Dual Apprenticeship Program
Written By Admin Published on September 7, 2021

This program of ‘Dual Apprenticeship’ is a joint project implemented by RICEM with the support of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and DSIK (German Sparkassenstiftung). After covering two pilot phases for Dual Apprenticeship System (2017-2018 & 2018-2019), it has been rolled out whereby two classes at Kigali and one class at Rubavu are currently operating.

Before the classes start, RICEM in direct partnership with DSIK conducted various preliminary activities such as conducting training with Master Trainer Exchange, Training of classroom trainers, kick-off events with different CEOs and then after, kick-off events with apprentices at Kigali and Rubavu. Students will be trained and will gain knowledge in six specific modules in order to be certified as Microfinance professionals. The modules are the following :

1. General Economic overview and introduction to MFIs
2. Customer Care and Cashiering Management
3. Loan Management
4. Accounting and Finance
5. Marketing
6. Internal Control and Audit

So far, two modules namely ‘General economic overview and introduction to MFIs’ and ‘Professional Customer Care and Cashiering Management’ have been successfully delivered to the students, and the third module namely ‘Loan and Delinquency Management’ is in currently in progress. In addition to that, RICEM conducted three intensive training days to the in-company instructors, who are supposed to accompanying the students within their own MFIs. This ensures that those instructors will have a clear picture of how they conduct in-company training to their respective apprentices.

Unexpectedly, RICEM and its students find themselves in a situation with new COVID-19 resolutions, which were threatening the continuation of the trainings. RICEM did not remain idle, but thought of a solution to continue teaching via a contactless alternative and found the platform ZOOM for this. Therefore, the trainers and students received separate training on how to deal with the new infrastructure. At the same time, the team has put a lot of effort behind the scenes to adapt the existing learning content to ensure the most appropriate approach with interactive digital methods. By being open-minded and showing most flexibility in finding a solution, RICEM was able to switch from 100% face-to-face training to a 100% digital system with a rather short period. So far, the second module as mentioned above was partly conducted virtually. Starting with the last 3 sessions of Module 2 and then after starting with the module 3 which is in progress, RICEM resumed to face to face learning.