A First: National Association APSFD Senegal Uses Unique Retail Pricing Approach to Offer PPI Training in Kenya >
In June, three PUCA (PPI Users Collaborative in Africa) members– national association APSFD Senegal, along with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Grameen Foundation – excited about the success of the dual country training events in Mali and Senegal, began to discuss the possibility of a unique opportunity for APSFD Senegal. The association is the flagship partner of CRS’ Mision II Afrique social performance management initiative and has primarily focused its attention on educating and supporting its in-country members interested in better understanding and managing their social performance. We jointly explored the feasibility of APSFD Senegal offering a PPI training of trainers outside of its borders using a retail pricing model where each participant paid a registration fee. This would be the first time that such an offering would be made in Africa, and we’ve learned that it is the first time in the world that a national association has hosted a training on the PPI using this retail pricing approach outside of its borders. Elsewhere in the world, national associations have sometimes been asked to consult for specific organizations and train on the PPI, but the initiative and pricing approach taken by APSFD Senegal in this case is unique.
In its inaugural PPI training outside of Senegal that began today, APSFD Senegal will train 9 institutions and 16 participants from Uganda and Kenya. Absa Gueye, APSFD’s social performance manager and the lead trainer for this Training of Trainers (ToT) is joined by me and GF Fellow Donald Bodzo to observe and support this first-of-its-kind event. Attendees include staff members of AMFI Kenya, a national SPM association, several Kenyan MFIs, Microfinanza, international NGOs Catholic Relief Services, Stromme Foundation and Oikocredit, and staff from a software company and microfinance consulting firm. This retail pricing approach has brought together an interesting mix of individuals seeking to learn more about the PPI for different purposes and should lead to an engaging learning exchange.
I am personally excited about this event and the foundation we are laying for other national associations that are interested in including social performance trainings into their business models as a source of revenue generation. After the training, our hope is to document the learnings from our journey in making this experience a reality.
More to come on our experience over the next few days! Karibu Kenya!
***
The CRS Mision Africa is an initiative that provides intensive support for training, technical assistance and mentoring for a three-year period to build the capacity of national associations and AFMIN (African Microfinance Network), an association of microfinance networks in Africa.
PUCA is an innovative, two-year initiative designed to help African microfinance institutions effectively use the PPI. The initiative, the first of its kind in Africa, unites five charter partners—Oikocredit, Catholic Relief Services, Terrafina Microfinance, Planet Rating and Grameen Foundation—with the national microfinance networks APIM/Mali and APSFD Senegal.
Sharlene Brown is a Program Officer with the Grameen Foundation Social Performance Management Center, handling trainings for MFIs in Sub-Saharan Africa and Middle-East/North Africa. Sharlene is based out of Washington, DC.
