Training and Capacity Building for Supporting the Implementation of Activities for DEF

Under the GIZ Employment Promotion Programme (EPP), Al Jidara implemented a study to assess the institutional strengths and weaknesses of the DEF across the 6 governorates. Following the assessment and based on the recommendations and findings of the study, Al Jidara developed a training curriculum offered to both DEF’s loan officers as well as a selected number of DEF’s current beneficiaries, that feed into their strategy of expanding into offering non-financial services (NFS). Through strategic capacity building support provided by Al Jidara, DEF expanded its loan portfolio into offering non-financial services to its beneficiaries.

An institutional capacity assessment was conducted to assess the skills of the DEF loan officers, and DEF client's training needs at select branches and also assisted in formulating a better understanding of the local market needs of each governorate. Al Jidara implemented extensive desk research in order to gather lessons learned from international best practices regarding the provision of non-financial services by microfinance institutions (MFI). In addition, Al Jidara developed a case study report with recommendations to the DEF, benchmarked against the findings of the first phase mentioned above.

The findings from phases 1 and 2 assisted with establishing a solid understanding of the institutional capacity of the DEF, as well as the training needed to strengthen staff capacity to ensure that clients received high-quality and relevant services. Al Jidara developed a training curriculum tailored to meet the skills development requirements of the DEF loan officers who work directly with client beneficiaries.