The Leadership Summit on Microfinance organized by Grameen Foundation (Christopher Tan), Microsoft Philippines, and Microfinance Council of the Philippines (MCPI) last week focused on technology to help microfinance organizations. For technology to be of assistance to an NGO, its mission, goals, business plan, and operational systems must be in place. After that, the seminar proposed a pyramid with three tiers. In the lowest rung is the stabilization of technology used. In the second tier, the maximization of the technology for promptness of information, usefulness, and accuracy for sustainability. But the seminar’s challenge was in the third tier of how to make technology maximize the NGO’s social agenda and innovation and serendipity in insurance, agriculture, health, and other peripheral potentials to help the poor to get out of poverty. Stabilization, utilization of technology for sustainability must be topped with the challenge to innovate in the quest to eradicate poverty. Microfinance organizations have gone a long way but the poverty is as glaring as ever.

Microsoft offered a million dollars worth of technology assistance to microfinance NGOs in their technology needs, while Grameen Foundation presented Mifos an open source and cloud based program for microfinance which is accessible to microfinance NGOs. This was most interesting because computerization for small NGOs has been a problem all these years. It seems that each organization has to be able to adapt the software to its needs and resources. This software may be good alternative for it cuts down the need for hardware and servicing expenses. The installation costs are the only hurdles still to be financed.

Some NGOs are against computerization because the extra expenses are not justified by the savings. However as the organizations grow, the need to computerize may be more urgent. And there is no way that growth will not occur because of the need to address poverty. Grameen Foundation presented the barriers as: limited understanding of strategic value of technology, lack of IT competency, poor technology fit and lack of management support. The aim, therefore, is to build skills by training and have complete IT solutions that can foster community, exchange of ideas, and partnerships. Encash presented the possibility of renting ATM machines to help service NGO clients in distant areas, removing the need for transportation expenses. It still is costly to service these ATMs but quite a saving for clients in transportation costs. Each ATM machine may cost the NGO as much as R300,000 but most of it can be returned after the five-year contract. These machines can accept any bank card in the country and, therefore, have promising potentials. Microsoft presented the potentials of Windows 7, Office 2010, and Windows business process mapping. PPI was also presented as a tool to identify the level of poverty of the clients and therefore a tool to monitor the progress of clients out of poverty. Out of about 500 parameters, ten items were selected to give a good approximation of the poverty status of the client. In general the whole conference was a successful effort to help NGOs in their service to the poor. <emeterio_barcelon@yahoo.com>