National Consultation-Workshop on Alternative Mechanisms for the Promotion of Microfinance in Vietnam

On 24-26, 1996, the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture (VBA) and the Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Association (APRACA) held a joint workshop in Hanoi on Alternative Mechanisms for the Promotion of Microfinance in Vietnam. The workshop was hosted by VBA and supported by the German technical assistance agency GTZ. The workshop was attended by some 60 national participants from the State Bank of Vietnam, the Government Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Central Economics Committee, the People's and Mountainous Committee, the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture, the Vietnam Bank for the Poor, the Central People's Credit Fund, the National Economics University, the Vietnamese Farmers' Association, and the Vietnamese Women's Union. Further the workshop was attended by some 20 foreign participants from APRACA, ACS (APRACA Consultancy Services), BAAC (Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives) in Thailand, Bank Indonesia & PHBK, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, CIDSE (an international NGO in Vietnam), GTZ, NABARD from India, and UNDP (Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur). --

Commercial Aspects of Self-Help Group Banking in India: A Study of Bank Transaction Costs

There are two outstanding aspects to Nabard’s Linking Banks and Self-Help Groups: with an outreach to 500,000 SHGs and a population of 40m rural poor, it is the largest non-directed microsavings & microcredit program in the developing world; and its bank lending rates – fluctuating at market rates around 7% in real terms – are among the lowest. Is it a commercial proposition for the 17,000 participating bank branches, and perhaps for another 20,000 who might join the program to reach a population of 100m by 2008? We are presenting a methodology for the study of financial products, applied to seven units of three banks in October 2002. The results are indicative only. We applied average cost analysis, attributing all costs duly to each product; and marginal cost analysis, in response to the advice of bank managers to ignore personnel costs of SHG banking because of existing idle capacities. Main performance indicators are non-performing loans, return on average assets, and operational self-sufficiency. Non-performing loans to SHGs were 0%, testifying to the effectiveness of group lending to the very poor. In contrast, consolidated NPL ratios ranged from 2.6% to 18%; and of Cash Credit (CC) and Agricultural Term Loans (ATL) up to 55% and 62%, respectively. Returns on average assets of SHG Banking ranged from 1.4% to 7.5% by average and 4.6% to 11.8% by marginal cost analysis, compared to –1.7% to 2.3% consolidated. The operational self-sufficiency of SHG banking ranged from 110% to 165% by average and 142% to 286% by marginal cost analysis, compared to 86% to 145% consolidated. In contrast, ROA of Cash Credit varied from –10.2% to –0.5% and of ATL from –6.3% to 0.2%; OSS ratios from 54% to 102%. SHG Banking was found to be a robust financial product, performing well in healthy and distressed financial institutions. Self-reliance of SHGs based on internal savings and retained earnings was found to be rapidly growing, exceeding in older groups the volume of bank refinance by an increasing margin. In addition SHGs deposit substantial amounts of savings voluntarily in banks as a reserve for bad debts. In addition to direct effects on bank profits, SHG Banking has indirect commercial effects on banks in terms of improved overall vibrancy in banking activities. Indirect benefits at village level include the spreading of thrift and financial self-reliance and of a credit culture among villagers, microentrepreneurial experience, growth of assets and incomes, the spreading of financial management skills, and the decline of private money lending. Intangible social benefits are reportedly many: self-confidence and empowerment of women in civic affairs and local politics, improved school enrolment and women’s literacy, better family planning and health, improved sanitation, reduction of drinking and smoking among men, and a decline in adherence to local extremism. The future sustainability of SHG Banking hinges on five factors: (a) A sound self-supporting institutional framework is in place. (b) Despite exceptionally low interest rates, linkage banking was found to be viable and profit-making for all financial institutions and SHGs; however, many rural banks require restructuring. (c) SHGs have substantially increased their level of self-reliance and deposited reserves, while banks are constrained by high statutory liquidity requirements. (d) Given the low inflation rate, preservation of the value of resources is no major issue, except in distressed banks. (e) With continually increasing internal funds, effective supervision of SHGs through a delegated system, together with the enforcement of prudential norms in banks and cooperatives, emerges as a major challenge to the long-term sustainability of SHG banking and rural finance in India. Among the topics for further study are: pricing of financial products in a random sample of rural financial institutions; extending SHG Banking to the middle poor; options of delegated supervision for SHGs and cooperatives; collateral for larger loans within SHGs; loan protection through life insurance; and options for individual performance incentives in banks and cooperatives. --

The Relationship Between Congruence Among Communication Channels and Degree of Mental Health

Writers from a number of theoretical backgrounds have asserted that agreement in the emotional messages conveyed by various verbal and nonverbal communication channels is related to the communicator\u27s psychological health. If this conjecture is accurate, then congruence among communication channels could be used as a behaviorally based assessment tool. However, empirical research to test this theoretical and clinical assumption is relatively lacking. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that individuals who display congruence (agreement) between verbal (language), verbal/vocal (language plus paralinguistic cues, or speech) and nonverbal (facial) channels of communication will show a greater degree of mental health than will individuals who display incongruence. Degree of mental health was operationally defined as an individual\u27s scores on the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI). Fifty-six subjects were administrated the POI and were interviewed on videotape. Three pairs of judges rated the videotapes for the affects communicated in the video channel (picture only), the audio channel (sound only), and the transcript channel (the subject\u27s words transcribed onto paper). Comparisons of affect ratings across channels yielded difference scores, resulting in measures of various types of congruence. Analyses of variance were carried out with difference scores as independent variables and and overall POI score as the dependent variable. No significant results were obtained. Multivariate analyses of the POI subscales were also performed, again with nonsignificant findings. Alternative explanations of the congruence phenomenon and methodological limitations are presented. Implications for the clinical utility of congruence and for future research are discussed

Effects of a multi-component exercise program and calcium–vitamin-D3-fortified milk on bone mineral density in older men : a randomised controlled trial

Summary We examined the independent and combined effects of a multi-component exercise program and calcium&ndash;vitamin-D3-fortified milk on bone mineral density (BMD) in older men. Exercise resulted in a 1.8% net gain in femoral neck BMD, but additional calcium&ndash;vitamin D3 did not enhance the response in this group of older well-nourished men.Introduction This 12-month randomised controlled trial assessed whether calcium&ndash;vitamin-D3-fortified milk could enhance the effects of a multi-component exercise program on BMD in older men.Methods Men (n&thinsp; =&thinsp;180) aged 50&ndash;79 years were randomised into: (1) exercise + fortified milk; (2) exercise; (3) fortified milk; or (4) controls. Exercise consisted of high intensity progressive resistance training with weight-bearing impact exercise. Men assigned to fortified milk consumed 400 mL/day of low fat milk providing an additional 1,000 mg/day calcium and 800 IU/day vitamin D3. Femoral neck (FN), total hip, lumbar spine and trochanter BMD and body composition (DXA), muscle strength 25-hydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were assessed.Results There were no exercise-by-fortified milk interactions at any skeletal site. Exercise resulted in a 1.8% net gain in FN BMD relative to no-exercise (p&thinsp;&lt;&thinsp;0.001); lean mass (0.6 kg, p&thinsp;&lt;&thinsp;0.05) and muscle strength (20&ndash;52%, p&thinsp;&lt;&thinsp;0.001) also increased in response to exercise. For lumbar spine BMD, there was a net 1.4&ndash;1.5% increase in all treatment groups relative to controls (all p&thinsp;&lt;&thinsp;0.01). There were no main effects of fortified milk at any skeletal site.Conclusion A multi-component community-based exercise program was effective for increasing FN BMD in older men, but additional calcium&ndash;vitamin D3 did not enhance the osteogenic response.<br /

Collective Thinking for Extension Practice: A Time and Place for World Café

World café (WC) is a structured methodology that provides an opportunity for collective thinking through open dialogue. The WC concept affords the opportunity for individuals to engage in the sharing of ideas and knowledge. Participants rotate through timed discussions on different themes with different groups of individuals, providing for an intermixing of ideas. Facilitators benefit from accessing dialogue output and ideas related to chosen topics of discussion as a result of collective input. Extension professionals should consider WC for increasing communication and generating shared knowledge. Our approach to WC was implemented at the 2016 National Health Outreach Conference

A Survey of Laboratory Programs for First Year Medical Students

Basic science courses offered to freshmen medical students have been traditionally taught by didactic presentations and laboratory work. Various factors have prompted many departments to either markedly reduce the time allotted for the traditional, but more vulnerable, laboratory phase of these courses or drastically alter the content of the laboratory programs. Information concerning the desirability for such changes is incomplete and no evaluation has been developed to determine the effectiveness of change. Before beginning any further alterations in the laboratory programs at the Medical College of Virginia, it seemed desirable to determine anew what we wish to teach in the laboratory. This problem was approached in part by surveying the attitudes of other anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology departments