With traditional Nepalese welcoming ceremonies like Tika and Khada, Govinda Raut, Head of the Micro Finance Department received a delegation consisting of staff of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (MBZ) the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the German Development Bank (Kfw) in the Nepalese Muktinath Bikas Bank. The Muktinath Bikas Bank was founded in 2007. In the future the bank wants to become a development bank on a national level with a broad range of services. The Savings Banks Foundation and their project partner, the First Micro Finance Development Bank is supporting this effort.
The German guests came in order to gain an insight into the work of the micro finance institution. Together with the Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation, the Muktinath Bikas Bank has been working for several years on improving staff training and customer service. Besides leadership trainings, several business games and seminaries for loan officers and members of staff as well as trainings in the field of financial literacy, the Savings Banks Foundation offers the institute’s staff the opportunity to get individual training in order to become credit expert.
Sita Pokharel is one of the „loan officers“. She accompanied the delegation when they attended a Center Meeting in the city Lekhnath. Female participants meet there on a regular basis in order to carry out their financial operations under the leadership of the credit expert. A Center Meeting has a standard procedure: women are given the opportunity to hand over their savings to the loan officer; after that loan repayments and loan applications are made. The group decides if a member is granted a loan or not. Training units for different topics are also an integral part of each meeting. This time they were talking about growing vegetables.
The participants who often cannot read or write are not only offered access to (basic) financial services by Mukhtinas Bikas Bank but also the opportunity to get together, exchange information and learn through seminaries and trainings.
Participating in the Center Meeting in Nepal gave the delegation the opportunity to gain an insight into the work of the Muktinath Bikas Bank and clearly showed how the work of the Savings Banks Foundation can make a difference in the lives of poorer people and people living in rural areas by providing financial services.
Contact partners:
Dr. Ilonka Rühle / Carina Lau
Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation
Simrockstraße 4
53113 Bonn
Tel.: +49 228 9703-6624 /-6608
Fax: +49 228 9703-6613