujer, International; Carmen Velasco, Executive Director, Pro Mujer, Bolivia
Presentations: 1) Integrating Health and Microfinance Services or How to be Healthy, Wealthy and Wise 2) Action Research: Piloting Group-Lending for Health Insurance in Rwanda 3) Health Women, Healthy Business: Comparative Study of Pro Mujer's Integration of Microfinance and Health Services"
3. Analyzing the Profitability of Microfinance in Commercial Banks— Balcony Room D While many specialized microfinance institutions have already shown that microfinance can be profitable, an increasing number of banks are getting into the microfinance arena and are interested in measuring the profitability of their institution’s microfinance unit. The workshop examines the experiences of Credife, the service company of Banco de Pichincha in Ecuador, and Hatton National Bank in Sri Lanka, in conducting product-costing exercises to understand the profitability of their microfinance products. The panelists explore the challenges of product costing and the issues that surfaced for each bank. MODERATOR: Deborah Drake, Director, Financial Management Unit, ACCION International PANELISTS: Lynne Curran, Friend of SEEP and previously with ACCION International Mary Miller, Principal Development Specialist, Development Alternatives, Inc.
Presentations: 1) Profitability of Microfinance in Commercial Banks 2) Banking the Underserved: New Opportunities for Commercial Banks
4. Measuring Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Framework for Reporting, Analysis, and Monitoring (The Blue Book Revised)—Vista Room This is the first half of a two-part workshop presenting the new publication Measuring Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Framework for Reporting, Analysis, and Monitoring and accompanying SEEP FRAME tool. The most current and comprehensive guide for performance monitoring of MFIs, it includes detailed definitions of financial terms and explanations of how to construct financial statements and monitoring reports according to the emerging global standards. The Framework is accompanied by a training manual that provides instructions and materials on how to train your MFI partners on financial standards and use of the FRAME. The FRAME is an Excel-based tool from the developers of MicroFin that accompanies the training and can be used by managers and advisors to track financial performance in a standardized format for up to three years. MODERATOR: Tillman Bruett, Co-founder, Alternative Credit Technologies and SEEP FSWG Facilitator PANELISTS: Kenneth L. Graber, Microenterprise Development Director, World Relief Elena Nelson, Senior Technical Advisor, ACDI/VOCA Chuck Waterfield, MFI Solutions, LLC
Presentations: 1) Measuring Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Framework for Reporting, Analysis, and Monitoring
5. Understanding Value Chain Finance: A Rural Perspective—Angle Room Understanding the financial relationships among different rural players such as farmers, input suppliers, processors, wholesalers, financial institutions and BDS organizations has the potential to shed to light on how finance really works in rural areas. This workshop is structured in two parts. Part 1 discusses what value chain finance is and how understanding the specific aspects of value chain finance can enhance the work of microfinance institutions and market development facilitators working in rural areas. Part 2 showcases two organizations—one microfinance institution and one market development facilitator—who discuss why and how they are gaining information on value chain finance in their contexts and how they intend to use the results to form strategic alliances among different rural players and/or develop new financial products. MODERATOR: Lillian Diaz Villeda, SEEP Practitioner Learning Program Facilitator PANELISTS: Robert Fries, Vice President, Program Services, ACDI/VOCA Ashok Kumar, Team Leader, EDA Rural Systems Pvt. Ltd., India Tiodita Mori, Resident Advisor, ACCION, Paraguay
Presentations: 1) Wrap Up and Moving Forward 2) The Value Chain Framework and Rural Finance 3) Value Chain Finance in Rural Areas - The Experience of EL COMERCIO 4) Value Chains and their Significance for Addressing the Rural Finance Challenge
6. Enterprise Development: Frameworks for Facilitating Market Change— Balcony Room D Imagine this scene: Your recent research of the local poultry industry shows significant potential for small-scale poultry growers (500 birds/batch) to upgrade their production and serve rapidly expanding local markets as outgrowers for processors. The industry recognizes a looming supply problem and in response a few large processors are willing to pilot test the efficacy of an alternative outgrower scheme starting at a production scale of 1,000 instead of 10,000 birds. You decide to intervene; after all, you know why poultry and what intervention. But you are unsure of how to engage with other key market players. This workshop discusses the frameworks and tools they are developing and using to better understand how best to dive in and how the roles and tasks of facilitators may change at the different stages of market entry, development, and exit to achieve sustainable impact. MODERATOR: Marshall Bear, IGP-BDS Learning Agenda Facilitator PANELISTS: Eric Derks, Program Manager, Action for Enterprise, Mali Linda Jones, Project Manager, MEDA Shivani Manaktala, Consultant (previously with International Development Enterprises India)
Presentations: 1) Managing Learning on Effective Facilitation 2) Start Up Intervention Plan
7. Expanding Access to Rural and Agriculture Finance—Angle Room This workshop presents innovations in rural and agricultural finance by highlighting 1) leasing initiatives to rural and agricultural enterprises in Russia; 2) the launch of G-cash to rural banks in the Philippines, which uses the SMS technology of a mobile phone to make loan payments and is resulting in expanded outreach and lower transaction costs to clients; 3) the new micro-agri lending product offered by rural banks in the Philippines; 4) research-in-progress on member-owned institutions providing financial services in remote rural areas; and 5) piloting agriculture and trader loans in Mali.
Presentations: 1) Leasing in Russia: A Potential Solution for SME Expansion and Rural Financial Sector Deepening 2) Member Owned Institutions Providing Financial Services in Remote Rural Areas 3) Agriculture adn trader loan pilot
8. Measuring Performance of Microfinance Institutions: The SEEP FRAME Tool Demonstration—Vista Room This is the second half of a two-part workshop presenting the new SEEP FRAME tool. This second session presents the FRAME Tool, an Excel-based tool that accompanies the new performance measuring framework and can be used by managers and advisors to track financial performance in a standardized format for up to three years. Participants in the workshop will receive a copy of the SEEP FRAME tool on disk. A copy of the publication Measuring Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Framework for Reporting, Analysis, and Monitoring is available for sale at the SEEP Publications booth.
9. The Road to Client Assessment: Travel Tips—Balcony Room C Undertaking client assessment is like a road trip. It is a process by which an organization sets out on a lasting journey, learning from and about its customers and understanding their needs and expectations. Initially, the travel is bumpy, which is often the case with anyone learning to drive. This workshop presents lessons learned by MFIs in the SEEP Practitioner Learning Program in Putting Client Assessment to Work. Workshop participants will gain insight and knowledge about the preparations that are necessary to conduct and institutionalize client assessment; the stakeholders that should be involved in the process; the financial implications for engaging in client assessment; and the potential trade-offs and pitfalls that need to be recognized up-front.
Presentations: 1) The Road to Client Assessment
10. Managing Foreign Currency Risk—Balcony Room E With the increase in international lending to MFIs comes an increase in foreign currency risk. The purpose of this workshop is to explore strategies for managing foreign currency exposure as presented in the SEEP Progress Note Top Five Recommendations for Minimizing a MFI’s Foreign Exchange Risk. The presentation includes top suggestions and present real MFI cases. Representatives from international funds share their perspectives on this challenge. The workshop also investigates the role of investors, socially responsible investors, and donor agencies in helping to develop an industry-wide agenda to manage this risk in the future. MODERATOR: Drew Tulchin, Grameen Foundation USA PANELISTS: Gil Crawford, General Manager, MicroVest Capital Management Gautam Ivatury, Microfinance Analyst, CGAP
Presentations: 1) Managing Foreign Currency Risk For Microfinance Institutions 2) Managing Foreign Currency Risk 3) FX Risk: The Broad Picture Gautam Ivatury 4) Microfinance and Foreign Exchange Risk A Perspective from a Microfinance Investment Advisor 5) The market for foreign investment in microfinance: opportunities and challenges
11. The Challenges of Measuring Client Retention—Balcony Room C A primary responsibility of MFI management is to monitor the performance of the institution, to determine if the institution is reaching its goals. To do so, managers measure which aspects are important and generate ratios that they can then monitor. In microfinance, we have a well-developed set of financial ratios to monitor profitability, efficiency, growth, and portfolio quality, among others. Yet one area of prime importance generally goes unmeasured: client satisfaction. Clearly managers are very interested in knowing if their clients are satisfied, but because measures of client satisfaction do not come directly from the financial statements, this is a much more difficult area to monitor. This workshop evaluates the history of the industry’s efforts to measure client retention and proposes several options for moving forward with the measurement of this key aspect of determining an MFI’s success.
Presentations: 1) Measuring and Acting on a Dropout Ratio 2) Measuring Client Retention
12. Market Development in Challenging Environments: Reaching the Poor in Rural Areas, Conflict Environments, and After Natural Disasters—Balcony Room B and market access. However, in isolated rural areas, as well as in post-conflict and natural disaster environments, markets are often extremely weak and supporting services and inputs thin—if they exist at all. The poor are particularly vulnerable in these contexts since they have few assets and usually operate in local value chains that have low margins and are often saturated. This session examines both value chain and cross-sector market-development strategies that work with poor entrepreneurs and communities to strengthen and/or rebuild markets and businesses in these challenging environments. The session also explores complementary strategies and frameworks to market development that facilitate work with the poorest of the poor.
Presentations: 1) Market Development in Challenging Environments: Gobi Initiative, Mongolia 2) Market Development in Challenging Environments
13. Linkages Between Banks and Microfinance Institutions—Angle Room There is a wide range of linkages occurring among different types of financial institutions in developing countries today that aim to better serve micro- and small enterprises. These linkages often occur between more informal, unregulated entities such as NGO MFIs already serving low-income clients and regulated financial institutions, including banks, finance companies, and regulated cooperatives. The linkages span a spectrum from informal informationsharing arrangements to more formalized contractual or ownership arrangements, and allow unregulated entities to offer a broader range of products and services or get access to needed funding. Regulated entities benefit from the linkage as new market niches are opened to them. The panelists explore a number of different linkage arrangements and the challenges for MFIs in setting up and working with commercial banks in these partnerships, as well as discuss the kinds of tools that might facilitate future linkages with commercial banks.
Presentations: 1) Microfinance in India: The ICICI-Cashpor Alliance 2) CHF International MFI-Bank Partnership Model 3) Innovations in Rural Finance Programme
14. Making Market Assessment More Useful—Tools and Lessons from Market Development Programs—Vista Room This workshop outlines key lessons learned from recent experience on how to conduct market assessments and use the information in market development project design and implementation. The lessons address how to design and initiate a market assessment, what types of information to gather, how to gather information (with a particular focus on qualitative research tools and techniques), and how to use market assessment to lay the practical groundwork for interventions. This workshop exposes people to a few quantitative and qualitative market research techniques and includes a simulation of one qualitative research technique, in-depth interviews, with microenterprises.
Presentations: 1) Making Market Research Useful to Program Design
15. Discussion Group on the Current Practices and Future Trends in Microfinance and Microenterprise Development in China—Balcony Room E This workshop allows practitioners to learn from each other about the landscape of microfinance and microenterprise development in China—current practices and future trends. In particular, this workshop examines ways to unlock the door for providing financial services to the poor in China.
Presentations: 1) Microfinance Experience in China 2) Microfinance in China: Re-awakening the Dragon
16. MFIs’ Transitions to Private Capital: Challenges and Opportunities— Angle Room This panel brings together the players that have a role in MFIs’ transitions to accessing private capital. The discussion focuses on the challenges faced by MFIs accessing private capital. Case studies from work conducted in Uganda, Peru, and the Philippines are presented.
Presentations: 1) PVOs and Microfinance: Commercialization and the Transition to Private Capital Survey Results and Research
17. Role of Lead Firms in the Value Chain: Benefits to Micro- and Small Enterprises—Balcony Room D This workshop explores the role of lead firms in industry value chains with high micro- and small enterprise participation. Lead firms are defined as those firms within a value chain in a position to drive investments which result in increased benefits to micro- and small enterprises. Greater benefits to micro- and small enterprises result from increased value chain performance measured by productivity, efficiency, and/or new market entry. This workshop places particular emphasis on how the micro- and small enterprises’ relationships with lead firms affect their power, learning, benefits, and other factors influencing their ability to negotiate favorable market terms over time.
Presentations: 1) Leading Firms in the Value Chain: the development of a globally competitive cashew industry in Mozambique
18. Community Finance: Savings-led Approach—Vista Room For the 300 million households whose savings and borrowing capacity is in the order of tens rather than hundreds of dollars, who often need a safe place to save rather than take on debt, and who live so far from towns and cities that the cost of service delivery through MFIs is prohibitive, training small groups to mobilize their own savings and make loans at interest to members may be the best alternative. By building on what villagers already understand—their tontines, susus, chit funds, money-go-rounds, and tandas—programs can scale up quickly and train and monitor groups at low cost with trust among group small groups of members ensuring a high level of accountability. Among U.S.-based institutions, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, PACT, and Oxfam America have embraced the “savings-led,” approach recognizing that this methodology best fits their mission of serving the poor at scale. This workshop explores the experiences of the four institutions as they implement their savings led initiatives.
Presentations: 1) CARE's Village Savings and Loan Programmes 2) A Literacy Based Savings Led Approach to Women's Empowerment
19. Lessons Learned and Practical Approaches to Strengthening Women’s This workshop focuses on the challenges of recruiting, obtaining, and maintaining women leaders. A presentation of preliminary data collected from a survey on the status of women in leadership within the industry is also included. Solutions discussed include organizational policies, appropriate profiles, career development, and human resources management strategies for creating and maintaining talented women in the microfinance industry.
Presentations: 1) Lessons Learned and Practical Approaches to Strengthening Women's Leadership in the Microfinance Industry