Empowering people through cooperatives in Myanmar

A tractor-rental app, an app providing information on markets, prices, weather, and other topics of importance to farmers, and an app linking agri-producers to financial service providers were some of digital technologies featured in the forum “Modernizing Myanmar’s Agriculture through Innovation” held on March 18, 2019. Organized by the US Agency for International Development (USAID),…

Cooperative Formation and Savings Mobilization in Myanmar

Member-based organizations like cooperatives are gradually growing in Myanmar. In 2017, two cooperatives in Kayin State were formed as a result of a project funded by the European Union (EU). This initiative was followed by a project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in another township of Kayin State. The cooperative formation…

A Practical Approach to Key Credit Risk Management Challenges in the Pacific

Drawing on the experience of practitioners in the Pacific, this document provides and overview of client and credit risks, along with mitigation strategies and policies that financial services providers may wish to consider. Please use this publication as an overview to prompt further investigation, rather than a comprehensive manual that will limit risk. Read More

Completing the Kayin Project

Monday will be the culmination of a development project in Kayin State, Myanmar. A conference will showcase the results of the three-year project – a registered cooperative with savings and lending service as well as an e-money service, and an enterprise and agri-business enhancement component for the borrowing members. In 2014, the project started six…

Notes on the QSEM

The Qualitative Social and Economic Monitoring (QSEM) is a study conducted annually by Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT), a multi-donor platform, to look at the changes resulting from the development interventions in various parts of Myanmar. The Round 4 of the QSEM conducted from March to May 2014 involving 1,474 respondents was recently…

Sustainable Cooperatives: Alternative financial support systems for the poor

An emerging economic order The ASEAN economic integration scheduled to be fully implemented in 2015 will have great impact on the people of the region. Designed to be a common production and marketing unit, goods and services will flow freely among its member-countries and will trigger a survival-of-the-fittest mode for businesses in the region. As…

Are the Prospects for Vietnam MFIs really bleak? Some Insights during a Strategic Planning Workshop

What would you do if there are signs showing that your industry is moving towards sunset? It was met with mixed feelings by participants to the strategic planning workshop for microfinance institutions. The Credit Support Fund (CSF), a wholesale lending facility under the Vietnam Women’s Union (VMU) organized a training-workshop on strategic planning as part…

TYM Social Performance Assessment Completed

One of the main services of PFTAS is focused on the promotion of social performance management (SPM) as a tool for microfinance institutions. Part of these technical advisory services is the conduct of social performance assessment to determine if the institution has translated its social mission into operational policies and actual practices. In Vietnam, PFTAS…