A two-day job analysis workshop for Branch Managers of the Microfinance industry was held on 15-16 May 2012 in Manila in response to the need for enhancing the initial competency profile developed in 2008 for the position of Branch Manager in microfinance institutions (MFIs). Upon review of the entry-level core competencies of a Branch Manager in a workshop held last January 30-31 for the purpose of developing the training modules (learning packages), a group of microfinance practitioners and members of the academe concluded that these competencies would require upgrading in order to reflect the totality of the job competencies of the position within the microfinance industry.

The activity was attended by fifteen (15) participants from eight (8) MFIs holding the position of Branch Manager, Area/Provincial Manager or Operations Director and almost all of them grew from the ranks. The cooperating MFIS were: Alay Buhay Community Development Foundation, Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc. (ASKI), Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), Kabalikat para sa Maunlad na Buhay, Inc. (KMBI), Kasagana-Ka Development Center, Inc. (Kasagana-Ka), Kazama-Grameen, Inc., Tulay sa Pag-unlad, Inc. (TSPI), and Urban Program for Livelihood Finance and Training (UPLiFT). Representatives from the partner organizations, PinoyME Foundation (PMEF) and Hanns Seidel Foundation/Germany (HSF) were also present as members of the training secretariat and/or as speakers/observers.

The participants actively participated in reviewing and identifying the basic and advance core competencies for junior and senior managers as well as gave positive impressions on the Dual Training System Competency-Based Education (DTS CBE) and its benefits and advantages to their MFIs and the industry as a whole. While admitting that the competency-based approach in developing a curriculum is a tedious and meticulous process, they saw the training-workshop as an eye-opener in pursuing their human resource development programs in the future. They acknowledged the able facilitation of Mr. Antonio Alegria, a DTS expert and Executive Director of Dual Training System Networking Foundation, Inc. (DTSNETFI).

The outputs of the worksop were competency profiles for branch manager and area/provincial manager as well as a list of professional courses/subjects relevant to the knowledge or theoretical requirements in the development of training modules for Branch Manager.