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IV. CLOSING SESSION AND CERTIFICATE PRESENTATION The Closing Ceremony for the training programme was held at the NAM CSSTC Meeting Room of NAM Centre Building on Tuesday, 11 November 2008 at 01:00 pm, following the presentation of participants on their Back-Home Plans and Overall Evaluation facilitated by Mr. Achmad Rofi’ie and Ms. Christina Sudiro of NAM CSSTC. The Training Session was officially closed by the Senior Representative of JICA Indonesia Office. The Closing Ceremony started with a speech from the Participants’ Representative, Mr. Colin Agabalinda from Uganda. He took this opportunity to thank the Government of Indonesia, JICA and NAM CSSTC for hosting this important training programme. He said that all participants have really learned in depth the establishing and managing of MFI. The success of two different MFIs practising different financing schemes in Yogyakarta is a testimony of the success of microfinance development in Indonesia. It is a challenge that the participants must take back to their countries. He said as participants would like to affirm to the sponsors, implementers and facilitators our commitment to putting into practice what we have learnt during this training. To borrow the words of Barak Obama – President Elect of USA, Colin said these words: “because of what you have done for us during this training…….change will come to Microfinance Industry in our countries in Africa” Full text of his Statement is attached as Appendix F. Following Colin’s speech, a Closing Statement was made by Ms. Esti Andayani, the Director of NAM CSSTC. She expressed gratitude to the State Secretariat and JICA for their support and continued cooperation. Congratulation was granted to the training instructors and facilitators for their success in facilitating the sessions and the Committee members for their excellent contribution. Proudly to say that the second phase of the second batch of this training has been completed successfully and contributed positively to the development of microfinance in African region. He positively looked forward to conducting another training programme next year, and finally congratulated all the participants, the very best and safe journey home. Full text of her Statement is attached as Appendix F. A final Official Closing Speech was delivered by Ms. Dinur Krismasari, the Senior Representative of JICA Indonesia Office. Firstly she expressed her congratulations to all participants who have successfully completed the course with strenuous efforts and willingness. Despite the course is short, she is convinced that the training session has been effectively managed in strengthening the participants’ knowledge while enriching concrete experiences. In this conjunction she hopes that through the action plan and experience that the participants have gained could inspire them to create more initiative in developing real creative and innovative action through modification the methods and disseminating the concept so that they could fit into practical use at the local condition purposes. She mentioned another important aspect of the course is the establishment of interpersonal networking among professionals across the world boundaries. It was expected that after returning home, participants would disseminate the knowledge they have learned and further support South-South cooperation among their countries. Finally she expressed her sincere gratitude to all lecturers and officials of NAM CSSTC, State Secretariat, Department of Foreign Affairs, and other related authorities for their whole-hearted cooperation and collaboration. Finally she officially closed the session. Full text of her Statement is attached as Appendix F. Following the Closing Statement, all participants were awarded with Certificate signed by the Director of NAM CSSTC and the Chief Representative of JICA Indonesia Office. As part of the training programme, participants were requested to prepare paper concerning what to do in their respective countries after the course completed. The main purpose is to evaluate whether the participants have attained the objective of the course and whether it would be applicable to their respective tasks. In this regard, Mr. Achmad Rofi’ie delivered summary of the key issues discussed in the course which could be further referred to as a framework for back-home application (Briefing on Back-Home Plan) as shown in the Appendix H. The back-home plans prepared by the participants are attached as Appendix I. There are 7 (seven) common concerns/statements of the participants reflected in their Back Home Plans. They are: (1) Microfinance is a strategic tools to alleviate poverty; (2) There’s an urgent need for African countries to conduct capacity building programme for the existing MFIs and human resources working for microfinance development, both at policy and operational levels; (3) Encourage mobilization of available resources, such as technology and financial/capital; (4) Strengthening network of the stakeholders (Government Agency, Bank, Private, NGOs, etc); (5) Empowering community-based economic development focusing on micro and small enterprises, especially in rural areas; (6) Need to further study, analyze and implement the Sharia financing scheme in some African countries; and (7) Addressing budget constraints in terms of availability and methodology. There are two specific plans written by participants from Uganda and Madagascar. The action plan prepared by two participants from Uganda is requesting further assistance of NAM CSSTC and PNM to guide them at the operational level on how to initiate and start-up sharia financing scheme in Uganda. The programme could be a short technical training be followed by field assistance for implementation. The action plan prepared by participant from Madagascar is requesting further technical guideline from PNM expert(s) concerning the establishment of PNM-type supporting institution for microfinance development in Madagascar. |