Further to the anticipated wider program roll-out of the Dual Training System Competency-Based Education (DTS CBE)  in the next school year, PinoyME Foundation (PMEF) recently completed a training workshop for faculty members and trainors last October 5-7, 2011 in Metro Manila. The DTS CBE is a component of the Microfinance Capacity Building Program, an initiative of the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (CAF), PMEF and Hanns Seidel Foundation/Germany (HSF).  PMEF leads in the implementation of the DTS CBE in partnership with the academic and microfinance institutions (MFIs).  Attended by 18 participants from eight partner academic institutions and MFIs, the training workshop allowed them to share experiences and insights in the program implementation as well as come up with common action plan for the following year. The participants, who all gave positive comments about the training workshop, confirmed that they gained additional knowledge and skills during the three-day activity that further prepared them for the expanded roll-out of the DTS CBE.

The first day of the three-day training workshop allowed a lively and vibrant discussion among participants on various topics including, among others, the role of DTS in the Philippine educational system as well as sharing of experiences and emerging needs to further improve the DTS CBE implementation. During the next two days, the resource person showed a series of video presentations of the activities undertaken by microfinance staff, and followed it up with discussions, which further enhanced the learning experience of the participants. The resource person linked the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) to the use of the self-contained learning modules for both Loan Officers (LO) and Team Leader/Supervisors (TL/S) in actual program delivery by the partner academic institutions and the MFIs.

The eight academic institutions and MFIs whose representatives participated in the three-day training workshop were: Bicol University (BU), Brokenshire College (BC), Center for Community Transformation- Training & Development Institute (CCT-TDI), Alalay sa Kaunlaran-Skills and Knowledge Institute (ASKI-SKI), University of Makati (UMak), Araullo University (AU), Alay Buhay (AB) and Simbag sa Pag-asenso (SEDP).  The training was facilitated by experts on Dual Training System (DTS) and on the Microfinance Management, namely, Mr. Ariel Crisostomo and Mr. Greg Macapagal of ASKI, respectively.