Near East Foundation - NEF's Years of Learning a Lot about Credit Made Available to Lebanese NGOs

Near East Foundation staff carried on, conducting an intense, six-day training workshop on micro-credit for Lebanese non-governmental organizations, despite political turmoil, insecurity and assassination in that very area of Beirut.

Twenty-four representatives from eight Lebanese community-based organizations involved in micro-credit throughout the country instead concentrated on how to design, manage and strengthen local credit funds. Topics included such fundamentals as credit policies and procedures, client and business selection, bookkeeping and financial management.

Participants were health care and social workers, educators and researchers, women and the disabled; all with from one to 10 years of professional experience. Despite obvious distractions, they did well judging from the final evaluation, including an 85 percent content score and 86 percent for methods.

For the second time, the workshop was conducted in cooperation with Norwegian People's Aid; and by NEF staffers Loay Assaf from NEF-Jordan and Kahled Kamal from NEF-Egypt. According to Jordanian Business Development Manager Assaf, workshop goals ranged from the large to very specific: "The core principle NEF credit training delivers is that community-based credit is a process and a need within the general framework of participatory and sustainable development." For his part, Hassan Al Shareef of Norwegian People's Aid was impressed, "...very well prepared...NEF trainers' practical expertise...the main strength."

In fact, NEF was one of the first American organization's providing micro-credit services to the poor with breakthroughs in Macedonia in the 1920s. NEF has a long history in Lebanon as well, going back to the 1930s, and for more than a decade has worked in community-based credit funds in six areas of the country, supported by Jacobs Family Foundation and other local parnter organizations.

Besides Lebanon, NEF and its partners currently are engaged in community-based credit programs and technical assistance for microfinance institutions in Jordan, Sudan, Djibouti, Egypt, and Mali. "Our involvements are less sizeable than some agencies," NEF's Micro-Finance Regional Coordinator Majdi Qorom commented, "but I think we can point with pride to the innovative quality of what we do and its regional impact upon others in the microfinance field. We can certainly be proud of what our programs have accomplished for thousands of families in the countries where we are involved," he added with emphasis.