The Sustainable Microfinance and Development Program (SMDP) is ending active programming for the foreseeable future. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our main donor the Mastercard Foundation of Toronto, Canada, our partners the SEEP Network, VSL Associates and Microfinance Africa Institutions Network for their unwavering support over the past ten years.
The UNH Carsey School’s SMDP is the continuation of a program that was founded at New Hampshire College (now Southern New Hampshire University – SNHU) back in 1999 called the Microenterprise and Development Institute (MDI). During the two decades of programming the SMDP and MDI has offered high quality, accessible training for microfinance and enterprise development practitioners. We have offered more than 52 workshops attended by at least 2,365 students from more than 100 nations and four continents. Between 2011 and 2016 we presented 37 webinars attended by more 1,200 participants.
Over the past twenty years, the SMDP/MDI faculty has included many of the pioneers and thought leaders of the microfinance, enterprise development, and Savings Groups fields. Some notable faculty include:
Hugh Allen, Joe Apea, Kofi Awusabo-Asare, Ernest Aryeetey, Jeffrey Ashe, Caitlin Baron, Monique Cohen,
David Cracknell, Daryl Collins, Essi Digo, Christopher Dunford, Alejandro Escobar, Kadry Furany, Carter Garber, Peter Greer, Malcolm Harper, Syed Hashemi, Madeline Hirschland, Gaamaa Hishigsuren, Linda Jones, David Larson, Nanci Lee, Fiona Macaulay, Evans Maphenduka, Lemmy Manje, Mary McVay, Alexandra Miehlbradt, Mary Morgan, Trevor Mugwanga, Andrew Mnjama, Rose Mwaniki, Candace Nelson, Timothy Nourse, Grace Oloo, Aba Quainoo, Martin O’Reilly, Vinod Parmeshwar, Paul Rippey, Jolan Rivera, Harsha Thadhani Rodrigues, Stuart Rutherford, Henry Sempangi, Tony Sheldon, Anton Simanowitz, Alexandra Snelgrove, Michael Spingler, Kathleen Stack, William Steel, Michael Swack, Chuck Waterfield, Kimberly Wilson, Graham Wright, and many others.
Our partnerships made it possible to bring the program to eight countries and a wide range of organizations. Our partnerships gave us the ability to include field visits – a unique feature of the SMDP/MDI – as a regular part of many of our two- and three-week workshops. Significant partnerships include:
The SEEP Network, the Mastercard Foundation, the Ford Foundation South Africa, Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM), the University of Limpopo, PLAN International, Catholic Relief Services, World Relief, World Vision, GHAMFIN, MAIN, Save-Act, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Ghana Ministry of Finance, VSL Associates, Oxfam America, Savings Revolution, WREN, FSD Kenya, FSD Zambia, Access to Finance Rwanda, CARE, Freedom From Hunger, Making Cents International, MEDA and more.
Many of our alumni have gone on to become significant contributors to the field and that is where you come in. If you ever attended a SMDP or MDI workshop, please follow the link below and complete the short survey. We want to know in what ways, the SMDP/MDI experience may have made a difference in your work as a practitioner. What are your memories and what skills, insights or connections do you still have from your SMDP/MDI experience?
In a few weeks we will compile the responses and include them in the SMDP/MDI Archive pages.
Our sincere thanks!
Bill Maddocks and the SMDP Team
