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The General Assembly, Board of Directors, and an Executive Director currently lead AEMFI. It has six functional units namely: Training Unit , Performance Monitoring & Technical Assistance Unit, Program Management Unit, Research and Publication Unit, MIS unit and SACCOs unit. 

The staffing profile of AEMFI is shown in the following table throughout the past 8 years.
Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Staffing 2 2 4 7 8 8 10 14

Training unit
AEMFIs’ training unit was established in May 2002 to work towards enhancing the skill and knowledge of the board, management, and other personnel of microfinance institutions.

Accordingly, the following key objective is indicated in the Business Plan of AEMFI prepared for 2003-2007: Coodinate various types of professional training for senior, middle level and frontline staff of member MFIs, as a major way of fulfilling its capacity building objective.
In order to fulfill the above core objective the training unit is expected to perform the following activities:
:: Assess the training needs of the MFIs
:: Develop training content.
:: Develop training modules.
:: Conduct training.
:: Document the training process.
:: Arrange and coordinate exposure visits.
:: Document results of exposure visits.
:: Evaluate each training program and make the necessary follow up.
:: Come up with a cost sharing formula with the MFIs on training activities.
:: Come up with a criterion that will be used to select the MFIs and their staff who will participate in the training activities.
:: Timely planning (including writing project proposals) for and reporting on the forgoing activities.
PERFORMANCE MONITORING & TECHNICAL UNIT The Performance Monitoring activity of AEMFI was introduced in late 2001 with the employment of the officer in charge. Most of the monitoring activity took ground in 2003 after preliminary tasks were accomplished in 2002. ‘Technical Assistance’ function of AEMFI was introduced in 2003 with support needed by some MFIs to help them in their business planning and financial management processes to access loans from RUFIP. Objectives of Performance Monitoring & Technical assistance unit
:: Setting performance indicators and definitions for the Ethiopian microfinance industry
:: Standardizing operational and financial reporting formats and definitions
:: Satisfy the information needs of various stakeholders by issuing financial and operational reports for the Ethiopian microfinance industry
:: Improving management information systems of member MFIs
:: Improving business planning, financial management, manuals and procedures of member
MFIs Major Activities
:: Continuously revisiting selected performance indicators and reporting formats with member microfinance institutions and other stakeholders
:: Preparing and revising a performance monitoring manual for use as a guidance in collecting and analyzing data about the microfinance industry
:: Periodically collecting institutional, financial, and operational data and processing them using an appropriate database such as the MIX Market oracle based Toolkit
:: Disseminating the performance indicators, financial data, and operational data of the microfinance industry to various stakeholders using a bulletin published annually
:: Assist member MFIs in improving their management information systems, business planning, financial management, and systems and procedures

Program Management Unit

The Program Management Unit is actively working on advocacy, promotion and information dissemination, networking as well as managing the resource center and publication. In addition it will endeavor to maintain the good working relationship with the key stakeholders: Government, NBE, Donors and local training institutions and service providers. The unit has achieved the following activities in line with its responsibility given to it.

  • Advocacy and dialogue
  • Printed media
  • Electronic media
  • Workshops and Conferences
  • Networking
  • Others          

Research and Studies Unit

The Research & Publication Unit - the unit will ensure that AEMFI carries out and also coordinates research on those subjects that are of interest to the whole industry and the results obtained will help to build a strong microfinance sector. In the immediate future, the executive director will be heading this activity AEMFI has been involved in several research issues in the area of Microfinance. Those Research outputs were disseminated to stakeholders and the public at large through workshops & publications. AEMFI’s publications include Research outputs, occasional papers, proceedings of annual conferences, Microfinance financial analysis bulletin and Micro-finance Development Review” bulletin that serve as a means to disseminate best practice.

Management Information System (MIS) Unit

MIS unit was start in April 2006 before that there is a voluntary for a few months in this unit. The Unit is actively working in different activity.

Objective of MIS Unit

Support/advice member MFIs in bidding, selecting and acquiring appropriate hardware and software for IT systems/MIS

Support/advice member MFIs in troubleshooting problems with existing IT systems/MIS.

Support AEMFI with the development /Installation of computerized monitoring system

Assist AEMFI in computerizing the resource center

Design and follow up the website of AEMFI

Update the information in the website quarterly

Assist and advice in troubleshooting problems of network

SAVING AND CREDIT COOPERATIVES UNIT

In its effort to strengthen the microfinance sector of the country, the Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions (AEMFI) has organized a separate unit to handle the case of saving and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) since 2005 by the help of the Irish Aid. The SACCOs unit of AEMFI is organized to support SACCOs in building their capacity at different levels. Logical support will be provided by AEMFI through training, technical support, research, and performance monitoring of SACCOs).

The objective of AEMFI (some of) in establishing this unit is:

-To promote SACCOs through training, advocacy, different forums and workshops,

-To develop standardized manuals, procedures, and systems in SACCOs,

-To satisfy the information needs of different stakeholders who have the interest on the development of SACCOs and in turn in the poverty reduction effort of the country.