Activities
Linkages & Partnership Approach in MicrofinanceBest Practices Dissemination
Dissemination of Disaster Management Curriculum
Asia Microfinance Forum 2008
Newsletter Subscription
Stay up to date with BWTP news & events by subscribing to our newsletter
Capacity Building for Partnerships in Microfinance: Workshop Curriculum and Trainer's Guide
Partnerships of different sorts have long played a prominent role in the business world, but have only recently begun to receive greater attention by the providers of microfinance services. In recent years, several innovative business models based on linkages between organizations, often supported by new technology innovation, show promise to substantially change the way financial services are delivered to the poor, both in terms of scale of outreach and increased diversity of services offered. But what are the implications of this for both the service providers and their clients? What are the pitfalls and constraints? And how might these be best managed?
As the microfinance industry matures, three trends that are already apparent are likely to continue and strengthen:
- greater integration of informal financial service providers into the formal financial sector;
- greater consolidation of retail service providers, with outreach of specific financial services (such as micro-credit) being dominated by fewer, larger providers;
- greater specialization of institutions within the sector, providing a wider range of financial and support services.
In this environment, the ability of institutions to manage their engagement with external parties, and to form complementary strategic alliances, will become increasingly important to their survival - both for those institutions directly providing financial services, as well as those that support the industry through financing, capacity building or ancillary services.
But forging and maintaining mutually beneficial partnerships, in many cases with non-traditional partners, may require a different skill set than is currently present in traditional banks or micro-finance institutions (MFIs). How well equipped are current players in the industry to respond to these changes - especially the smaller MFIs?
Capacity Building for Partnerships in Microfinance has been the subject of a program of curriculum development and trial workshops. These resources are designed to help MFIs be better prepared at making the most of the potential of partnerships, and provide an introduction to the pitfalls and opportunities of adopting a partnership approach.
FDC and the BWTP Network thanks all of the content contributors, peer reviewers, trainers and workshop participants who assisted in the development of the resources provided on this website. FDC and the BWTP Network would especially like to thank our funding partner, the Citi Foundation, who gave a generous grant to support the preparation of these resources.