ACCESS Advisory

Our Company ACCESS Advisory is a non-profit consultancy headquartered in Manila, with a South Asia regional office in Kathmandu. ACCESS also has country offices in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Japan. Since 2009, ACCESS Advisory has supported financial inclusion and farm and enterprise development across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in Africa and Eastern Europe. Technical assistance to expand financial inclusion in rural areas is at the heart of ACCESS’s work. Financial service providers such as credit and savings cooperatives, cooperative banks, microfinance banks, and microfinance NGOs/FINGOs work with ACCESS on organizational assessment, product development, strengthening delivery channels, and staff capacity development to help them reach out to smallholder farmers and rural MSMEs while strengthening risk management and client protection. In its rural financial inclusion work, ACCESS emphasizes not only how services are delivered but also how rural MSME clients––ACCESS’s final target population––use financial and non-financial services to create opportunities to increase their income. To affect usage, and therefore outcomes, ACCESS works with smallholder farmers, agri-value chain actors, government agencies, funders, and NGOs on organizational development, staff capacity building and program evaluations. ACCESS also provides advisory services to regulators, investors and other stakeholders working to promote financial inclusion and rural development. To support rural finance and farm and enterprise development, ACCESS’s team of consultants specialize in four sets of services for rural financial service providers as well as MSMEs, trade associations, government agencies, civil society organizations and NGOs operating in rural areas: Research ACCESS uses a highly data-driven approach to understand its partners’ needs. ACCESS’s proprietary institutional diagnostic, market research, value chain research, and program/project evaluation tools deliver actionable results quickly and cost-effectively. Trainings and Workshops ACCESS’s trainings and workshops strengthen the capacity of its institutional partners to deliver new or enhanced products and services or streamline operations. ACCESS specializes in delivering knowledge transfer programs using a highly-participatory approach embodied in adult learning principles. Among its key pedagogical tools, ACCESS employs the experiential-based learning cycle (EBL) to shape capacity development around real work situations within the organization. In most cases, trainings are actually training-workshops, in which the participants are supported to analyze the situation in their own institution, identify gaps, and initiate the process of revising and enhancing systems, policies, and procedures as well as their own knowledge, skills and attitudes. Consulting Following trainings or workshops, on-site coaching and mentoring helps ensure that ACCESS’s institutional partners’ staff are fully trained and the new product or process is properly installed. For broader change management programs, ACCESS works with its partners to identify and capacitate an internal “champion” to further support the mainstreaming of new processes and management systems. Client capacity building program development In addition to building the internal capacity of its institutional partners, ACCESS also develops programs that contribute to positive change in the lives of rural entrepreneurs and households. From financial education and rural investment advisory services to instilling an entrepreneurial mindset and improving managerial skills, ACCESS designs cost-effective programs that are appropriate for the context and delivery channel.