Launched in September 2017 by Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in partnership with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), the Certified Expert in Financial Inclusion Policy (CEFI) online course builds momentum with double its registration rate for the second intake in March 2018.

CEFI is the first ever online course on financial inclusion with a specific focus on financial inclusion policy and regulations. The course consists of seven modules that has to be completed within six months. The first intake gathered more than 35 registrations, of whom 21 took the final examination. All students passed the examination that resulted in the first batch of Certified Experts ready to take forward learnings from the course.

“The CEFI program provided me an exceptional opportunity to learn from global experts, acquire comprehensive learning resources and reference materials, and also develop strong professional networks that will help me stay on top of financial inclusion issues. I strongly recommend the CEFI program for anyone who is keen to become an expert in financial inclusion issues,” said course participant, Mr. Kusi Emmanuel A. from Bank of Ghana.

Participants from the first intake found the course content practical and relevant to their work, and in line with their expectations. In any anonymous survey, they said that “CEFI has been a magnificent journey around the most avant-garde topics of financial inclusion.” The course received a score of 4.9/5 on the content being ready for application to daily work.

“CEFI is a great course that will give you the right tools and knowledge to implement a financial inclusion strategy in your country, or at least — understand better the one in your country in order to assess it,” emphasized participant Mr. Alvaro Mamani Cárdenas from Ministerio de Educación, Peru.

According to Mr. Kenneth Odhiambo Opiyo from Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority, Kenya, “the reading evokes current development on financial inclusion policy globally and as an expert now, I now have a firm grip on policy matters to move to the next level.”

Participants also highlighted that the course delivery was well equipped with videos, presentations, case studies and reference material in addition to the core content. The survey revealed that “the delivery method was fantastic, easy to understand and available for usage; the reading materials were well summarized with important issues on financial inclusion policy; and the method of assessment by taking a test after every unit was very good … the assignments were also relevant and practical.”

Due to positive feedback and recommendations from the first intake, the second intake that commenced on 1 March 2018 saw double the number of registrations. “I recommended CEFI to my colleagues and they registered for the next intake.”

“The Frankfurt School is honored to collaborate with AFI on the design and roll-out of CEFI.  FS is committed to promoting financial inclusion, and AFI does incredibly good work to support this goal.  Together, we are committed to promote professional excellence in the financial inclusion space and look forward to welcoming many newly qualified Certified Experts  who share our vision,” conveyed Dr. Barbara Drexler, Associate Dean of International Affairs from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management gGmb.

The course runs twice a year, on 1 March and 1 September. Find out more about CEFI.