At Friendship Bridge, we pride ourselves on being a nimble, learning organization that continuously evaluates our impact and responds to the evolving needs of our clients: Guatemalan women living in poverty looking to build a better life. Our tactics have evolved substantially since our work in Guatemala began in 1998 and last year, despite a global pandemic, our team adapted quickly, responded proactively, and focused on the needs of our clients with compassion to be Here for her in 2020. Today, with renewed confidence in the future, we are thrilled to share the details of our 2021-25 Strategic Plan.
What does Impact “Squared” mean?
Impact2 refers to the exponential impact our new strategy will have on an even greater number of Guatemalan women, families, and communities. We expect the results of our new strategy to have a multiplier effect as we serve two distinct client segments. As a result, our clients will experience a combination of increased resilience, improved empowerment, and business development.
New Client Segmentations
In our previous Strategic Plan from 2017-19, we segmented our clients into three groups: Dreamers, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders, which allowed us to offer products and programs tailored to their individual stages of development. This group lending model, paired with basic, Non-Formal Education, was effective in reducing clients’ burden of poverty, but it was too basic for all clients over time. Yet overall, our data and evaluations from this method showed us that we were on the right track and our learnings from this approach informed the changes we are moving forward with currently. With Impact2, we are implementing a new organizational structure that will provide specialized services to just two distinct client segments: Dreamer and Entrepreneurs
Who are “Dreamers?”
Dreamers are women living in poverty, mainly in rural areas, looking for access to financial services to support a variety of productive economic activities, otherwise known as “necessity-driven” entrepreneurs. This segment is characterized as hard to reach, with many small loans offered through our group lending methodology.
Who are “Entrepreneurs?”
Entrepreneurs are women looking to start or expand a business, who are living in vulnerable circumstances, and willing to assume some financial risk. They are highly motivated and capable of growing high-functioning businesses, creating jobs, and becoming leaders in their communities through the operations of “livelihood-sustaining enterprises.”
Theory of Change
With the mission and vision being the guiding light for the organization, Friendship Bridge has worked to clearly define its Theory of Change, which we convey through the metaphor of a tree. Each tree below represents the two distinct client segments we serve. The roots are the products and services (or interventions.) The leaves are the outcomes we expect to achieve. Learn More
How Will We Serve Each Client?
Dreamers
The Dreamer client segment will continue to comprise the majority of our clients. Our theory of change for this segment will focus on improving the client’s resilience and empowerment to positively impact her family. Altogether, we expect that every Dreamer client we support will impact six people beyond our reach. We are prepared to serve Dreamer clients by adopting new technologies to improve our efficiency, reach more clients, and expand our holistic services.
Entrepreneurs
We plan to empower more than 1,000 women entrepreneurs with business development by 2025 via the Bridge to Success program. Because this client segment is highly variable, we will offer personalized products and services focused on business growth and employment. New and graduating clients will access individual loans, structured in a way that responds to their business opportunities and capacity. They will also receive personalized advisory services, connections to peer networks, and access to markets. Although this segment will represent a smaller portion of our total clients, we expect their impact to exponentially extend to a much larger community beyond our reach.
Stay In Touch!
Interested in learning more about our strategy and the impacts we’re making for women in Guatemala? Follow us on social media to stay in touch with Friendship Bridge and the work we’re doing to empower Guatemalan women to build a better life!
