Strengthening the Capacity of the Ethiopian Academy of Financial Studies

Location

Ethiopia

Duration

2008 - 2009

Donor

IDA

Budget

300.000 USD

Description and Deliverables

The Ethiopian Academy of Financial Studies (EAFS), the former Ethiopian Institute of Banking and Insurance (EIBI), which was re-organized and established in 1976, was an off-shoot of the ex-Ethiopian Institute of Banking Studies (EIBS) which was operational during the years 1966 up to 1975. EIBI is since June 2007 transformed into the Ethiopian Academy of Financial Studies to render short-term training programs in the medium term and thereon to resume the educational program in the areas of banking and finance, insurance and microfinancing.

EAFS has set for itself the goal of becoming a “Center of Excellence” for delivery of training and skills development services to personnel working in Ethiopia’s financial sector. EASF is now reviewing and revising its current curricula in banking, insurance, microfinance and management development. The goal is to make its course offerings more responsive to current and emerging skills needs, gaps and demand in Ethiopia’s financial sector. It is also exploring options for expanding its services outside Addis Ababa through greater use of distance learning programs, including e-learning. EAFS also plans to strengthen its management and staff capabilities and build up a critical mass of trained instructors through a “Training of Trainers” Program. To implement these goals, EASF is being supported by the World Bank under the Financial Sector Capacity Building Project.

The overall objective of assigning is to render advisory services and to ensure the proper execution of the training and educational needs analysis of the financial industry and thereon to design and prepare relevant curriculum and oversee development of training materials for the courses to be conducted under the different programs of the Academy. Arrangements also need to be made to standardize and accredit both the training and educational programs by creating a link with similar reputable institutions abroad.
Sustainability of all the program components through full participation of the management and staff of the Academy is to be ensured.

Capacity building programs like training of trainers, management of training functions, exposure to manage e-learning or information technology led courses, and, where necessary, exposure visits to similar institutions, will be designed.

Services

Advise and assist EASF management and staff to implement the Academy’s training and capacity building programs targeted at the Banking, Insurance and Microfinance Sectors;
Develop and implement survey methods to update the 2003 training and educational needs of the banking insurance, and microfinance industry, at three levels namely: entry-level and junior technical staff, middle level managers, and senior managers;
Based on the aforementioned needs assessment, review current curriculum and course offerings with a view to ensuring that the course offerings, curriculum and methods of delivery are responsive to the needs of the industry;
Based on the needs assessment, identify the core priority short-term technical courses for financial sector professionals.
Oversee the preparation of training materials and trainer manuals for all the courses under the different programs of the Academy with a view to ensuring consistency and quality of pedagogy
Develop evaluation methodologies to ensure that the delivery of EAFS courses and training is effective, of high quality and relevant with respect to the needs of the financial sector.
Assess and recommend a strategy and feasible options for introduction of e-learning for the training and educational activities;
Explore and develop twinning and affiliation arrangements between the Academy and other reputable banking, insurance, and microfinance institutions abroad to standardize and accredit the training and educational programs of the Academy.
Develop a strategy to ensure full participation of the management and staff of the Academy at all levels of the training/educational need identification, curriculum development and manual preparation tasks to ascertain sustainability of the project activities;
Design and organize capacity building programs for the management, staff, and instructors of the Academy in the areas of training management, curriculum design and development, training of trainers to handle adult training, exposure visit, and other similar support programs.
Advise the Academy on developing a fee schedule for its training programs and courses with a view to partially or fully finance its running costs; and
Produce a work plan and quarterly progress reports on the different assignments of the project.