This component aims to strengthen PKSF and PO capability as development organisations by leveraging trends in ICT, financial services, commercial platforms and new technologies, and to ensure that the project is managed satisfactorily. It has three subcomponents: (i) PKSF capacity building; (ii) POs capacity building; and (iii) project management.
In leveraging ICT solutions, the projects is collaborating with and build upon the knowledge generated by the IFAD grant-funded ongoing research by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). The aim of this grant is to overcome the persistent digital divide between women and men in the mobile money market in Bangladesh. CGAP supports the introduction of new smart phone apps to POs, as the penetration of smart phones in rural areas is increasing. Together with financial literacy training, the grant expects to improve the role of women in financial decision making.
PKSF has introduced numerous software modules covering financial management, human resources management, PO management, and mobile financial service systems for POs. Through the provision of technical assistance and training, the project will assist PKSF to gradually and carefully integrate additional ICT based solutions into its operations. The ICT solutions proposed below will be subject to feasibility studies and pilot phases, and the availability of local service providers will be assessed, before they are introduced.
The project is supporting PKSF to create an information management and sharing platform built on distributed ledger blockchain technology to ensure improved management of records and greater transparency in fund management. It is allow the borrowers, producers, associations, organisations, public entities, POs and PKSF to track sources of funding and to better monitor the detailed credit history of clients.
The project is being upgrade PKSF’s e-commerce platform for rural products and integrated business services, which was established under PACE. It leverages technology to connect rural producers (women, small farmers and microentrepreneurs) with new sets of customers, creating a parallel marketplace. POs have been assisted to connect borrowers to the platform and orient them on transactional methods – business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C). The project also address Crowd-funding, which enables entrepreneurs to rise funding from multiple individuals/investors. PKSF is developing an ICT platform and a mobile phone application for the sharing of advisory services related to selected value chains (as well as household health and nutrition information).
The project is providing capacity building for POs in: (i) IT systems; (ii) value chain management, integration, technology and contract intermediation; (iii) nutrition-sensitive value chain design and implementation; and, (iv) new product development where required.