Integrated Microfinance Management (IMM)
The original interest for the integration of national and local efforts to reduce poverty and promote empowerment led to the development in the new direction of integrated microfinance management since its establishment at LEAD.
The concept was further substantiated when Dr. Jane Goodall visited a Workshop Programme on Indigenous Knowledge and Development (IK&D) in Leiden. In 1994, new ways were explored in the ‘Roots and Shoots’ Programme in Tanzania of Dr. Jane Goodall, with a view to provide socio-economic and credit services to the local low-income groups living on the borders of the Gombe National Park.
The activities of the LEAD Programme further developed its focus in training and research on the role of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in sustainable community development in sectors such as health care, agriculture, environment, bio-cultural management and conservation, and soon was extended in the interest in the knowledge, experience and practice of the often poor, marginalized indigenous peoples in the rural areas of developing countries. A significant experience of some case studies in Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya and Indonesia underscored the crucial role which indigenous institutions can play in a combined community development approach at the community level with financial, educational, health, communication and socio-cultural services, well attuned to local traditions and structures.
In 2008, LEAD initiated as Programme Coordinator the design and implementation of the innovative Master Course on Integrated Microfinance Management (IMM) for Poverty Reduction and Empowerment in Indonesia, in collaboration with Universitas Padjadjaran (Prof.Dr. T.S. Joesron and Dr. Nury Effendi) in Bandung, Indonesia, Gema PKM (Drs. B. Ismawan) in Jakarta, Indonesia and the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (Dr. A. Nikolaidis) in Crete, Greece.
The following year, the design of the new IMM Master Course took off with the support of the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs in The Hague (EVD). Thereafter, the IMM Master course was launched for the first academic year from 2012-2013 at the Faculty of Economics and Business of Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia.