Oikocredit and Plan International Join Forces to Advance PPI Use in Cambodia >

“Synergy in action.” “Exhausting but exhilarating and exciting!” These are descriptions by key organizers of a recent PPI Training of Trainers (TOT) in Phnom Penh, where the first Cambodia PPI was rolled out last month.

“Synergy is where different entities cooperate advantageously for a final outcome, and this is exactly what we were able to accomplish in Phom Penh,” said Muhamad Awais, Plan International’s Asia Regional Advisor on Microfinance. Grameen Foundation’s partners—Plan International and Oikocredit—organized the joint training and expanded it to include some of Cambodia’s leading MFIs, including AMK, AMRET, PRASAC and Vision Fund Cambodia (VFC). Both Oikocredit and Plan International were pleased with the results of their collaboration and their work to achieve a common goal.

Meldy Pelejo, Regional Coordinator of Social Performance Management at Oikocredit, described the feel of the training: “We had 24 very avid participants actively listening, commenting in session for five intense days. It was exhilarating because they were dead serious about social performance management, and exciting because the participants came from the leading MFIs in Cambodia and they’re paving the way not only for the PPI but also for social performance management as a whole.” (Grameen Foundation's regional PPI specialist Cris Lomboy noted that “when participants were asked to break for tea at one point, nobody left the room.")

In addition to the continuing role of the MFIs who will be piloting and using the PPI, there were other key outcomes from the training event: 

• Awais plans to recommend the creation of a joint committee of Oikocredit and Plan International in Cambodia to monitor and update each other on PPI progress there. “I would like to see Oikocredit and Plan International set up a joint committee that will meet quarterly to share the experiences of each organization on PPI implementation and provide a mechanism to address certain challenges or determine further courses of action to enable MFI partners to become successful,” he said.
• Oikocredit, Plan International, Grameen Foundation and the participating MFIs organized a PPI Peer Learning Network (PLN) in Cambodia. “Members have instantly taken to using the network to continue discussing and resolving matters that were raised during the TOT,” said Meldy. The PLN members planned to meet every six months. The three international networks will provide technical support and other resources to facilitate the networking activities. The first planned session will focus on PPI data analysis.

Focusing again on “synergy in action,” Awais concluded, “Great results can be accomplished by institutions coming together for a common good.”