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There are probably lots of documents, articles, blogs, domain experts etc that exist internally within Grameen or externally. It might be useful to compile this together so people can access them and that these may provoke some discussions.

see Centers and Groups Thread: https://groups.google.com/group/mifosusers/browse_thread/thread/3da9e7bae10e8756?hl=en

MFIs

Panel

Q4: Why is it that some MFIs carry out their business operations without the use of centers and some do not?

It can depend on the organization’s target population.

Rural microfinance programs which require loan officers to travel to various rural (and usually informal) locations to conduct loan transactions. In my current organization, we hold meetings in local churches or schools, and groups attend the closest regional meeting even if they are technically from a different geographic region. In a previous organization, loan officers met with three rural groups per day in different locations, usually a group member’s home. In both cases, it didn’t make sense to have an actual center due to the geographic distribution of rural loan clients and the cost of maintaining a fixed center in a rural, low density location.

Microfinance Domain

Center

Q1: What is a center?

Centers are physical locations where MF clients meet to conduct activities associated with the loan cycle, from the loan application process to regular meetings where *repayment* takes place.

The centers imply administrative capacity, like cashier services and record keeping, and are maintained as fixed, staffed offices. Multiple loan officers, managing multiple groups, are associated with a center.

Group

Q2: What is a group?

Groups consist of members that are clients of the MFI, and have some obligation to the other members in that group (like meeting attendance, or solidarity guarantee of loan repayment). I think of groups as the typical unit of microfinance. Groups are managed by a loan officer and depending on the organization and client type, may meet in a center or an informal location, in a meeting with other groups or independently.

Panel

Q3: What is the difference between a center and a group?

I would say members within a group are directly linked; for example, financially through loan guarantee. Centers are usually determined by geography and not by direct financial or operational obligation between members.

Exceptions

One MFI has the concept of Centers and clients, no groups. Really, its just a big group (30-40 members), but they call them Centers and also treat them like groups (IE, center responsibility, etc). This also creates interesting situations about how repayments are made (individually, as a whole center through bank deposits, etc.), how disbursals are made (individually by cash, individually by check, one large check, multiple check’s that span multiple clients, etc).

I only highlight this as something to keep in mind when working on new features, to follow what we know but to make sure you leave in some flexibility so we can try to accommodate different models when we run into them. This will help Mifos succeed in the long run.

Methodologies