Governance and Managing MFI Growth

Governance plays a crucial role in microfinance since this is the key in setting the MFIs’ direction towards reaching their social mission and at the same time achieving financial sustainability. The course will enable participants to identify and delineate roles, duties and responsibilities of the board and management; and determine board involvement and their required knowledge and skills. Best practices in microfinance governance will also be shared in during the training. The course also tackles growth and expansion as an issue that many MFIs face. Participants will be taught how to weigh institutional capacity implications of plans to expand or consolidate microfinance operations. The different challenges in terms of determining institutional preparedness for growth will be discussed, such as developing financial product designs; preventing and arresting or preventing delinquency; achieving financial sustainability; integrity of information systems and controls; adequacy of human resource; and effective marketing of financial products. An appraisal tool will be introduced to enable participants to determine which areas an MFI should address and prioritize.