Asi@ITC

Information Technologies and Communications (ITCs) are enabling rapid advances that influence how many of us work, live, and play. But how can we ensure that information technology benefits society as a whole?

Entrepreneurship and the generation of income through self-employment are vehicles of growth for people all over China. Technological innovation and business development through “informatization” can lead to increased opportunities for all and reduced poverty. Microfinance is a globally sustainable system of giving small loans to small business owners to promote poverty alleviation and development.

Although the Chinese government both endorses and promotes microfinance, its power remains largely untapped because microfinance programs do not have adequate tools, systems, or effective technologies. Therefore ITC solutions and expertise have a critical role to play. Under the auspices of the European Commission’s Asia@ITC Programme, PlaNet Finance conceived and launched a project called “Transfer of IT&C skills to strengthen the microfinance sector in China” in February 2003.

Project background

PlaNet Finance China is committed to delivering information technologies to key disadvantaged groups. It aims to bridge the digital divide and focus on one key tool for sustainable development: microfinance. Our organizational mission is to set up a sustainable Chinese organization to support and promote the microfinance sector in China.

PlaNet Finance in Asi@ITC

In a three-year project that began in 2002, PlaNet Finance China used ITCs to develop the efficiency of microfinance organisations and to facilitate the exchange between the microfinance community and the policy makers. PlaNet Finance donated computers to local MFIs, created simple websites for them, conducted computer literacy training, and coached MFIs through the process of implementing computerized loan-tracking systems. With greater efficiency and transparency, microfinance organisations can now provide more affordable loans to benefit the poor. Furthermore, thanks to increased access to information, barefoot bankers were able to deliver not only credit, but also information, to their beneficiaries.

By using the Internet and communication technologies, this project aimed to facilitate exchange between the Chinese microfinance community, domestic policy makers, and the international microfinance community. The project also promoted international links between IT sectors around the world, including Europe, India and China.

PlaNet Finance China collaborated with the China Internet Information Center and Media Lab Europe to implement the following activities:

• An initial workshop for microfinance and IT&C partners
• Setting up a national microfinance database
• Building a national portal for microfinance in China
• Creating websites for microfinance programs and a hosting “ring”
• Promoting microfinance management and IT&C training opportunities
• Adapting and translating international training materials
• E-learning and face-to-face training for pilot training projects
• Delivering computer equipment support to selected microfinance organizations
• Promoting the project in China and abroad in newsletters, set of recommendations, and a final workshop
• Strengthening links between China and the rest of the world, in order to foster a dialog about the digital divide (under this project, funding has been provided for a study tour in Europe) 

Thanks to this project, a loan officer in Shaanxi can get online to e-mail his manager. A government official can read news about the achievements of successful borrowers in a rural region of Sichuan. A microfinance accountant in Jiangsu can take e-learning courses online to learn how to better calculate performance ratios.