The APRACA Secretariat acknowledges that the wide network of APRACA member institutions and their wealth of knowledge are APRACA’s greatest strengths. Yet, it has also noted that activities are conducted mostly on an ad hoc year-on-year basis and lack continuity and focused knowledge generation and dissemination.

 

In order to further strengthen the knowledge management at APRACA, the APRACA Secretary General met with APRACA member institutions and Agencies to discuss the need for achieving the desired and ideal rural finance knowledge outputs, the need for conducting activities on a more continuing basis and the need for developing a more permanent working relationship with hosting APRACA member institutions. Thus, the concept of APRACA Centers of Excellence (ACEs) was born.

 

An APRACA Center of Excellence is a designation bestowed by APRACA on a committed APRACA member institution, which jointly with APRACA, undertakes activities built around a specific thematic focus. Examples of thematic focuses are: risk management, information technology, linking bank with self-help groups, financially empowering women, cooperative management and development, micro and small enterprise finance and development, medium enterprise finance and development, financing projects using renewable energy, financing projects using alternative energy, livestock lending, crop lending, etc.

 

A member institution may be an ACE for one or more thematic focuses. These thematic focuses shall be defined and refined in the process of establishing an ACE. The APRACA Secretariat shall, in coordination with selected APRACA member institutions, allocate the thematic focus and shall choose the most likely member leader (and cluster member institutions). The APRACA Secretariat shall take into consideration the members’ past and continuing roles as activity hosts; however it shall open the designation as ACE also to other willing members.

 

The activities of an ACE include the a) conduct of researches and studies, b) conduct of forums, training courses and exposure visits, c) provision of consulting services and technical support to other member institutions, d) pilot testing of innovations on the thematic focus e) publications and multimedia design and f) development of technical and training guides.

 

The ACE scheme is expected to benefit an ACE-institution by a) enhancing its prestige in the region as a knowledge source in rural finance, b) highlighting its regional presence through appropriate APRACA multimedia formats, c) upgrading its personnel’s expertise d)enhancing the quality of its documentations and e) further developing its institutional capability as a powerhouse of rural financial innovations.

 

An ACE-institution shall lead a cluster of other APRACA member institutions with similar focus. It is expected that an ACE-institution shall be the Chairman of an APRACA sub-committee on the thematic focus. The cluster members shall also benefit from the synergy.

 

It is expected that the entire membership of APRACA shall further benefit from the more dynamic and focused knowledge management through the ACEs.