Responsible for the design and establishment of a microfinance facility to allow economic diversification through microenterprise development, including detailed monitoring and evaluation procedures. The project was designed to reduce the dependence upon pastoralism and thus reduce grazing pressure on the fragile grasslands in the project area.
1995 - 97 MICROFINANCE SPECIALIST and TRAINER - CHINA AusAID “Qinghai Community Development Project”
Review of microfinance policy of the Agricultural Bank of China, RCCs and RCF. Responsible, subsequently, for the design, implementation and ongoing monitoring of the QCDP microfinance programme. This included the conduct of a training needs assessment for project staff and clients and provision of training of trainers courses. Training for staff focussed upon programme marketing and information dissemination, planning and budgeting, appraisal of loan proposals, portfolio analysis, development of responsive management strategies and programme M&E. This MFI provides a range of innovations that allow much greater flexibility and usefulness of the service to its primarily women clients. The programme is designed to promote asset accumulation and entrepreneurship particularly among the poorest section of the community. A number of the innovations relate directly to the enhancement the financial sustainability of the programme such as contracting of village level financial intermediation responsibility to local women.
