Business

Players in Micro Finance and Credit Union sectors build capacity

A two-day capacity building for the players in the Micro Finance and Credit Union industries has ended in Accra.

It was on the theme “Qualified experts as the excellence for the Ghanaian financial industry – Dualised vocational education and training as proven practice from Germany.”

The objective of the training was to strengthen the capacity of the cooperative credit unions and micro-finance institutions in the country.

The programme organised by the Savings and Bank Foundation for International Cooperation in collaboration with the Ghana Micro Finance Institutions Network (GHAMFIN) and the Credit Union Association (CUA) was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and GIZ.

Speaking to journalists after the training, the Senior Consultant of Savings and Bank Foundation for International Cooperation, Dr Bianca Janecke said the programme sought to strengthen the capacity of the cooperative credit unions and other microfinance institutions through demand-driven, affordable and attractive training courses for board members and managers of such institutions.

She said the training formed part of a pilot  training project titled “Strengthening co-operative credit unions and other microfinance institutions in providing financial services in Ghana,” being implemented by her outfit in collaboration with GHAMFIN and CUA.

Dr Janecke said so far 21 board members and 29 managers had been trained under the programme.

She said as part of the programme 200 board of directors and 60 managers of GHAMFIN and CUA would be trained by October 2021.

Dr Janecke explained that the programme discussed the establishment of a sector-based training centre (Common Facility Centre) for in-service staff training for the non-bank financial institutions under the umbrella of GHAMFIN and introducing competence-based dualised vocational education and training for banking officers and microfinance practitioners in the country.

The Executive Director of GHAMFIN, Yaw Gyamfi explained that his outfit about five years ago approached the Savings and Bank Foundation for International Cooperation for assistance to build the capacity of players in the microfinance space.

He said,  although, GHAMFIN was organising training programme for it members, the Savings  and Bank Foundation for International Cooperation-led training had exposed members to practical approach to building the capacity of members of GHAMFIN.

For instance, he said the bank had an online training suite which provides practical training programmes for players in the microfinance and credit union industries.

Mr Gyamfi said his outfit was in discussion with the Ministry of Finance for financial assistance to sustain the training programme and build the skills of GHAMFIN to maintain the online training suite the bank had offered to procure for the association after the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and GIZ funding was exhausted.

  By Kingsley Asare

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