Top microfinance institutions to get technical grants from foundation

Technical assistance grants for sustainability-geared capacity-building will be awarded to institutions that will be judged the best in pioneering microfinance work in the First Paeng Microfinance Awards. Nominations for the award, named in honor of the late Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Rafael B. Buenaventura, are open until May 15. The awards will be conferred in November. To be eligible, each nominated institution should have a three-year track record and meet certain sustainability and portfolio quality measures. “For the product, service or delivery mechanism (collectively referred to as “microfinance program”) to be eligible, the microfinance program could have been introduced as early as January 1, 2005, provided that it was ongoing for at least 1 year upon application to the Paeng Awards,” according to the award proponent, the RBB Micro Finance Resource Center Foundation Inc. Nominations may be sent to the Microfinance Council of the Philippines or to any of the networks of microfinance institutions nationwide. The networks get to identify and rank the top 10 nominations they receive. The rankings will undergo further screening and evaluation which will include field validation and site visits. According to the BSP, there are now at least 210 local banks that have granted over P6.0 billion in microfinance loans to more than 900,000 micro-entrepreneurs. Microfinance is a type of banking service for low-income individuals and small businesses which have no access to banks. It allows them to save and borrow money, and provides microinsurance. - with Jon Lindley Agustin/AE/ELR, GMA News Nomination forms, ranking sheets, and other important documents can be downloaded from the RBB Foundation website at http://rbb.bapcb.com and at http://www.microfinancecouncil.org.