Feedback on local stakeholder consultation about the “Save for a stove” project

Some weeks ago, we announced the organization of a local stakeholder consultation in Ouagadougou about the “Save for a stove” project. On December the 6th, some stoves users, improved cookstoves producers, NGO working on environmental issues, microfinance institutions and technical partners met during a morning in order to discuss about the project impacts on sustainable development and about the best way to monitor these impacts. We were very pleased to receive some representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, from the Ministry of Mines, Quarries and Energy, from Ouagadougou City Council and from a Foundation founding the project.

After a presentation of the “Save for a stove” project and carbon credit mechanisms in French and local language Moore, participants asked some questions and made some suggestions to improve the project. Then, we made an exercise in order to determine the project impacts – both positive and negative – on sustainable development. The meeting ended with a discussion about indicators to monitor in order to assess impacts.

Participants showed a good impression on this relevant consultative method, the effective implication of everybody and the richness of exchanges between participants. Entrepreneurs du Monde is also very glad of the quality of the debate and is sure that they will contribute to improve the activities in the following years.

Reports are available in French and English on the following links:

http://carbonium.fr/EdM_projects/EdM-StakeholderConsultationReport061211.pdf

http://carbonium.fr/EdM_projects/EdM-CR_ReunionDesPartiesPrenantes061211.pdf

All participants and general public is invited to comment the reports of the meeting within the two coming months writing at claire.lester@entrepreneursdumonde.org.

Monday, December 5, 2011, Global Volunteer Day

Wherever you are, you can join us!

The team is welcoming volunteers with all sorts of talents, and flexible on the time they can commit, a few hours or days a month, a one-off consultancy….

Whether you are an accountant, a marketing manager or a Morris dancer, you can help us by getting involved with one of our projects or organising a gig for the benefit of one of our programmes!

Ankur Thapa, Nepalese and volunteer for Entrepreneurs du Monde

“I am currently doing a study abroad program of Hollins University in London for one semester.

This program gives students internship opportunities. This is how I got to work for EdM UK. I worked for the French NGO as a volunteer/intern from early September to early December.

As a major in Economics and wanting to go to graduate school on developmental economics, the experience I got from working with EdM is astonishing.

Not really having studied about microfinance yet, I learnt a lot about the concept and why it has gained popularity in the last few decades. The 3 months I worked with EdM has helped enhance my analytical skills and has enriched my professionalism that is vital in every other field today.

Ankur reviewed the Trusts Directory and listed the foundations that could support our programmes, and looked into the possibility of developing social microfinance institutions in Sierra Leone and Liberia...”

Just a few ideas… Seize them, while you can! And do not hesitate to volunteer YOUR skills!

Currently, Entrepreneurs du Monde is seeking a volunteer who will help us to provide a localised web-based service to our UK supporters; more information can be obtained from Laetitia Raginel via email: laetitia.raginel@edmuk.org

For our programmes in West Africa, we are also looking for artists / illustrators / graphic designers to enrich our training and communication materials.

We also need more bilingual English-French translators wishing to join our dynamic team of helpers currently operating from as far as Singapore or Glasgow!

For more information, please contact Thibaut Mary: thibaut.mary@entrepreneursdumonde.org.

Regional Workshop - Entrepreneurs du Monde

This year Entrepreneurs du Monde held a specific event on MIS & Finance with its West African partners, in order to help them to overcome issues they might face to finalise their annual budget and activity projections for 2012.

From November 15^th to 18^th, almost 35 participants, mostly Finance and MIS managers, representing 11 organisations from 5 different countries shared their experiences.

Several management tools already in use by some partner MFI, thanks to Entrepreneurs du Monde’s technical and financial support, were presented.

The organisers of the workshop also hosted dynamic training sessions tackling accounting principles or financial and social indicators to be used in their monthly reporting. In addition, both individual and group counselling sessions on budget process and budget follow-up were held every day to support each partner according to its needs and facilitate the dissemination of good practices.

Other topics such as LPF8.0 software update, the new WAMU accounting referential, the SMS software (Social Monitoring System) - developed by EdM and to be deployed in the course of 2012, were presented in plenary sessions.

To best support its partners, Entrepreneurs du Monde also provided training on the improved 2011 version of the in-house software Microlight.

Taking advantage of each other’s experiences, as well as getting direct support from Entrepreneurs du Monde, the participants discussed on how to implement or enhance the use of these management tools in their respective structures.

As is customary for EdM events, participants also went on field to visit local MFI Micro Start Action des Femmes pour le Développement to better understand their activities and management system.

Entrepreneurs du Monde would also like to extend its thanks to all participants for their enthusiasm and active involvement, but also to everyone who worked behind the scene and contributed to making this first edition of an EdM Regional Workshop a success, and especially the Agence Française de Développement for its financial support.

Entrepreneurs du Monde – Regional Meeting 2011

For 5 days, Entrepreneurs du Monde and its Caribbean and West African partners met in Accra, Ghana, around the theme “Putting the Social into Microfinance”.

From September 12^th to 16^th, almost 40 participants representing 12 organisations from 6 different countries have been presenting their latest developments and innovations.

This year, Entrepreneurs du Monde organised the Regional Meeting jointly with ID Ghana, a partner of the French NGO since 2007. It was also an opportunity to share experiences and see the progress made by each programme during this seminar full of presentations, field visits and practical workshops.

Beyond its implication in the event’s logistics, this Ghanaian MFI was able to present its activities, and more specifically the Onipa Nua lending methodology ("mutual care" in local language Twi), that staff and beneficiaries alike quickly became adept of, specifically because of its social impact.

Several tools used for the social performance management (SPI, satisfaction surveys, PAT), that some partners are already using, thanks to Entrepreneurs du Monde and its technical and financial support, were presented.

Finally, other topics such as the mutual funds set up by Inter Aide in India and Madagascar and inclusive microfinance were presented in plenary. Moreover, new tools have been tested (such as the SMART Campaign’s questionnaire).

In addition, participants took part in field visits to better understand the Onipa Nua methodology. And a training fair was also held during the week, so that each programme could discover and test topics and materials used by other MFI in the sector.

Taking advantage of each others’ experiences as well as getting direct support from Entrepreneurs du Monde, the participants discussed how to implement or enhance the use of these tools in their respective structure.

For example, in order to support its partners better, Entrepreneurs du Monde was presenting during the week a software developed by the French NGO that will be deployed in the course of 2012 to facilitate the encoding of the PAT and the monitoring of the MFI’s social mission.

In addition to thanking all the participants, Entrepreneurs du Monde would also like to thank everyone who participated, directly or indirectly in the organisation of the Regional Meeting: especially the Agence Française de Développement for its financial support, and ID Ghana and our volunteer translators and proof-readers based in the United Kingdom and Singapour.

They also played an instrumental role in ensuring that the event was a success.

ID Ghana took an active part in the organisation of the 4th AMT Summit in Accra!

More than 130 people attended the African Microfinance Transparency Forum’s (AMT) fourth annual Microfinance Investor’s Fair on the 13th and 14th of October in Accra, Ghana. The event brought together 54 rated African MFIs hailing from 20 different countries with 24 microfinance investors and several MIS providers.

The fair was inaugurated by the special advisor to the Ghanaian Minister of Finance, Professor Kusi, who urged that “transparent practices and efficiency will help microfinance institutions to secure funding, both local and international, which in turn will support the growth of their portfolios and reach a larger number of clients”, he continued that “open and transparent microfinance institutions must therefore be the industry standard.”

The purpose of this unique event is to facilitate and optimise contact between MFIs and investors and alternated between a series of organised speed dating sessions and a selection of presentations concerning the African microfinance sector. In fact, more than 500 individual meetings were organised.

This year’s event reached record levels in terms of the number of sponsors and investors present and once again MFI participation was strong. As is tradition, the Fair took place during the same week as the AMT General Assembly which was followed by a training course for MFIs on how to manage social performance, provided by the Social Performance Task Force.

Entrepreneurs du Monde’s partner and AMT member ID Ghana also played an instrumental role in ensuring that the event was a success.

AMT is an organisation supported by ADA asbl in Luxembourg whose objective is to develop the market for external performance evaluations (assessment/rating) of African MFIs so as to support their growth, their development and their professionalisation. For this reason, the fair was an “invitation only event” for African MFIs that had already had, or who were committed to undergoing a rating in the near future.

Further information can be obtained via the website www.amt-forum.org.

ONIPA NUA

Or "mutual care" in the local Twi language.

ID-Ghana is a Ghanaian microfinance institution that uses the ONIPA NUA methodology.

Because of its social impact and the benefits for the communities involved, staff and beneficiaries alike quickly became adept of this new lending methodology.

Does the name “ONI PANUA” ring a bell?

Maybe if you read about it in the French press this week. ID-Ghana is quoted in Le Monde dated 2 Mai 2011!

Click here to read this article.

This is for us a great opportunity to broadcast our actions to a wider audience of course, but it is also a way to show the great work ID-Ghana’s team is doing on the field! And to inspire others!

“Le Monde” is a prominent French daily newspaper.

The first Nubian Vault AVN EdM is out of the ground!

From an awareness session... 

Benoît SOME has been working  for more than a month for Entrepreneurs of the World (EoW), in Burkina Faso. Coming from the south-west region of the country, he speaks “Dagara”. 

Benoît Somé (on the left) and the beneficiary family

In the Dano, Koper and Dissin regions, teams from Entrepreneurs of the World and the Association of the Nubian Vault (AVN)  worked with the beneficiaries of the AsIEnA MFI to make them aware of a ‘microcredit Nubian Vault’. They explained  its terms of access and how to manage the reimbursement, before Benoit took over managing the project. 

This microfinance product has been developed under the project ‘1 Femme, 1 Toit, des Droits’ (which means ‘1 Woman, 1 Roof, Rights’) launched in South West Burkina Faso, by EoW’s Burkina Faso team. They are working in partnership with AVN, with funding from the PPR Foundation (Foundation for the Dignity and Rights of Women).

The woman of the family, Sophie, is checking the amount of the credit with Benoît.

Benoît also does training for women from AsIEnA. At each meeting he educates them about the benefits of the Nubian Vault construction.¹ It was during one of these awareness sessions that Benoit met Sophie SOMDA. Sophie quickly became interested in the benefits of the project "1 Woman, 1 Roof, Rights", such as literacy lessons. These are provided by trainers employed by the MFI and under the control of the Provincial Directorate of Basic Education and Literacy (DPEBA). In addition, Benoit does the same awareness training and follow up with beneficiaries of Entrepreneurs of the World’s MUSO project "A Woman, a Stove, a Forest", providing information on benefits of using improved, environmentally friendly stoves. 

.... to the construction.

Firstly, the construction materials had to be gathered, before the masons can begin constructing the  8x3.20 meter vault. The vault construction lasted 10 days. During this period, Benoit worked with AVN to monitor and co-ordinate the construction site. 

Armel Guenguere, in charge of the social entrepreneurship dpt. for EoW-Burkina Faso (on the left) shaking hands with beneficiaries

The Entrepreneurs of the World artisan is proud of this first experience and he hopes to repeat it quickly, before construction stops during the rainy season.