MRAP Activities
Centre for Micro Finance (CMF) provides workshops, research seminars, and exposure visits that provide stimulus for researchers to develop and implement relevant, focused and quality research.
Programme launch:
First launch: The Microfinance Researchers Alliance Program (MRAP) was launched on November 14-15, 2008 in New Delhi. Over 35 Indian scholars applied for the programme, of which 20 were invited to attend the meeting. The candidates selected to join the programme brought diversity in academic disciplines such as economics, social work, regional development, finance, entrepreneurship, management, anthropology and organizational behavior, and were associated with premier institutions like IIT-Kharagpur, University of Delhi, University of Baroda, Sa-Dhan and National Institute of Rural Development.
Vijay Mahajan, Chairman of BASIX, delivered the inaugural speech in which he presented a succinct overview of the history of microfinance and rural development in India. Other eminent speakers present at the event included Dr. Nachiket Mor, member of Board of Governors of IFMR, Justin Oliver, Executive Director of CMF, Annie Duflo, Research Network Director at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and Dr. Malcolm Harper, Professor Emeritus, Cranfield University, who encouraged the candidates by presenting topical research issues, detailing existing research.
MRAP Participants with Dr. Malcolm Harper
Second Launch: MRAP was re-launched on July 25-26th, 2009 in Chennai. The programme was attended by Mr. PN Vasudevan, Promoter and Managing Director of Equitas Microfinance India P. Ltd.
To date, we have selected 26 Indian scholars from across India and they hail from diverse academic backgrounds, such as, economics, organizational behavior, regional development, social work, finance and anthropology.
Workshops:
Workshop I: Identify research questions and techniques: The first MRAP workshop was organized on February 21-22, 2009 in Chennai. The agenda for this workshop was to train researchers to identify relevant research questions and techniques to design rigorous survey instruments. CMF Executive Director Justin Oliver and Programme Heads Amy Mowl and Lakshmi Krishnan presented on these topics and also engaged in discussion with the participants. Amy Mowl discussed “developing a survey instrument” which included various facets like defining the research objective, deciding which modules to include in questionnaires, drafting modules to ensure they met objectives and were coordinated, and designing layout. She also talked about ethical practices that researchers should adopt while conducting a survey. Lakshmi’s presentation focused on the research methodologies employed in weather insurance experiments.
Workshop II: Principles of effective research and introduction to impact evaluation: The second workshop for new MRAP Participants took place on September 12-13, 2009 in Chennai. 7 MRAP participants attended the workshop. The first session- by Thomas Bossuroy, Executive Director, J-Poverty Action Lab, South Asia, focused on principles of effective research, different research methodologies, impact evaluation and randomization. The second session, by Lakshmi Krishnan, CMF Programme Head, focused on designing a questionnaire. Ajaykumar Tannirkulam, CMF Programme Head, introduced several new survey technologies to the participants.
MRAP Participants with CMF Team
Workshop III with EDA Rural Systems:Principles of Social Performance Management: EDA Rural systems provided a 2-day workshop on the principles of Social Performance Management (SPM) and social rating/reporting on April 23-24, 2010 at Gurgaon, Delhi. Frances Sinha, Ragini Bajaj and Kajol Arora presented on the essence of SPM and how SPM as a tool can be used to measure if the MFI’s social mission is effectively translated into practice, in line with accepted social values.
In addition, the workshop also focused on risk management, introduction to progress out of poverty index (PPI) and social rating. The sessions were designed to be interactive with MRAP participants discussing on several case studies provided by the EDA’s trainers.
MRAP Participants with Frances Sinha
Workshop IV: Introduction to different research methodologies (Qualitative and Quantitative):
The Centre for Microfinance (CMF) organized a two-day workshop to seven new members of the MRAP on October 18-19th, 2010. The workshop provided a thorough understanding of principles of effective research, identifying the research questions, qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, impact evaluation and developing research questionnaire.
The workshop started with a session on “introduction to qualitative research methodology” by Deepti Kc from the CMF. This session focused on demonstrating different techniques of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). This was followed by sessions on “Defining the research objectives and developing effective research questions” and “Introduction to Impact Evaluation” by Ajay Tannirkulam, Programme Head, CMF. Ajay’s sessions focused on principles of effective research, how to develop specific research questions, and different types of impact evaluations. The final session “Designing survey questionnaire” by Aparna Krishnan, Executive Director, J-Pal-South Asia focused on questionnaire formulation, proper coding and drafting modules for the survey instrument
The participants were provided with case studies and they were engaged in discussion throughout the workshop
Field Visits:
Exposure Visit to Bidar, Karnataka: The first exposure field visit took place on April 2-4, 2009 in Bidar district, Karnataka. 5 MRAP participants from the Southern region in India participated to visit CMF research site at Bidar. The objective of the field visit was to facilitate the participants’ understanding of rigorous research methodologies and research operation in the ground. Each participant, accompanied by a surveyor, went to different households in the village and observed how household survey was done.
MRAP Participants with a surveyor
Exposure Visit to Kolkata, West Bengal: The second exposure field visit took place on May 14-15th, 2009 in the peri-urban areas of Kolkata, West Bengal. Six MRAP participants from the Northern and Eastern regions in India participated to visit CMF research project. Each participant, accompanied by a surveyor, went to different households in the Kolkata neighborhood and observed how the survey was conducted.
Both visits started with a rigorous discussion with CMF research associates (RAs) and project assistants, which enriched the participants’ understanding of the projects’ research objectives and the implementation
process. They discussed the three stages of baseline, mid-line and end line surveys. They were also introduced to CMF’s project management system and operations to control the quality of data through a system of random checks and back checks. The RAs explained the technique of randomization and elaborated on the need for treatment and control groups. At Kolkata, they were also introduced to the concept of social mapping and wealth ranking exercises using the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method. The discussions were followed by visits to the respective sites.
Exposure Visit to Gulbarga, Karnataka: The third exposure field visit took place on October 9-10, 2009 in Gulbarga district, Karnataka. 2 MRAP participants from the Southern region in India participated to visit CMF research site at Gulbarga.
Seminars
Seminar I at Ford Foundation Office, Delhi: The first seminar took place at the Ford Foundation office, New Delhi. The goal of the workshop was to discuss the State of the Sector-inspired Initiative that the MRAP launched in August 2009. The workshop focused on (a) understanding the ideas of each MRAP scholar and their individual plans to execute the initiative and (b) providing a platform where the scholars could present and receive feedback from Dr. Malcolm Harper and Mr. N. Srinivasan- Author of State of the Sector report. Dr. Harper and Mr. Srinivasan gave extensive and tailored feedback to each of the MRAP participants who presented. Following the workshop, MRAP participants were given several weeks to incorporate the workshop feedback and revise their plans.
13 MRAP Participants (Bhavna Mehta, BK Swain, Debabrata Das, Debabrata Lahiri, Debashis Acharya, Indrani Roy Chowdhury, Lakshmi Kumar, Mani Nandhi, Manju Singh, Roseena Nasir, Shailendra Bisht, Susmita Mukhopadhyay and Veerashekarappa) presented their research plans in front of Dr. Harper and Mr. Srinivasan.
Seminar II at IFMR IITM Office: The second seminar took place on August 6th, 2010 at IFMR office. The one-day seminar focused on tracking the progress of the research projects of the MRAP participants. The seminar was attended by N. Srinivasan- Author of State of the Sector report, Bindu Ananth- President of IFMR Trust, and Justin Oliver, who offered feedback to the researchers on their research studies. The seminar made way for healthy exchange of dialogue and suggestions led not just by the experts, but also among the MRAP participants.
Other Courses, Conferences and Trainings:
J-PAL Course: MRAP sponsored 7 MRAPers (Bhavna Mehta, Susmita Mukhopadhyay, Mani Nandhi, Manju Singh, Syed Raza, Indrani Roy Chowdhury and Rosina Nasir) to attend the executive course on “Evaluating Social Programs” conducted by J-PAL from July 6-10, 2009 at Chennai.
Rapid Immersion into Microfinance (RIM) workshop: MRAP sponsored 3 MRAPers (Biswa Misra, Indrani Chowdhury and Shridhar Dash) to attend RIM workshop organised by Centre for Micro Finance (CMF) from July 26th- 30th, 2009
Microfinance India Summit 2009: MRAP sponsored 11 MRAPers (Bhavna Mehta, Daniel Lazar, Debabrata Das, Indrani Roy Chowdhury, Lakshmi Kumar, Manju Singh, Rosina Nasir, Shailendra Bisht, Shridhar Dash, Susmita Mukhopadhyay, Veerashekarappa) to attend the Microfinance India Summit 2009 organised by ACCESS Development Services held on October 26-28, 2009 at Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi.
MRAP Participants (Susmita, Bhavna, Veerashekarappa, Indrani, Lakshmi) at the Summit
Microfinance India Summit 2010: MRAP sponsored 10 MRAP Participants ( Amita Sarang, BK Swain, Daniel Lazar, Debabrata Das, Mani Nandhi, Manju Singh, Phanindra Goyari, Syed Raza, Veerashekarappa, Vinita Kalra) to attend the Microfinance India Summit 2010 organised by ACCESS Development Services held on November 15-17, 2010 in Delhi.
SOS Inspired Initiative:
(Please visit this page to learn more about the projects)
One of MRAP’s objectives is to narrow the gap between research and practice and foster knowledge partnerships between researchers and entities which provide financial services for the poor. Keeping to that objective, CMF has launched an initiative inspired by the State of the Sector (SOS) report. Through MRAP, CMF is providing funds to selected MRAP participants to conduct a field-based overview of a particular region and the status of micro finance therein, which will inspire the participants to develop new research questions for their future research projects.
The selected scholars’ project plans fall into one of two types (i) broad, multi-district examinations of microfinance issues/status at a state level and (ii) focused, issue-based examinations with a geographic area in mind.
The selected MRAP scholars are planning to focus on specific topic in several geographical areas such as Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Andra Pradesh and West Bengal- focusing on the diverse range of topics.
(For further information, please visit this page)
Achievement: Data from studies conducted by three MRAP scholars: Mani Nandhi ( The Urban Poor and Their Money: A Study of Cycle Rickshaw Pullers in Delhi and Evaluation of defaulter clients and impact of multiple loans in urban areas of Delhi ), Lakshmi Kumar (Gender empowerment and microfinance) and Debabrata Das (Microfinance in Assam) were cited in this year’s edition of the State of the Sector report.