The Fletcher School

A Graduate School of International Affairs

Schedule

This schedule is a tentative agenda subject to change. Please check back frequently for updates and additional information.

Thursday, March 26, 2009: Conference Day I
4:00 p.m.Event Registration
4:45 p.m.Conference Opening and Introduction
5:00 p.m.Keynote Speech
Bob Christen, Director, Financial Services for the Poor
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
5:30 p.m.Dialogue I: Savings Groups – Competitor or Complement?

Moderators:Jenny Aker, The Fletcher School
David Porteus, Bankable Frontier Associates
Dialoguers:Jeffrey Ashe, Oxfam America
Bob Christen, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Malcolm Harper, M-CRIL
Marguerite Robinson, Author, The Microfinance Revolution
N. Srinivasan, formerly NABARD

Are savings groups an alternative to microcredit or a market platform for the growth of credit and other financial services? Are groups a transitional expedient, doomed to extinction once technology and formal services have spread firmly into once isolated areas? Or, are they necessary features of healthy financial intermediation?
7:00 p.m.Reception
for All Attendees

Friday, March 27, 2009: Conference Day II
9:00 a.m.Continental Breakfast
for All Attendees
9:30 a.m.Dialogue II: Burning Issues

Moderators: Kathleen Stack, Freedom From Hunger
Peter Walker, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Dialoguers: Hugh Allen, Consultant, formerly CARE
Mamadou Bitèye, Oxfam America
Hans Dieter Siebel, University of Cologne
Tom Shaw, Catholic Relief Services
Guy Stuart, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

How do groups strengthen, consolidate, and link to better service offerings? Can governments and commercial entities play a role in group formation or spread? Is it possible or desirable to tie other kinds of development programming to savings groups? Should groups be offered a match to their savings to boost the capital they lend?
10:45 a.m.Coffee Break
for All Attendees
11:00 a.m.Insight Sessions
Insight sessions are for designed for brainstorming in smaller breakout groups. Each session will have pre-assigned experts who may share some of their experiences but whose ultimate objective is to provoke discussion among other participants who join the session. During the last 5 minutes, the facilitator is assigned the task of summarizing session findings and recommendations for next steps. This summary can be used as food for thought for Dialogue III Dialoguers, for open sessions the next day, or for beyond the conference. Dialoguers are asked to attend these sessions as well.

Session 1: Frontiers and Beginnings
Explores how to bring savings groups and services to illiterate populations, isolated groups, or new population segments. Also discusses savings group start-up
Chairs: Sandra Contreras, Population Council
Candace Nelson, Independent Consultant
Experts: Joanna Ledgerwood, Aga Khan Foundation
Brett Matthews, Mathwood
John Gaunt, GY Associates
Rewa Shankar Misra, Coady International Institute
 …plus dialoguers from previous and later sessions and conference participants

Session 2: Evidence of Impact
Investigates who is defining success and how, and how that success is measured. Looks into monitoring and evaluation from different perspectives.
Chairs: Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church, The Fletcher School
Peter Walker, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Experts: John Burns, Tufts University
Sybil Chidiac, CARE
Daryl Collins, Financial Diaries
Addoul Karim Coulibaly, CARE
Janina Matuseszki, Oxfam America
…plus dialoguers from previous and later sessions and conference participants

Session 3: Sustaining and Scaling Quality
Delves into various approaches to forming and spreading groups. Also examines revenue and volunteer models that allow groups to sustain.
Chairs: Jenny Aker, The Fletcher School
Hugh Aprile, Catholic Relief Services
Experts: Mamadou Bitèye, Oxfam America
Vinod Parmeshwar, Oxfam America
Guy Vanmeenan, Catholic Relief Services
Madeline Hirschland, Author and Editor
 …plus dialoguers from previous and later sessions and conference participants

Session 4: Groups as a Platform for Development
Discusses how groups can promote development in sectors like energy, agriculture, health, and education; or, conversely, how these efforts might strengthen groups.
Chairs: Jennifer Overton, Catholic Relief Services
Julie Schaffner, The Fletcher School
Experts: Marc Bavois, Freedom from Hunger
Amy Hilleboe, Catholic Relief Services
Veronica Torres, Save the Children (invited)
…plus dialoguers from previous and later sessions and conference participants

Session 5: Financial Mainstreaming
Examines the ways in which groups are mainstreamed into more formal financial services. Also explores the role of technology in these efforts.
Chairs: Paul Rippey, International Consultant
Michael Swack, Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire
Experts: Tony Gaunt, Goldman Sachs
Jude Jacotin, Catholic Relief Services
Prabhat Labh, ACCESS Africa
April Rinne, Unitus
…plus dialoguers from previous and later sessions and conference participants
12:30 p.m.Lunch
for All Attendees
1:30Insight Groups Report Back
2:30Dialogue III: The Future
 
Moderators: Dorothy Largay, Linked Foundation
Reeta Roy, MasterCard Foundation
Dialoguers: Lauren Hendricks, CARE
Joyce Lehman, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Kate McKee, CGAP
Kim Wilson, The Fletcher School

This session considers the comments of the Insight Sessions in the morning and the experience and opinions of the session dialoguers. Together they discuss the issues, opportunities and resources for groups. Should the formation and spread of groups be subsidized? Should financial and development services that support them. The dialoguers also consider ‘action items’ and next steps.

3:15Observation and Conclusion – Two Perspectives
3:30Adjourn

Saturday, March 28, 2009: Practitioner Technical Workshops
(Limited Attendees)
9 a.m.-1 p.m.Open Space for Practitioners
Practitioners will have the opportunity to explore key issues from the conference and technical aspects of savings group formation and program implementation. Groups will be identified and formed during the second day of the open conference agenda. This day will include a continental breakfast for participants before closing.