With microfinance programs proliferating around the world, success stories filling the popular media, and the emergence of a consensus around what constituted “best practice”, in 1995 a small group of practitioners came together for the first time to offer what would become the top professional development program in microfinance.
The idea was born out of a conversation between the program’s developer, Robert Peck Christen, and Marguerite Robinson, then Institute Fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development. Both recognized the need to quickly increase awareness of “best practice” microfinance.
As microfinance institutions were opening their doors around the world and growing exponentially, time was of the essence if new initiatives were to build on the experiences of their predecessors. Above all, the early faculty shared a sense of urgency, to impress on this rapidly growing community that financial sustainability is a pre-condition for attaining massive outreach.
Beginnings in Boulder
Originally offered through the Economics Institute in Boulder, Colorado, the first MFT was an offshoot of the World Banking and Finance Program that had run there for 10 years. At the same time, it got an added push from special programs designed for the Inter-American Development Bank and consolidation of the USAID special training program.
Sousan Urroz Korori, then Vice President of the Economics Institute, played an essential role in building the necessary support and infrastructure to allow MFT to grow so quickly. Today, she sits on the Board of Directors of the Boulder Institute, now an independent legal entity.
The Boulder MFT program took off immediately, growing tenfold in three years from 20 participants in 1995 to 200 students in 1997. Over the course of twelve years, the Boulder MFT has graduated over 2000 professionals from 131 countries.
The Economics Institute hosted the MFT for six years, from 1995 until 2001 when the Institute closed. The program didn’t move far, however, as a new institutional home was found at Naropa University also in Boulder, Colorado.
Boulder was the ideal setting for a training event that had become known for challenging perceived wisdom. Its open spaces, fresh air, high mountain peaks and small cosmopolitan atmosphere were perfect to set the tone for fresh thinking and critical debate. However, with visa difficulties for overseas participants an increasing problem, a new home for the program was needed.
Our History, continued Seeking Other Peaks to Climb...
Submitted by alvarogueny on Wed, 2006-05-03 14:09.
