The Sustainable Microfinance and Development Program comes to South Africa from August 26 to September 6, in the final two-week workshop of the SMDP entirely devoted to Savings Groups. The SMDP South Africa will take place at the Redlands Hotel in Pietermaritzburg and is offered by the University of New Hampshire, hosted by SaveAct (saveact.org.za) and delivered by VSL Associates and SaveAct.
The SMDP Savings Group (SG) courses are highly focused. Designed specifically for institutions and individuals who are committed to results, it is designed for people wanting to create efficient and effective SG programs, operating at low-cost and significant scale, leading to a long-term output in which groups spontaneously replicate at high quality.
The course will provide participants with the latest tools necessary to design, implement, track and supervise the extent and quality of outreach. For this reason, it is very much hands-on and involves a mixture of classroom lectures, simulations and field visits to successful savings groups that have been running for several years.