Education has and will always be a signature component of Friendship Bridge programs.  While microcredit provides our clients with a hand up for their businesses, education provides them with an asset for life – skills and knowledge to create sustainable change for themselves, their families and their communities.  Keeping with this approach, in 2012 we inaugurated an advanced training program to help our more seasoned clients grow and diversify their businesses.

[do action=”image-right”]2013/06/CanningClass_Guatemala.jpg[/do]The trainings teach a variety of new business opportunities including advanced agricultural practices, pastry making, and canning.  Since its inception, nearly 400 women have participated in advanced training courses, learning to make new products and earning more income.

“This is learning for life.  I can now teach my family and neighbors these lessons and everyone benefits,” explains Angelica Zaput, a Friendship Bridge client.  Another client, Josefa Torres, is amazed at her own progress, “I began applying what I learned immediately.  I’m a vegetable vendor, and normally what I can’t sell goes bad.  Now, I pickle whatever I have left over to sell.  In just two weeks, I’ve earned an extra 300 quetzals ($38).”