Itinerant Training for MFIs, Nepal

Proportion carried out by PlaNet Finance (%): 100%
Number of key experts involved in the project: 3
Origin of funding: Invicta

CONTEXT :
All the microfinance institutions (MFI) which benefited from roughIT training had already participated to a workshop PlaNet Finance India organised in December 2003 in Kathmandu. During this training, a computer had been distributed to each organisation. The roughIT mission in Nepal was thus the next step in the process of learning of these organisations, as the MFI partners in Nepal have computers but need trainings to improve their IT skills. IT tools are important for the microfinance practitioners in order to ameliorate the functioning of their organization, to be more efficient and able to propose the best solutions to their clients needs.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT:
This project aims at:
- Providing a need-based IT training to MFI staff
- Fostering the use of IT within the Microfinance sector in Nepal
- Meeting the Microfinance Institutions’ needs for IT training.
- Facilitating the work of MFI staff and decrease cost of operations through IT applications for microfinance.
- Collecting information about the microfinance sector and therefore to increase available data in Nepal
- Setting up itinerant trainings moving from villages to villages which are particularly appropriate for MFI’s established in remote areas and that have never had the opportunity to get that kind of trainings.

PLANET FINANCE'S TASKS IN THE PROJECT:
PlaNet Finance India is responsible for implementing and coordinating the overall programme :
1. Design and preparation of the modules (entire IT spectrum, from the basics to the creation of a network or the update of a website)
2. Organisation of training sessions including arrangement of logistics
3. Implementation of the trainings (two days for each training session and an architecture composed of two parts: a “theory” part, focusing on three different topics (hardware, software and internet/networking), and a “practice” one
4. Collection of MFI’s datas