Microcredit Archives - Friendship Bridge

Tag : Microcredit

April 11, 2017 / Comments Off

Education Changes Lives Cada Mes

2017 is on its way, and our clients are enjoying the beautiful weather Guatemala has to offer. They continue along their monthly journeys with Friendship Bridge, making loan payments and receiving lessons on the four pillars – women, family, business, and health. The Cada Mes Club, our monthly donors, follows this journey closely. The Club’s support is integral in providing this life-changing education. This quarter, we feature how preventive health education is saving lives. Click here to learn how to join the Cada Mes Club.

Doña Mili receives hugs from her grandson, while surrounded by family who are also part of her Trust Bank.

by Rachel Turner

Doña Mili walked slowly to her friend’s house passing small gardens and shooing chickens away with her handkerchief. She paused briefly to wipe sweat from her face. At 9 a.m., the sun already bore down on the small southern village near Patulul, Guatemala.

Arriving at Doña Ofelia’s home, Doña Mili walked up the dirt patio, gave Doña Ofelia a cheek kiss, and settled on a tree stump under the tin awning while waving flies away with her handkerchief. The women caught up on life since their last Trust Bank meeting, and Doña Ofelia continued sweeping the dirt patio – her one-year-old in tow.

The two ladies waited for their Trust Bank colleagues to arrive one by one. Doña Ofelia, as president of the Trust Bank, had offered to host a health clinic in her two-bedroom house with permission from her husband. As the community matriarch, Doña Mili, 49, came early to encourage the ladies to receive the free health education and services offered by Friendship Bridge and their partner The Maya Health Alliance (Wuqu’ Kawoq).

Doña Mili speaks with Nurse Dina from The Maya Health Alliance about preventive health during her exam.

A few months earlier, Doña Mili’s Trust Bank learned about women’s preventive health during their monthly Non-Formal Education (NFE) meeting, and although a bit wary, most of the twelve ladies excitedly signed up to see the traveling nurses for a free exam.

“In our community, it’s a luxury to get sick. It’s too expensive to get the care we need many times when we get sick,” said Doña Mili. “That’s why I encourage my group to take advantage of this opportunity for health services. Until our NFE meeting, many of us didn’t know what tests we needed.”

In our community, it’s a luxury to get sick. It’s too expensive to get the care we need many times when we get sick. Click To Tweet

At the end of the day, after all the women had learned more about preventive health care, received pap smears, and glucose tests, Doña Mili sat on the same tree stump smiling and laughing with her friends and family from the Trust Bank. “This is our first time hosting a health clinic, and we had a great turn-out,” said Doña Mili. “We must continue with education – it’s so important!”

Rachel Turner is the Global Communications Manager for Friendship Bridge. Having worked and lived throughout the world, she’s excited to now call the foothills of the Rocky Mountains home. Rachel recently visited Guatemala to meet Doña Mili and other clients working with Friendship Bridge.

April 9, 2017 / Comments Off

I’m a Dreamer, Are You?

CLICK IMAGE TO PLAY VIDEO

March 6, 2017 / Comments Off

Whole Planet Foundation Selects Friendship Bridge as Partner in Guatemala

Friendship Bridge Clients make tortillas to sell. Many clients take out loans to build their businesses. The average microloan is $378 with 4-12 month repayment periods.

Friendship Bridge has opened a new office of microcredit and education services in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, with the help of a three-year grant from the Whole Planet Foundation, the charitable arm of Whole Foods Market. WPF has committed $300,000 over three years to reach 2,381 microentrepreneurs in Huehuetenango.

“Over the years we have gathered enough evidence to be confident that our programs are making a positive impact in our clients’ lives,” said Karen Larson, President & CEO of Friendship Bridge. “Opening our new branch allows us to impact even more women in Guatemala. We are honored to partner with an organization like Whole Planet Foundation who shares our vision of empowered women choosing their own paths.”

Access to credit and education in rural areas of Guatemala is a major barrier to poverty alleviation. Serving rural areas is costly and logistically a challenge. The new office will allow Friendship Bridge to provide access to credit and education to women in difficult to reach, rural areas.

For more information on Whole Planet Foundation, click here.

October 20, 2015 / Comments Off

Our Dreamer Clients: Cruz

Dreamer: The earliest stage of development on our Client Continuum. Dreamers are often new to the Friendship Bridge program. Most of them are just beginning to experience increased confidence and family decision-making. Their priorities are usually beginning to shift from basic survival to education for their children and healthier standards of living. Not surprisingly, one of the first things they do with their earnings is provide better nutrition for their families and put their children in school.

Born into a poor family of 11 children, Cruz did not have many aspirations for her life. Her father struggled with alcoholism and did not support the family, so rather than attend school, Cruz had to work every day in the fields to ensure her family had enough food to eat.

Cruz’s life followed the typical pattern of a Guatemalan woman, and she married young, at age 18. She had seven children, but two died very young. Because she had not attended school, Cruz learned to weave in order to support her family, like her mother had done. “I had to accept learning my mom’s job, and now it has become my business. I am grateful for my mother’s teachings. She fought very hard for me and my sister to become good weavers.”

However, in order to give her daughters a chance for a better future, Cruz needed more capital to grow her business. She heard about Friendship Bridge from two women in her community who were Friendship Bridge clients, and she applied for a loan and joined a Trust Bank. In addition to her loan, Cruz says the monthly Non-Formal Education sessions have been very valuable, and she has especially benefited from trainings on health, hygiene, family planning, self-esteem, and wise investing.

With her Friendship Bridge loans, Cruz has been able to grow her small weaving business and send her five daughters to school. She is proud of giving them a chance at a better future, and Cruz says her experience with Friendship Bridge has brought her much satisfaction and joy. “Thanks to my small business and my loans, I am improving my quality of life,” she says. Cruz is also proud that she and her husband have been able to build a larger home to create more space for their family and her business.

“Friendship Bridge has been instrumental in my journey to create a business and generate income. My entire family has benefited from my loans,” says Cruz. The loans and the education Friendship Bridge offers have increased Cruz’s confidence as a woman and given her more hope for her future, key characteristics of our Dreamer clients.

November 17, 2014 / Comments Off

Giving Provides Opportunities for Grateful Clients

Petrona is an artisan weaver with five children – she shows a tablecloth she will set at market.

Giving is empowering and so is gratitude. In the case of Friendship Bridge clients, gratitude is the experience of being thankful for the opportunities that develop and resources that help them achieve their dreams.

On December 2, following Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday will celebrate generosity on a global scale and encourage giving to benefit others. For assisting our clients in Guatemala, your act of giving could be as simple as contributing on the Donate section of the Friendship Bridge website or donate on the Friendship Bridge crowdfunding site, http://empowerwomen.cause vox.com/. You could also set a 24-hour goal for December 2 and create a personal fundraising page (it’s easy – go to Sign Up in the right corner of the page, write why you want people to give, and invite your friends and family to donate)!

When you give, you are helping clients like Petrona Churunel Noj, a 32-year-old mother of five boys who produces handmade fabrics to sell at market. Her weaving artistry with a backstrap loom creates shawls, tablecloths and blouses as well as other finished products. She lives in Chuacruz in the western highlands of Guatemala.

Petrona was unable to attend formal school, but with her Friendship Bridge loan and involvement in the Trust Bank Girasoles Chuacruz (“Sunflowers of Chuacruz”), she receives non-formal education to improve her business and reach her goals. Now she has a variety of materials to weave and is meeting the demand of her local and national clients.

The quality of her life has improved, and she is passing achievement along to her children by using a “Rapidito Escolar,” or school loan, to support her children’s education. The loan helps Petrona with school fees for three children already attending classes. Petrona can buy new shoes for her kids to walk to school and uniforms. She truly values this product because it provides both necessary and extra items that help her children develop fully and reach for better opportunities. Petrona and her husband, a laborer, plan to provide education to all five children.

Petrona is excited for the year-end holidays as she expects to sell more during this time. This will allow her to make money to prepare for the new school year starting in January, 2015.

Your generosity and support will help Petrona and thousands of other entrepreneurial women in Guatemala care for themselves, their families and communities. Please consider giving on December 2, or before year-end.

A colorful tapestry woven by Petrona, who has local and national clients in Guatemala.

November 7, 2014 / Comments Off

Education Teaches Clients Concepts for Success

Two clients review a handout during non-formal education in a trust bank meeting.

Non-formal education (NFE) is a lifeline for more than 22,000 Friendship Bridge clients. In addition to the monetary resources Friendship Bridge clients receive for their businesses, topics like “empowerment,” “avoiding over-indebtedness” and “children having children” speak to the realistic environment of women in rural Guatemala. While the training for clients is considered “non-formal,” the curriculum for how to facilitate learning on key topics is quite strategic and specific.Country Director Astrid Yerlin Cordona Morán de Paiz said the program teaches the women about what it means to be respected, financially wise and healthy, as a woman, as a wife, a mother and a business owner.

Topics are developed two years in advance to provide strategic direction but the timing of delivery is flexible according to client surveys. Timely topics that are immediately applicable to clients, such as the real dangers of child migration to the U.S., are pushed to clients as quickly as possible. Reports indicate that 80 percent of clients attend sessions of 45 minutes to an hour during their monthly Trust Bank meetings. Trust Banks are solidarity groups of seven to 30 women who co-guarantee the loans of their fellow members.

A flip chart with pictures and an accompanying training guide for the facilitator are the main tools used to lead the conversation. The Learning Network, a group of facilitators who represent one of each of the six Friendship Bridge branches, meets monthly to rehearse topics a month prior to deployment in the field. This group then replicates the activity within their respective branches so that all facilitators are trained on how to deploy the next month’s topic and can anticipate client concerns and dynamics. After the topic has been introduced in the field, The Learning Network relays client and facilitator feedback to the Education Manager for future revisions.

To continually improve the quality of the education sessions, all Friendship Bridge facilitators will take a 60-hour module developed by Freedom From Hunger, a long-time partner. The course will end with a certificate of completion for each unit, which covers information related to health, nutrition, business and managing money.

September 26, 2014 / Comments Off

From the Field: A KIVA blog

By Amanda Schweikert, KIVA intern

A loan officer asks a question during a Trust Bank meeting

A loan officer asks a question during a client meeting.

After two and a half hours of travel on three different chicken buses, I make it to Santa Cruz del Quiché, a bustling town in southern Guatemala. In a quieter neighborhood, seven businesswomen partnered to create a Friendship Bridge Trust Bank called “Laguna Las Garzas” or lagoon of the heron. They are all Maya Kiché and show off their cultural pride with beautiful traditional costume in bright colors and patterns.

All of the women are extraordinarily welcoming. The members are curious about me—asking where I am from and how is my life in Guatemala, all while wearing giant smiles on their faces. Because these ladies average two years of formal schooling, the education they receive along with the loans as part of the “Microcredit Plus” program is highly valued. Though I can’t understand the majority of their talk in the traditional Mayan language Kiché, it is obvious that they are very invested in improving their futures and that of their families.

Lucia in particular stands out. The president of the Trust Bank, Lucia is a clear leader in her community, offering help to those around her and conversing with new friends as she walks to the Friendship Bridge office. She is married and has one child, a 15-year-old. After attending school for three years thanks to family contributions, Lucia was forced to discontinue her education and began to work. Therefore, she is very pleased that her son is currently in school and will have more opportunities than she received.

Lucia runs a restaurant, which she has owned for 13 years, and serves the residents of Quiché as well as several customers from outside of the town. She employs a young woman to assist her in the restaurant. This very motivated woman would like to broaden her clientele, publicizing her restaurant to attract people from other towns in the region. She has learned to dream for more on the foundation of skills, education and loans from Friendship Bridge.

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Amanda Schweikert is a field blogger providing KIVA reports for Friendship Bridge. She also teaches part-time at the Lake Atitlan Multicultural Academy.

April 14, 2014 / Comments Off

Friendship Bridge Announces New Country Director

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Dear Friends,

I am happy to report that Friendship Bridge has seen tremendous growth and success over the last few years because of our team’s strong commitment to the 2011-2013 Strategic Plan. These successes have laid the foundation for our next phase of growth outlined in the 2014-2016 Strategic Plan “Expanding the Bridge”. To achieve these goals, the time has come to create a new position at Friendship Bridge, the Country Director. I am very excited to announce that Astrid Cardona will be promoted to this new position effective immediately.

Astrid joined Friendship Bridge five years ago and has worked closely with me, as a member of the leadership team, to successfully grow Friendship Bridge to where we are today. She worked alongside other members of the leadership team to create the institution’s foundation, stability and focus that now allows us to expand even further and achieve our mission.

Astrid’s new team will include the Credit and Operations Director, Social Performance Manager, Education Manager, Human Resources Manager and Finance Manager (a new position at Friendship Bridge). I am confident in Astrid’s leadership and with this new team. Together we will embark upon the 2014-2016 Strategic Plan under their leadership. Astrid and her team will be instrumental in achieving the ambitious and exciting goals we have set to improve the lives of our clients.

Thank you for your continued support of Friendship Bridge.

Karen Larson
Executive Director

November 6, 2013 / Comments Off

Meet the Aj Batz Trust Bank

Four new members of the Aj Batz Trust Bank

The Aj Batz Trust Bank consists of 14 amazing women from the rural area of Chichicastenango, Guatemala. These women have been clients of Friendship Bridge for many years, they continue to apply for microloans and education from Friendship Bridge because they feel it is a great tool for them. Over the past several years, they have grown their businesses, which benefits their whole family and even other members of their community.

Recently, the Aj Batz Trust Bank welcomed four new members: Anastasia Quino, Maria Quino, Marta Cuterez, and Maria Calel. All are very excited to be part of the group. “I learned about Friendship Bridge from a friend. My husband and I discussed the opportunity and agreed it would be good for our family because to make more money at my small convenience store, I needed to increase the inventory,” explains Mary Quino.

“I live near the other members of the Aj Batz Trust Bank, so I asked them for more information. I liked what I heard, so I made my decision to join. I’m happy with this first loan cycle and I invested the loan in the production of textiles,” says Marta Cuterez.

Each month, the women meet to repay their loans and gather for an information education lesson. These lessons are provided by a trained loan officer and are included with their microloan from Friendship Bridge, thus the name Microcredit Plus. The loan officer travels to a home of a Trust Bank member for these meetings. Topics range from budgeting and customer service to self-esteem and women’s health.

Even though it was cloudy and cold morning when we visited the Aj Batz Trust Bank, the ladies had a lot of fun during their meeting. Lots of laughs were shared, especially when all of the ladies got actively involved during this month’s education session focused on marketing (specifically product, price, place and promotion). The clients freely compare their small businesses, and discuss openly whether they can implement any marketing strategies to promote their businesses. These women have businesses that are based around the Guatemalan art of textiles. Their products include: tablecloths, napkins, huipils (Guatemalan shirts), scarves and much more.

The Friendship Bridge loan officer and facilitator, Tomasa Sen, starts the session with the first theme: product. She talks about how the product size and presentation can make a difference in the mind of the client at the time of purchase. The group also covers the importance of pricing your product so that it covers hard costs but is also market appropriate depending on their audience (wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers). Slowly the conversation turns to where they sell, which varies from woman to woman. They sell in the Plaza, out of their home, on the street, or door-to-door. Based on that, the women discuss promotions. The ladies all agree that they can advertise their product in many ways including posters and word of mouth.

Meet the Trust Bank President:

Each Trust Bank elects its own board, including president and treasurer. After the meeting, we had a chance to catch up with Aj Batz Trust Bank president, Tol Cuterez Josefa (she prefers to be called Josefa). Josefa is 46 years-old and has 12 children. Her business is creating and selling textiles – mostly shawls, but she also makes tablecloths and huipils. She uses her income to provide more nutritious meals for her large family. Josefa enjoys being president because it allows her to improve her leadership skills and learn more about how to organize a group. Josefa’s dream is to see all her children reach sixth grade, and possibly advance to high school. She knows this may be difficult because her children have many needs, and she and her husband have to give the same opportunities to all of them, but she is working hard to make this happen.

“I appreciate the support and tools Friendship Bridge provides. I also like the education piece of the organization because it teaches us how to be more profitable. Many of us are a little shy to share our stories to the group but when we do, we enjoy it and we feel part of the change in our communities,” explains Josefa.

Thank you Whole Foods Belmar for supporting Aj Batz!

October 21, 2013 / Comments Off

Dining for Women Visits FB Clients

Dining for Women is a global giving circle dedicated to helping women and girls in the developing world achieve their potential, gain equality in their countries and cultures, and overcome economic limitations and social bias. They have over 9,000 members, have given nearly $2.8 million to programs that benefit women in poverty, and believe that all women deserve to be self-sufficient. Friendship Bridge is one of the organizations they support and recently they visited us in Guatemala to meet FB clients and see the impact they are making firsthand.

Read about their adventures in a blog post by Rosemary McGee from Pennsylvania. Here is an excerpt to get you started:

“We joined the 18 women of the Flor de Maria Trust Bank cooperative as they were busily tallying up payments. Brenda, from the area and their loan officer, was preparing for a lesson and discussion on good nutrition with help from photo charts. We became part of the group, as the women made room for us and pulled us into their circle with smiles and giggling. They obviously enjoyed each other and were happy to be together! It was an honor to be there!

Then it was back to Salvador our awesome driver and the van. We were followed by a swarm of very curious, giggling schoolchildren who were out on the hillside for “recess” (photo op!), next we were to visit a second cooperative closer to Sololá where the Grupo de Mujeres Izaput Cooperative meets. Their dynamic leader started the co-op of artisans 25 years ago and partnered with Friendship Bridge 6 years ago This now allows them to have inventory on hand continuously and increases their sales and income.

We saw a foot loom weaving demo in their workroom where the women work together on 4 looms while laughing, talking and listening to music. It was another joyful group of women. Of course, we did some more shopping from their beautiful array of handiwork which also included beaded jewelry and wooden masks!”

Read full post here.

Empower women. Eliminate poverty.