CERMi’s current projects include doctoral research (see "PhDs" section) and other research projects (here below) conducted in partnership with foundations and microfinance field actors. 

Other projects:

Creation of Complementary Master’s programme “Agricultural Policy and Farming Economy in West Africa”

Since October 2009, CERMi is involved in the formation of a new joint educational programme, a Master’s programme in “Agricultural Policy and Farmer Economy in West Africa”.
 
This programme has been launched in three African developing countries: Mali, Burkina-Faso and Guinea. The ACP-UE cooperation programme “Edulink”, one of the main funders, is helping finance the programmes for 36 months.
 
The Master’s Programme is based on the Millennium Development Goals, focusing on agricultural development. While the direct beneficiaries of higher education are supposed to be different actors working in the agricultural sector, the indirect beneficiaries are thought to be farmers and people living with a high risk of malnutrition.
 
The expected results are to be named with:
 
            - Reinforcement of the academic capacity of the project partners;
            - Improvement of the students’ skills;
            - Improved visibility of the agricultural problem in the public discussion.
 
In the frame of this Complementary Master’s programme, CERMi is providing two lectures.

Rating in Microfinance: Which Way Forward ?

In 2007, a research project on rating in Microfinance has been conducted by André Farber and Marek Hudon. This research has shown the growing implication of commercial actors in microfinance, and how they shape the role of international donors. The originality of the research is to focus on the complementarities between public actors, commercial actors and socially responsible investors. The research has also led to the constitution of a database on microfinance institutions and existing financing tools.

BNB Sponsorship.

The Uneven Development of the Microfinance Sector

Thanks to a grant received from the David & Alice Van Buuren Fund, a comparative study on the development of the microfinance sector in three continents (Africa, Asia, and Latin America), has been launched in March 2007. This research project, supervised by André Farber, Kim Oosterlinck, Ariane Szafarz and Daniel Traça, aimed at explaining the uneven development of the microfinance sector. It has shown that government implication is a key factor to a fast growing microfinance industry and that cooperation between different microfinance actors seems a promising way of extending the activity spectrum. The issue of geographical discrepancies, notably between urban and rural regions, has also been tackled. In November 2007, an international symposium on the Moroccan microfinance sector has been co-organised with the LINKS Centre of the University Hassan II Aïn Chock of Casablanca, directed by Fouzi Mourji and Mohammed Berrada.

Financed by the David & Alice Van Buuren Fund.

Scientific collaboration on “risk in microfinance” with the “Monnaie, Finance, Banque” Department, Université Lumière Lyon II

Since July 2005, the CEB microfinance team has been establishing close ties with the researchers of the “Monnaie, Finance, Banque” Department of the Université Lumière Lyon II. In 2007-2008, with the support of the “Commissariat Général aux Relations Internationales” (CGRI), this collaboration led to two common workshops on risk in microfinance.

During the first « Journée franco-belge de la microfinance », organised at the Centre Emile Bernheim (ULB) on October 26th, 2007, the speakers were Eddy Bloy and Cyril Fouillet (Université Lumière, Lyon II), Jean-Michel Servet (University of Geneva), Marek Hudon (ULB), Marc Labie (UMONS), Sylvie Fanta (ULB). The second meeting, organised in Lyon on December 14th, 2007, included scientific presentations from Ritha Sukadi Mata (ULB), Laurent Gheeraert (ULB), Marek Hudon (ULB), Anaïs Périlleux (UMONS), Célestin Mayoukou and Dorothée Masquita (University of Rouen), and Jean-Michel Servet (University of Geneva).

Projet Tournesol, CGRI-CNRS.