As a pioneering effort, PinoyME Foundation (PMEF), with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation/Germany (HSF), put in motion the development of advanced teaching materials for the incoming senior students of the Bicol University (BU) taking Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) major in Microfinance.  Held last January 30-31, 2012 at the Social Enterprise Development Center (SEDCEN) in Legaspi City, the seminar-workshop entitled “Development of learning materials for branch manager” is an important step that will further boost the gains of the program.  Participated by 21 representatives from nine (9) partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) and educational institutions, the seminar workshop provided a forum for the discussion of the development of teaching materials for incoming senior students of BU.

Facilitated by Prof. Ronald Chua of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), the activity is seen to be a beginning in building up the teaching materials for the use, not only of BU students, but also of other partner educational institutions of PinoyME in other parts of the country. Moving away from the task-oriented approach in module development, the teaching materials will be specially designed in order to develop critical thinking and strategic planning competencies among the senior students of BU.  In a highly competitive industry like microfinance, the said competencies are required by the executives of MFIs when it comes to staff recruitment.

The development of the teaching materials for Branch Manager is a major activity of the Dual Training System Competency-based Education (DTS CBE) of the Microfinance Capacity Building Program, a joint initiative of the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF), PMEF, and HSF. The goal of the said program is to develop and establish an industry-relevant, sustainable and effective system for the training and education of the management and staff towards addressing the MFIs’ needs particularly during expansion of their operations, and staff promotions. The Bicol Microfinance Council (BMC) is the primary industry partner of NCAF and PMEF while the BU is the academic partner in the Bicol region.