Private Service Provider: Implementation Manual

This manual on Private Service Provider (PSP) delivery channel has been developed to function as a standard for the savings groups industry. It contains modules on initial market development, outreach, agent supervision, certification, and fee-for-service. The PSP model intends to prepare agents to become independent service providers operating on a market-led basis, in a bid to ensure the long-term (post-project) availability of Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) services in a given area. The manual follows the chronology of a PSP-SILC project. It is divided into four modules that represent four main phases of a project:

• Preparation phase: this module helps implementers plan the project by selecting and mapping a project area; determining required staffing, equipment and resources, projecting outreach, and recruiting agents;
• FA phase: this module covers agent trainings, agent deployment and strategies to cover the operating area, effective and supportive agent supervision, and preparing for the PSP phase;
• PSP phase: this module provides detailed guidance on agent examination, PSP certification and launching, and the FA-to-PSP transition period;
• Networks and apprentices: this module covers the organization of PSPs into peer networks, as well as the development of an apprenticeship process to increase the number of active agents in a project area.