This case study documents learning from Fondation Zakoura Microcredit’s (FZMC, or Zakoura) “Expanding Financial Services to Vulnerable Youth in Morocco,” or LYKOM (which means “for you” in Arabic), project.

The LYKOM objectives are as follows:

• Enhance and extend financial and non-financial services available to youth (15-24) and members of their households in Morocco;
• Develop a system to retain vulnerable youth in a program that prepares them to access appropriate financial services; and
• Foster inter-agency linkages for successful delivery of financial and non-financial services.

Lessons learned include:

• Entrepreneurial skills training is not appreciated by all youth;
• The notion of ‘small enterprises’ and of growing businesses gradually is not well understood;
• Current minimum savings levels at La Poste (post office) may be a barrier to youth savings;
• Parents’ influence is strong, and programs may need to change negative parental attitudes about entrepreneurial activity.

From 2006–2009, Save the Children and Fondation Zakoura Micro-Crédit (Zakoura) partnered to implement a youth financial services and livelihoods promotion project called “Linking Youth with Knowledge and Opportunities in Microfinance,” or LYKOM. The program included financial and business literacy training, savings promotion, and access to credit for youth businesses. This case study examines the challenges Save the Children and Zakoura faced and the ways the institutions sought to address these challenges. This document examines the institutional, local market, and programmatic difficulties encountered, and offers recommendations and lessons learned.

These guidelines illustrate how microfinance can effectively support the elimination and prevention of child labour under certain circumstances, and they describe when the local context is not appropriate for microfinance. They provide guidance to organizations involved in eliminating child labour about how to utilize this tool so that households continue to have access to financial services after a donor-sponsored project has ended.

Some key findings include

• the importance of savings
• the importance of pricing loans in a sustainable way (not disguising grants as loans)
• the risks from targeting one group and excluding other members of the community from access to services
• the advantages of partnering with experienced financial services providers (NGOs, rural banks, credit unions, etc)
• the importance of considering other options when the conditions for microfinance are not right

Making Cents International invites you to a half-day, hands-on session where you can learn how to adapt field-tested enterprise development curriculum resources to your specific youth programming needs. This workshop takes place one day before the Global Youth Enterprise Conference.

Featured curricula include:



• Agricultural Enterprise Curriculum: This curriculum enhances agricultural processors’, input suppliers’, and retailers’ understanding and awareness of basic business concepts and market linkages, which affect their ability to maximize profits and improve production.
• Market Opportunities: This curriculum helps young entrepreneurs understand how to conduct value chain assessments. It also enhances their ability to identify market opportunities and potential business partners. They will ultimately gain critical skills that will enable them to develop successful and sustainable businesses.


• MicroEnterprise Fundamentals: This curriculum is for start-up and established grassroots microentrepreneurs who have limited literacy skills. It teaches participants basic and practical business concepts. Steeped in experiential learning, the curriculum uses visual aids, simulation, facilitated discussion, and peer-learning techniques.


• Business Fundamentals for Cooperatives: This curriculum is designed to professionalize the activities and operations of cooperatives and associations. It aims to help producer cooperatives and associations identify their strengths and weaknesses, set goals, develop strategic plans, and provide demand-driven services to their members. The material covers topics such as cost-benefit analysis, business plans, goal setting, financial statements, calculating business costs, and negotiations skills, among others.

The training will take place on:
Monday, September 28, 2009
9:00am-1:30pm
at
Making Cents International
1155 30th Street, NW
Suite 200

For more information and to register, please contact Fernando Maldonado at fernando@makingcents.com and +1 202-783-4090.

EcoVentures International is hosting a series of workshops to assist organizations engaged in or interested in youth livelihoods programming.

On September 28th, 2009, the following workshops are available:

• Savings Programs for Youth – Best Practices & Tools, an interactive simulation training to help youth-serving organizations incorporate a savings and loan component into their operations. It will be held from 9:30am-12:00pm. Details available here.
• Environmental Livelihood Programs for Youth – Best Practices & Tools, which is meant to help organizations incorporate youth into natural resource value chain projects and recognize new business opportunities that have a positive impact on the local economy and environment. Details available here.

This series will be held at 1627 K Street NW #300, Washington, D.C. Space is limited. To RSVP, email lauren@eco-ventures.org.

Microfinance Opportunities invites you to a one-day training on our new curriculum for youth, Young People: Your Future, Your Money, developed by the Global Financial Education Program (GFEP) as part of our nine-module participatory curriculum package. The workshop will be presented in four chapters: managing money, financial services, financial negotiations, and earning money. Participants will gain insights into GFEP’s approach to financial education for youth both in terms of content (topics) and how that content is delivered.

The workshop will be held:

Thursday, October 1, 2009
George Washington University Cafritz Conference Center
9am – 5pm
Registration Fee: $250

The workshop is presented in conjunction with the Global Youth EnterpriseConference. For more information, please follow the link below (and scroll to the bottom of the page), or contact Kate Larson at katel@mfopps.org.

This field manual by the Women’s Refugee Commission has been developed to provide practitioners with usable information and helpful tools so that they can design and implement more effective livelihood programs — programs that are based on market demand and are contextually appropriate; programs that build on the existing skills and experience within the target population; and programs that enhance the dignity and options for the displaced.

The publication is based on two-and-a-half years of research and 10 field assessments covering all contexts of displacement: refugee, IDP and returnee situations, in camp settings, as well as in rural and urban areas. It is informed by several pilot projects in the Thai-Burma border, Burundi, and Bogota, Columbia, among others. It deals with a wide range of topics, including microfinance, enterprise development, markets and value chain assessments, remittances, and monitoring and evaluation.

Save the Children and Fondation Zakoura Microcredit (FZMC) are implementing the “Linking Youth with Knowledge and Opportunities in Microfinance,” or LYKOM (which means “for you” in Arabic), project with seed funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and cofinanced with private funding from Save the Children and FZMC. The program includes financial and business literacy training; savings promotion; and access to credit for youth businesses.

Lessons learned include:

• Entrepreneurial skills training is not appreciated by all youth;
• The notion of ‘small enterprises’ and of growing businesses gradually is not well understood;
• Current minimum savings levels at La Poste (post office) may be a barrier to youth savings;
• Parents’ influence is strong, and programs may need to change negative parental attitudes about entrepreneurial activity.

Making Cents International is pleased to announce the 2009 Global Youth Enterprise Conference will take place in Washington, DC from September 29-30, 2009 at the George Washington University’s Cafritz Conference Center. This participatory and demand-driven learning event will convene 350 leading stakeholders in the fields of youth enterprise, employment, and livelihoods development; microfinance; education; and health. Members of all sectors will share their promising practices, unique approaches, and groundbreaking ideas that help youth develop the necessary skills and opportunities to start their own businesses or seek quality employment.

A whole half-day will focus on the new and growing field of Youth-Inclusive Financial Services. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to gain technical capacity, explore new partnerships, and share information with leading stakeholders from around the world. To view the conference program, see a list of sponsors, and register, please visit the conference website or contact Whitney Harrelson (whitney@makingcents.com; +1 202-783-4090).

Conference blogging: Keep updated on the conference through on-the-spot blogging on the Microfinance Insights blog.