The
Expert Meeting to Formulate Basic Guideline on Microfinance was
successfully conducted on 8-12 March 2004 in NAM Centre Building,
Jakarta. The meeting was
co-sponsored by the Non-Aligned Movement Centre for South-South
Technical Cooperation (NAM CSSTC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
The participation of IDB in the meeting was in line with IDB
mission in providing technical assistance and project financing for
developing countries. Such joint programme conducted by NAM CSSTC and
IDB was regarded as a positive cooperation among member countries of
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC)
who share a common concern in advancing the development in the South. In
line with the main objective of the meeting, a number of experts from
different regions in NAM member countries and from Islamic countries
members of IDB/OIC were invited to formulate a basic guideline on
microfinance. The participating experts came from Bangladesh, Brunei
Darussalam, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Peru, Singapore, South
Africa, and Zimbabwe.
During the five-day
meeting, the experts have conducted extensive exchange of views on key
issues related to policy and technical aspects of microfinance.
Deliberations of those issues were conducted on the basis of different
experiences and microfinance practices in the participating countries.
Two different groups were set up during the discussion, namely Group
I: Discussion on Policy
and Regulatory Environment for Microfinance Institution; and Group II: Discussion on Institutional
Capacity Development of Microfinance Institution.
At the end of the Meeting, each Group has concluded a report on the
respective issues. The reports are included in the proceedings and
published as the first draft of Basic Guideline on Microfinance. As a part of the programme, the experts visited the microfinance village unit in Cisarua, West Java, one of the best areas of microfinance management. The programme was organized in cooperation with Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), a leading microcredit institution in Indonesia. The field visit was conducted as a comparative study, where the experts could learn a different type of microfinance activities, including best practices in Indonesia. The field visit was also aimed to give new experience to the experts on the application of different systems in daily operation. As
a follow up of the meeting, the participating experts will complete and
review the first draft of Basic
Guideline on Microfinance through further
communication with the NAM CSSTC to finalize the draft. It is expected
that within the period of two months, the NAM CSSTC will be able to
publish the final Basic
Guideline on Microfinance as a comprehensive reference for developing
countries. Currently, the NAM CSSTC is in the process of finalizing the
overall report and proceedings of the Meeting, to be further published
as an official report in the form of written publication and CD ROM.
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