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Branch viability is the capacity of a branch to sustain its operations and continuously create value for the organization and its clients. The branch viability course discusses the standards for assessing branch viability, including indicators for measuring the performance of staff members and of the organization as a whole. The course includes sessions on basic financial analysis and financial management that are necessary both for assessing the feasibility of opening new branches and improving the performance of current branches. The training approach is largely participative, allowing knowledge-sharing between participants on the challenges they are facing in their organizations. Towards the end of the course, the necessary steps toward sustainability will be discussed, with recommendations and specific action points for the participating organizations.

Middle managers play a crucial role in microfinance since they could be considered as the backbone of the microfinance institutions (MFIs). The middle management is the point where microfinance’s lofty mission must be translated into a sustainable and scalable operation. The middle managers are often poorly equipped to deal with this challenge. The branch operations course is designed to provide microfinance managers with a holistic understanding of the various areas involved in managing microfinance operations. Participants are expected to gain practical knowledge and skills for effective delivery of microfinance products and services. The course covers topics such as management and leadership roles, the role and dynamics of teams, conflict resolution, delinquency management, financial management, risk management and customer service. The training approach includes workshops especially designed to assist microfinance managers in handling the various operational issues that they face such as delinquency, financial performance monitoring, human resource issues, and operational risks.

Microfinance institutions face a variety of risks in delivering its products and services. Written policies and procedures are put in place in order to manage these risks. Branch and area managers perform audit functions to ensure that policies are followed, financial and operating information are accurate and reliable, and risks are identified and minimized. Training on Branch Audit will outline step-by-step process, including specific activities, of Branch and Area Managers’ audit role. Participants will also be trained on how to communicate results to internal audit unit and what action points must be done post audit. Branch and Area Managers will be equipped in evaluating performance of their subordinates. Finally, performance evaluation tools for middle management will also be discussed.

Training on Accounting for Non-Accountants ultimately aims to assist managers in identifying and analyzing problems through information generated from financial reports and eventually making management decisions based on these. The training course will include process on how financial statements are created, basic accounting principles, and financial ratios.

The financial analysis course starts with a presentation of basic financial statements and prescribed chart of accounts for microfinance institutions and the government. The heart of the course is the method for adjusting financial statements to account for subsidies, donations, inflation and adequate loan loss provisioning. Recognizing these adjustments to the financial statement reveals the true financial performance of an MFI. International, local and best practice financial standards are used to determine the quality of the financial performance. These include the PEARLS Monitoring System, COOP-PESOS, EAGLE, Microfinance Standards to all Types of Philippine MFIs, and CAMELS Rating System. Different areas for financial analysis will also be tackled, including efficiency, portfolio quality, profitability and financial structure. Finally, the course also discusses measures of effectiveness that determine an MFI’s success in achieving its social mission.

Delinquency is one of the major challenges that microfinance institutions face. The course enables participants to understand delinquency by tracing its causes and costs. To hasten appreciation of delinquency, it offers various perspectives on delinquency from the vantage point of the borrowers and the microfinance institution. Participants will also be taught on how to measure delinquency using international standards. The course prescribes report formats integrated in the MFI’s information system to track important information for decision-making. The delinquency management course emphasizes both preventive and curative strategies. Preventive delinquency management strategies include financial shields or prudent financial management practices; growth strategy; and delinquency prevention techniques in microfinance methodologies. Curative delinquency management strategies include prioritizing delinquency management measures; remedial management and litigation; crafting incentives system to reduce delinquency; establishing the delinquency task force; loan administration strategies to delinquency management; and crafting delinquency management plan. The course will also present research results on the most common delinquency problems that MFIs face, and how successful MFIs have addressed these problems.

The financial product design and development course uses market-based or demand-led approaches. The framework to be discussed outlines research methodologies using participatory rapid appraisal techniques to determine the needs of the market; assess institutional readiness for product development; and assess competitive advantage of product prototypes. The course extends the whole process of product design and development that involves assembling the product development team, design process, product costing and pricing, pilot testing, product launch and commercialization. SEDPI market research results will also be presented in the course. The research, which was conducted to several microfinance institutions all over the Philippines, shows how the Philippine microfinance industry has evolved in the last three years. Participants will also be presented with an actual case of a microfinance institution in its journey towards defining its niche and eventually succeeding in the market.

The course offers more than the basics of microfinance. It introduces the concept of the microfinance triad – savings, loans and investments. The course offers a deeper understanding of the fundamentals and principles of microfinance coupled with an appreciation of various microfinance methodologies – Group/Solidarity Lending, Village Banking and Individual Lending. The course also describes the characteristics of microfinance clients and the impact of microfinance to the poor based on actual impact assessment results. Aside from the appreciation of various microfinance methodologies, the course also tackles traditional and innovative microfinance products and services – loans, savings, microinsurance and remittances. The course ends with a discussion on challenges, issues, trends and future opportunities in the microfinance industry.

1. Fundamentals and Methodologies of Microfinance
2. Market-Based Financial Product Design and Development
3. Delinquency Management
4. Financial Analysis
5. Accounting for Non-Accountants
6. Branch Audit
7. Branch Operations
8. Branch Viability
9. Business Development Services
10. Business Planning for Microenterprises
11. Cash Flow and Credit and Background Investigation
12. Center Formation and Loan Application Process
13. Character and Capacity-Based Lending
14. Color-coded Bookkeeping System
15. Conflict Management
16. Customer Care
17. Delinquency Management for Wholesalers
18. Delinquency Management in a Disaster Situation
19. Delivering Pro-Poor Financial Services:  Microcredit
20. Effective Communication
21. Financial Mainstreaming of Microinsurance and Savings
22. Financial Management for Microfinance Institutions
23. Governance and Managing MFI Growth
24. Information Systems for Microfinance
25. Innovations and Trends in Inclusive Finance
26. Legal Procedures for Microfinance
27. Making Markets Work for the Poor: Beyond Business Development Services
28. Managing Human Resource for Microfinance Institutions
29. Market Research for Expansion
30. Marketing Microfinance Products and Services
31. Microinsurance Training for Microfinance Clients
32. Mid-management Training for Microfinance Managers
33. Monitoring and Evaluation
34. Organizational Appraisal for Microfinance Institutions
35. Portfolio Management
36. Risk Management, Internal Control and Audit
37. Social Performance Management
38. Strategic Planning for Microfinance
39. Strategic Credit and Risk Management
40. Strengthening Internal Control and Effective Management Information System
41. Subsector Approach Training
42. Supervision and Leadership for Microfinance
43. The New Frontier: Linking Microfinance and Remittances
44. Training of Trainers
45. Winning Program Designs: A Write Shop (Proposal Writing)

Clarice finished her undergraduate degree in Sociology at the University of the Philippines Diliman, emerging as one of the honor students in her batch. Having finished her course in October, she then became a Research Assistant to her thesis adviser and then shifted her employment path from academe into corporate setting when she worked for more than a year at TV5, the third largest broadcasting network in the country.

Her research skills may have helped her in dealing with respondents and clients for the organization. This is her first work in the development sector, and she is more than thrilled to execute her abilities as these were indebted to the classical sociologists and were then synthesized with the influence of her adviser whose works are centered to filipinizing the discipline.