What is this about?

Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Community Partnership Program

Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Community Partnership Program (CCP) is a global volunteering initiative. Since 2008, the bank has sent experts from its various business lines and infrastructure divisions to nonprofit organizations in emerging markets. Typical tasks include advising local management, improving IT systems and developing marketing strategies.
CCP is Deutsche Bank’s flagship program for a number of reasons. As a global financial service provider, Deutsche Bank can share its expertise with its partners, such as microfinance institutions and micro-insurance organizations in emerging markets to help build economic and social structures that are efficient and self-sustaining. At the same time, the program offers Deutsche Bank employees the opportunity to gain personal and professional experience abroad. By learning more about the lifestyles, mentalities and cultures of other people during a several-week stay, they gain valuable new perspectives for their daily work.

GIZ

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is an experienced service provider and assists the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation. GIZ offers demand-driven, tailor-made and effective services for sustainable development.

The project

Mountains of the Moon University (MMU) is Uganda's first and only community-based university, founded in 2005 and based in Fort Portal, Uganda. It is MMU’s  vision to become a leading provider of banking and microfinance teaching and research in Uganda; and a strong partner of the country's financial sector as it prepares for the East African integration.

Mountains of the Moon University offers Uganda's first and only Bachelor course thoroughly tailored to the demand of the financial sector. This Bachelor of Banking and Development Finance (BBDF) aims at forming hands-on, practically skilled job-entrants for regulated financial institutions, in particular commercial banks and microfinance deposit-taking institutions (MDIs).

In a co-operation between Deutsche Bank, GIZ and MMU, the project layout is to second Deutsche Bank volunteers to MMU twice a year in 2013 and in 2014 to add their experience in the field of banking and moreover managerial skills in areas like strategic planning, organisation, HR and public relations.

The planned activities at MMU fall into three main areas: (1) Improving the curriculum and building capacity for teaching staff of the MMU (2) creating linkages and partnerships with local financial institutions for internship programs and lecture series (3) building co-operations with local business associations such as Uganda Banker’s Association to increase the leverage and sustainability of the program.

The initial phase of the project will kick off with two major tasks:

• Support BBDF-teaching directly and indirectly (= mentoring lecturers)
• Organize internship and linkage opportunities for BBDF-students with local financial institutions  in Uganda

The „Bachelor of Banking and Development Finance“ (BBDF) is the corner stone of training banking professionals; graduates are absorbed for job openings in Ugandan banks.
MMU regularly collaborates with the future employers of BBDF-students. At least 6 Ugandan banks work with MMU through internships, research projects and guest lectures and through an advisory board for BBDF. For first Deutsche Bank volunteer-dispatch, the specific objectives are:

• The course unit ‘bank treasury management’ is taught by international standards and is one of the professional cornerstones of the BBDF-course;
• The majority of BBDF-students has found an internship placement in a regulated financial institution;
• The organizational foundations for the advisory council have been laid.

This regular interaction with the ‘buyer’ of its products, i. e. the employers of MMU’s graduates, will make the university relevant to the development of the financial sector in Uganda. Moreover, it will provide BBDF-students with formidable job market entry prospects, and FIs with high potential staff.