Guide / Toolkit
A Fresh Approach in Human Capacity Development - The Establishment of a Certification System for Microfinance Managers in Indonesia
How can donor interventions in capacity building be efficiently and effectively designed?
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This paper presents a new approach in the area of capacity building, namely the introduction of a certification scheme (CERTIF). It describes the capacity building system developed for the microfinance industry in Indonesia. The paper provides the answers to the following:
- How to create a certification system?
- Why to create a certification system?
The report further describes the features of the system:
- The system has its focus on skills and competencies needed by microfinance managers to efficiently and profitably run their respective institutions;
- The system is centered on a certification institute, the CERTIF Institute, which is in charge of:
- Developing skills and competency catalogues;
- Setting standards for training materials and delivery;
- Carrying out examinations to assess the capacity of microfinance managers.
- Training development is based on market demand;
- Training programs are carried out by the training providers competing in the free market.
Some of the lessons learned and main recommendations are as under:
- Embed capacity building into a broader sector development strategy;
- Provide enough time for conceptual discussions;
- Leave opportunities open;
- Ensure independence of the system;
- Provide enough resources for institutional development;
- Do not neglect institutionalization for operational tasks;
- Use 'smart" subsidies.
Finally the paper concludes with the three main favorable conditions identified for the CERTIF are:
- A conducive political environment;
- A developed (and segmented) microfinance market;
- An established training provider market.
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