The Ateneo Microfinance Capacity Building Program, in partnership with BPI Globe BanKo, has established training hubs in key cities in the Philippines to make the program more accessible to microfinance stakeholders. Training hubs offer a menu of 31 microfinance courses such as delinquency management, risk management, character- and capacity-based lending, financial analysis, strategic planning, and customer care, to name a few. The training hubs are located in Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, and Quezon City.
“I can say that the training quality is excellent,” said Leticia Loquinario, chief operating officer of Katipunan Bank, the Ateneo training hub in Dipolog City. She added that the trainings have contributed to the growth and development of their employees and of the participants from other MFIs.
Target Participants
The Ateneo Diploma Course in Microfinance is intended for middle and senior managers of MFIs, donor agencies, government agencies, and development-oriented business firms. The course has attracted participants from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Diploma Course participants should have (1) at least two years of work experience in the microfinance industry and (2) a baccalaureate degree.
Course Requirements
Diploma course candidates admitted to the program are required to take 13 units of coursework, broken down as follows:
- Training course attendance equivalent to nine (9) units, and
- Research project equivalent to four (4) units.
Training courses delivered in a classroom setting merit 1.33 units each. Online courses, on the other hand, merit one unit each. Participants must pass a written exam after every course and must successfully complete and document a project to be assigned by the trainers. A passing rate of 75% of the total score is required to be eligible for the diploma. The project in microfinance should be relevant to the participant’s area of work to ensure that the results are achieved, not just the theories of microfinance.