In order to continue capacity building on operation and management for PCFs, an introduction of the E-learning platform and training for PCFs was organized under “Strengthening People’s Credit Funds Project” (STEP).
During the last 3 months of 2020, 9 traning courses were organized for almost 400 people including trainiers of 12 Co-opBank branches; leaders, members of Control Board and credit officers of 75 PCFs participating in the projects. The courses took place in Hanoi, Vinh and Ca Tho city.
Representatives of Co-opBank’s leaders, Global Affairs of Canada and Department III- Banking Supervision Agency (State Bank of Vietnam) were present to give opening remarks at each course.
To respond to PCFs’ training needs, STEP has designed the E-learning platform so that PCFs can be supported distantly and STEP’s products and tools can remain their eficiency and sustainability. Many courses are expected to be made available on E-learning so that PCFs can join offline. This is particularly relevant given the Covid-19 context. Beside, online training is fast- developing trend that has become increasingly popular in the world in the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Two courses including Cashflow-based lending and Internal Audit toolkit have been completed and are now available on the E-learning platform to provide maximum support to PCFs in the implentation of the products and toolkit in their credit and internal audit processes. These courses have been designed with relevant supporting documents, videos, case studies with a forum built for discussions and exchanges between learners and trainers. This forum will increase interaction in the learning process and even new learners who have not been trained directly can learn distantly.
According to a representative of Global Affairs of Canada, STEP is one of Canada’s biggest technical assistance project in increasing financial inclusion in Vietnam. The Canadian government praises Co-opBank for playing the role of the apex institution of the PCFs system in Vietnam and appreciates Co-opBank and DID team’s efforts in adapting the project timely and flexibly by designing a solution that responds to PCFs’ distant learning and supporting needs and is relevant in the pandemic context.
In each course which lasted for 1.5 days each, trainees were walked through how to use the E-learning platform, cashflow-based lending and agricultural guidelines which were designed to support credit officers in appraising loans to members, and modifications and supplements to the Internal Audit toolkit.
Besides, Gender equality and Enviromental and social risks management were also included in the courses. These topics have been particularly highlighted by the project donor- Global Affairs of Canada. Two leading guest speakers in the fields were invited and received high interest from the participants. In the coming months, in parallel with main components, more activities on awareness raising in these topics are expected to be delivered.
In addition to the training, leaders of 75 PCFs had in-depth meetings with STEP experts to share and discuss their difficulties and obstacles in implemting the project’s products and tools. According to STEP’s experts, in order to quickly overcome the difficulties and improve their competitiveness, PCFs need to be willing to adapt changes in their leaders’ mindset and management. Only by doing so, they can ensure their development and sustainability as well as their ability in meeting members’ increasing demands. Through these meetings, PCFs’ leaders acknowledged the benefits of implementing STEP’s products and tools and said they would continue with the implementation.
In 2021, more training courses will be designed and available on the E-learning platform in order to ensure regular training with diversified content.
Following are some photos from the training courses.
