Each year, Common Interest organizes an annual conference for its microfinance program. The goal of the conference is to bring Village Bank leaders together for an opportunity to share experiences and knowledge. The conference had at least one representative from every Village Bank. Here are some highlights:

In small groups, women shared their knowledge and taught each other.


Leaders from Surin province joined the leaders from Chiang Mai for knowledge sharing. Women in Surin have been operating Village Banks for up to 12 years. The lady in the photo is the President of her Village Bank. They started 7 years ago with 26 members and now have over 500! Not only is their Village Bank doing well but they have started offering additional services. Each member pays 10 baht (30 US cent) per month. This gives them hospital insurance, life insurance and funds for pregnancy costs. The Chiang Mai Village Banks were very motivated and impressed by what they heard from the Surin groups.


Representatives from Micro-Enterprise Tools gave a 1 hour sample lesson from their Business Training program. Using participatory teaching methods, members learned about the importance of savings for unanticipated events.


Approximately half of the Village Bank members are traders in local markets. If you have ever been to a market, everyone wears aprons. As a small gift, Common Interest provided free aprons to everyone who attended the conference.

Labels: chiang mai, conference, group, women