Microfinance in Alto Perú

Thank you to all our sponsors

2011-02-26T07:57:00.002-08:00

Asociación SOLAC would like to give thanks to all who sponsored the successful development of this project: the Austrian Embassy in Lima, the French NGO Education World 86, the European Schools of Brussels and Culham, as well as the private donations of family and friends.

Furthermore, the Microfinance team in particular would like to thank all who gave counsel and advice, and moral support throughout.

Meeting at the Austrian Embassy

2011-02-26T07:57:00.001-08:00

On the 18th of January, SOLAC went to the Austrian embassy to hand in the final report of the microfinance project. We had a meeting with Mag. Rudolf Koestler, one of the people from the embassy who had been following SOLAC and the microfinance project. Mag. Koestler on behalf of the Austrian embassy thanked SOLAC for the work that had been accomplished in Alto Perú. We also had the chance to briefly meet the ambassador who also expressed his satisfaction with the results of the project. SOLAC would like to take this opportunity to thank the Austrian Embassy for supporting our work in Huachipa.

End of Project Day trip

2011-02-26T07:53:00.001-08:00

SOLAC decided to organise a day trip for the participants of the microfinance project on the 5th of January 2011. The aim of this event was for the participants of the different ASOLs to get to know each other through different activities and games. The event was also planned as an end of project activity where the participants and the project coordinators could spend a day together before the official ending of the pilot project. SOLAC organized the event in a countryside club in the town of Chosica (eastern periphery of Lima). The participants where divided into three groups for the day. Each team had to decide a name and participate to a series of activities such as a Volleyball tournament, dance competitions, musical chairs, etc. The event also included a lunch where several participants spontaneously decided to make a speech thanking SOLAC for the work carried out in Alto Perú. All the beneficiaries expressed their contentment with day trip and said it was a very nice way to spend a time with the SOLAC team before the end of the project.

End of Project Day trip

2011-02-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

Continuation of Practical Workshops

2011-02-26T07:27:00.001-08:00

Due to the success of the practical workshops in Alto Perú, SOLAC decided to fund a continuation of the courses. A lot of the participants, especially from the jewellery course, were already using the skills learnt in the workshops to implement a new economic activity, and were eager to learn more. Since it was the second set of workshops, we decided to give more responsibility to the participants of the courses. SOLAC appointed one person for each course who was responsible for the organisation and the smooth running of the workshops. One person per community had also been appointed to collect the signing-up fee from people in their area. SOLAC decided to work with the same teachers as in the previous course due to the amazing work they had accomplished. The participants also asked for the same teachers as they had developed a very strong relationship with them. The knitting and jewellery workshops are composed of 20 and 39 people respectively. The latter will be divided into two workshops, a basic one for new participants and an intermediate one for the old participants. The knitting workshop will take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays and both jewellery courses on Sundays. Since SOLAC officially closed the microfinance project on the 14th of January 2011, the responsibility of following the workshops has been passed on to the former microfinance coordinators, Valentina Martufi, Ruth Pollak, and Marta Dormal. The courses started on the 22nd and 23rd of January.

Closing cycles and Pass-over

2011-02-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

The culminating moment of the project was the pass-over of the groups formed by SOLAC to an established MFI which could expand the provision of services of Village Banking microfinance to more people in the area of Alto Perú, and secure a long-term availability of these services. In July 2010, after having drawn up a list of MFIs in Lima, it resulted only possible to pass-over the groups to an institution already present in the district of Lurigancho-Chosica. Two NGOs were contacted and their programmes were explained to the members of the ASOLs. Each NGO came in October to present themselves to the ASOLs and to clarify any doubts the participants may have. All four ASOLs chose the NGO EDAPROSPO (www.edapr.org.pe), with which two of the four groups, Las Triunfadoras and Karin, have already received their loan disbursement and one, Unidos para el Desarrollo, is in the process of starting a new loan cycle. The fourth group, Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, has decided to postpone the start of their next cycle and remain in contact with the organisation. All the ASOLs finished their cycle with SOLAC with a 100% repayment rate. The participants explained that they decided to work with EDAPROSPO because they felt very comfortable with the coordinator who came to present the organisation, Jonathan Estrada. EDAPROSPO’s microfinance programme, called PROSPERIDAD (“prosperity”), is very focused on providing practical and entrepreneurial workshops, an aspect that resulted very important for the people in Alto Perú. In this new programme, the participants have to get used to a different payment system, where every month the members of the ASOL give their instalment to the treasurer who deposits the money in the organisation’s bank account. Working with a commercial bank is an important new step for a lot of the participants of the project. EDAPROSPO’s aim is to continue expanding the outreach of microfinance within Alto Perú.

Seed Money Competition (Concurso Capital Semilla)

2011-02-26T07:22:00.000-08:00

SOLAC decided to carry out an additional activity as part of the microfinance project, the Seed Money Competition (Concurso Capital Semilla). The purpose of this competition was to give funding to the most creative entrepreneurial ideas. The competition was only open to the beneficiaries of the microfinance programme, and those who wished to participate had to fill out a questionnaire where they evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of their existing business as well as proposed a new idea to improve their business in a substantial way (or to suggest a new business idea they wanted to implement). SOLAC made it very clear to the participants that the purpose of the competition was to fund ideas that would generate a significant change in the current situation of their economic activity. The competition would not approve ideas that included merchandise or any other investment that could be implemented with a loan from the microfinance project. A total of twelve people participated from the three communities.

After evaluating the proposals, SOLAC decided to interview some of the participants who seemed to have the most interesting ideas. A week after the participants gave in the proposals, SOLAC announced the three winners at the end of the fashion show. By coincidence, all three winners were from the same ASOL, Unidos para el Desarrollo, in Santa Isabel. One of winners was Emilia Huincho, the secretary from the ASOL who makes clothing and asked for a sewing machine she had needed for a very long time. That machine would allow her to modernise her merchandise and therefore get more orders from local factories. Another winner was Zarella Coveñas the treasurer of the ASOL who has a food delivery business. Zarella prepares food from her house for teachers at local schools nearby, as well as for construction workers who come to Alto Perú for the day. She had been receiving several very large orders from the schools (for 25 people instead of 5 to 10 people) but was unable to deliver because of the size and quality of her equipment. She asked for professional kitchen equipment. The third winner was Mary Gutierrez, a member of the ASOL who used to sell snacks and sodas from a mobile cart. Mary wanted to set up a small café where she would continue to sell snacks and sodas, as well as juices and cakes.

Each winner was assigned to one of the project organisers to go shopping for the materials they needed to implement their idea. An agreement was also signed by each one of them and by SOLAC, stating that the winners would use the materials bought to make their business grow, and that they would report to SOLAC on a regular basis to inform them about the development of their business with the new equipments for a period of three months. The agreement also stated that SOLAC was committed to follow each participant with their new equipment and to assist them in anything they needed. All the equipment was bought on the first week of December for the three participants. SOLAC is very happy about the follow-up of the winners and is looking forward to see the development of their businesses thanks to these new investments.

Seed Money Competition (Concurso Capital Semilla)

2011-02-26T07:03:00.001-08:00

Practical Workshops and Fashion Show

2011-02-26T06:56:00.001-08:00

The two practical workshops in Alto Perú began on the 23rd and 24th of October. The knitting and jewellery workshops started with a total of 16 and 25 participants respectively. SOLAC decided to implement strict rules for participating to the workshops to ensure the smooth running of the courses. A 5 PEN fine was charged to any participant arriving 15 minutes late or more to class, and a 10 PEN fine for missing a session. The workshops were extremely successful throughout the six weeks. Both Vilma and Gloria were very happy with the enthusiasm and the results achieved by the participants of the course.

At the end of the six weeks SOLAC, together with the participants and the teachers, organised a fashion show to give the participants the opportunity to show their families and the rest of the community the amazing work they accomplished throughout the course. A lot of people also took advantage of this opportunity to sell their products to other people in Alto Perú and to start making a name for themselves with their new activity in the community. The event was entirely financed by the fines collected from people arriving late to or missing the workshops sessions. One group was in charge of preparing food for the event, another to organise all the logistics (chairs, sound system, etc) and finally one woman decided to prepare small Christmas baskets (mainly food such as pasta, milk, etc) and to organise a raffle at the event for all the participants of the two courses. We invited the two teachers to present the different items to the audience. The participants of the knitting workshop presented a summer collection for babies and kids. The colours of the collection were pink, magenta and purple, and each participant designed and made one to three items for the collection (mainly a combination of top, hat and a bag). Each participant invited one kid from their family to model the item for the fashion show. For the jewellery workshop, the participants learnt a different ensemble (necklace, bracelet and earings) every week as well as several models of key rings. Each person brought some items they had done in class with the teachers as well as many others they had made by themselves. Many of them designed and made new models especially for the fashion show. We also had one man participating in the workshop who made jewellery for both men and women.

The event was a huge success; the audience was extremely impressed by the amazing work accomplished by the participants in terms of quality and creativity. All the participants received a diploma that certified the completion of a basic course. Out of the sixteen people who signed-up for the knitting workshop only ten completed the course due to time restrictions and other commitments. All the participants from the jewellery workshop completed the course, some of which were children of the beneficiaries of the microfinance project. The feedback from the participants was extremely positive, and we have had since then a lot of demand to continue with the courses.

The Fashion Show

2011-02-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

Planning of Practical Workshops for Alto Perú

2011-02-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

SOLAC decided to start practical workshops for the beneficiaries of the microfinance pilot project with the aim of giving the participants an opportunity to learn new skills that they may later use to start a new economic activity or to create an additional source of income (it is very common for micro entrepreneurs in Lima to have more than one small business).

We put together a list of six different options for the practical workshops according to what was more feasible to carry out in the community. The list of choices included: knitting and crochet, jewellery, yogurt, jam, pastry, and chocolate workshops. The members of each ASOL voted to decide the two workshops that we going to be implemented. The most popular choices were knitting and crochet, and the jewellery workshop. We contacted professional teachers for each workshop that were recommended to us by other NGOs, Vilma Acuña for knitting and Gloria Cabrera for jewellery, and we elaborated a six-week plan for each course. For the knitting and crochet workshop we decided, together with the teacher, that the course was going to take place twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays for three-hour sessions. The teacher explained to us that it was very important to have at least two sessions per week for the knitting and crochet workshop, as it is a very difficult skill to learn and requires a lot of practice at a basic level. For the jewellery workshop we decided to have a three-hour session per week on Sundays for six weeks. We also set a 5 PEN fee to sign-up for the course as a symbolic amount to ensure the commitment of people who decided to participate. The fee also included a set of materials for each participant for the course that they could take home to practice what they learnt in class. SOLAC decided to give priority for the signing-up to the workshop to the participants of the microfinance pilot project, then according to the vacancies in each course to the rest of the people of Alto Perú. The Head mistress of the local primary school, Nelli Villegas, agreed to let us use one of the classrooms of the school to carry out the workshops.

2010-07-24T04:40:00.000-07:00

Extension of our Microfinance Pilot Project

Due to the successful running of the two original ASOLs and to the high demand for participation from other people in the communities, we have decided to extend our pilot project to give approximately another 24 people in the area the opportunity to benefit from a microfinance scheme, as well as to offer our two initial groups the option of entering a second cycle of the project, with the opportunity of receiving higher loans.

In May we started talking to people in Santa Isabél, Unión Perú and Santa Crúz de Huachipa, to see who was interested in forming a new group. By the end of the month we had already formed two new groups, one in Santa Crúz de Huachipa and another in Santa Isabél.

Approved funding for the extension of our project by the Austrian Embassy in Lima

We are very pleased to announce that our application for funding from the Austrian Embassy in Lima for our extension of the Microfinance Project in Alto Peru has been approved. At a meeting with the Ambassador, Dr. Andreas Melán, and with Mrs. Karin Eckert, responsible for cultural issues and international cooperation, which took place at the end of May, we were told that the Embassy was happy to provide funding to our project and cover the remaining budget.

We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Austrian Embassy in Lima, Education World 86, as well as our other donors for allowing us to carry out our work!

2010-07-24T04:35:00.000-07:00

New Training Sessions

As previously mentioned, we have decided to carry out the next training courses on entrepreneurship ourselves. Throughout April and May we have been creating a syllabus together with INCUBA Networks, using their manual as a basis to create one that has been greatly adapted to the requirements of the people in Alto Perú.

As we are strongly emphasizing the notion that a microfinance project is not only about the loans themselves, and recognizing that a training programme will develop a strong group atmosphere and a good relationship with the loan officers, we have designed four initial sessions which are compulsory for participants in order to receive a (or their next) loan.

Syllabus:

Session 1:
Understanding the environment and recognizing one’s own qualities as an entrepreneur

Session 2:
Brainstorming various business ideas, out of which three are selected to be put through an internal and external filter, in order to see which business idea is most viable. At the end of the session the participants decide what business they would like to invest their loan in.

Session 3:
Analyzing the market and the four Ps of the chosen business idea.

Session 4:
Bugdet (and breakdown of what the loan will be invested in)

2010-07-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

The two new ASOLS:

ASOL “Las Triunfadoras” (Santa Isabél) and ASOL “Karin” (Santa Crúz de Huachipa)

After receiving an introductory session on what the Microfinance project consists of, the two newly formed groups, “Las Triunfadoras”, consisting of seven women and one young man, and “Karin”, which consists of six women, began with our four–session training course. The classes were very beneficial, both to the individual members of the team to support and guide them with their business ideas, as well as for the strengthening of the group dynamics and the relationship with the loan officer. By the end of the four sessions there had been a clear change in the level of comfort and trust between the group members.

The loan officers of each group then went to visit each person individually to fill in a questionnaire and discuss their business idea and the investment of the loan. Each case was then discussed at the office before the papers were prepared for the disbursements.

The disbursement of ASOL “Karin” took place on 7th June in Santa Crúz. Mrs. Karin Eckert from the Austrian Embassy took this opportunity to visit our project on site. She had the opportunity to meet the women, visit one of their sewing workshops and participate at the disbursement meeting. The group decided to name their ASOL after her, as a thank you for providing the funding required for the project.

The disbursement of ASOL “Las Triunfadoras” was held the following day (8th June) and was celebrated with soft drinks and cake. Group photos were taken and the members stayed longer to chat.

ASOLs “Sagrado Corazon de Jesus” and “Unidos para el Desarrollo”

Our two ASOLs which started in December last year have completed their fifth and sixth repayment meeting (on 11th May and 11th June respectively), and have herewith completed their first lending cycle. Although we have had two women with difficulties repaying the fifth loan, they have all managed to repay the whole amount by the end of the loan period. The repayment rates of the two groups have therefore been 100 % for the first cycle.

Almost all group members have been showing much interest in continuing with the project and were eager to receive the second cycle of the loans, in which they are entitled to a maximum of 800 PEN (around 280 USD) – depending on their repayment capacity.

Sagrado Corazon de Jesus has completed their four training sessions and have had their disbursement on 21st June. They are 11 members – all nine who have participated in the old cycle plus two new members (who have been accepted by all group members, but are, according to SOLAC rules, only entitled to a maximum loan of 400 PEN).

Unidos para el Desarrollo insisted on completing their initial classes before 11th June and therefore had their disbursement on the same day as the last repayment meeting. The ASOL consists of nine people in this second cycle – two members have left and a new participant has joined. The loan portfolio of this group is 4,450 PEN (approx 1,565 USD).

Third and Fourth repayment meetings, and Education World 86 visit

2010-04-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

We have had two more successful repayment meetings with the two ASOLs of Unión Perú and Santa Isabél. At the last one our visitors from the French NGO Education World 86, who arrived on the 2nd of April, attended the meeting to get to know the members of the ASOLs and see how SOLAC’s Microfinance programme is running.

Here are the thoughts of Melinda Tims, EW's secretary:

"Education.world-86, Solac´s sister NGO in France, has provided the venture capital needed to start up 2 microcredit groups in the Huachipa slums outside Lima. The French NGO has also had 3 members working in Peru since early April, working both with the microcredit team and with the local school in the same area ; this experience has provided a first-hand opportunity to see the work in progress. The results have been outstanding.

The Solac microcredit team brings together talent, intelligence, great commitment, and outstanding preliminary results. The first 2 women´s economic self-help groups have completed their business training workshops and are half way through their repayment cycle, and 2 new groups are currently being formed. The ground work for all of this has been carefully thought out and the team has been highly successful in trouble-shooting so as to avoid any pitfalls. This endeavor is an ongoing process, so much obviously remains to be done in this impoverished area in terms of integrated economic development. EW enthusiastically supports all this work in the field and extends its hearty congratulations for all that has been accomplished."

EW Secretariat - Dr. Melinda Tims, University of Tours (France)

End of training sessions with AVSI and planning of new course

2010-04-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 10th of April we held the last of the series of eight training sessions on entrepreneurship ogranized in cooperation with the NGO AVSI for the members of the ASOLs of Unión Perú and Santa Isabél. Even though this course has come to an end, the cooperation between SOLAC and AVSI will continue in the form of monthly sessions where a professor hired by AVSI will be visiting the members of the ASOLs to follow up the progress of their micro-businesses and give them advice.

On the other hand, the Microfinance team is now in the planning stages of a new training course which will be offered to the members of the existing ASOLs and to the future members of the new ASOLs that will be formed in May. This training course will be carried out by SOLAC’s loan officers, who will start to be trained to give this course by INCUBA Network (http://www.incubanetwork.com/index.php), an organization which specializes in giving support and training to micro entrepreneurs.

SOLAC decided that it would be best for the members of the ASOLs to be receiving the entrepreneurial training directly from their loan officers – i.e. the Microfinance team – since the latter know them personally and can therefore better serve for their needs.

First Training session on Entrepreneurship - 16.02.10

2010-02-17T15:19:00.000-08:00

As planned, the first training session on entrepreneuship took place yesterday afternoon, 16thof February, in Unión Peru’s communal room. AVSI accompanied the teacher who was coming to Alto Perú for the first time and introduced him to the beneficiaries. At the beginning of the class each person was asked to talk briefly about their business, after which the whole class discussed with the teacher the main concepts of entrepreuneuship i.e. What are the main characteristics of an entrepreneur? The class ended with a very interesting activity that aimed at stimulating the participants’ creativity to find new business ideas.
As mentioned before, a few of our beneficiaries told us that they will not be able to make it to the classes as they were at work. They explained that attending the course twice a week would be too difficult for them to arrange but that they would try their best to participate once a week. Due to this lack of availability, only two women from the ASOL Sagrado Corazón de Jesús and four members of Unidos para el Desarrollo attended the meeting. In addition four other people from Unión Perú who are not part of the Microfinance programme but have a small business in the area participated. Consequently, the teacher together with the participants decided to schedule classes only once a week on Tuesdays. SOLAC’s loan officers will have a meeting with their respective ASOLs on Friday to discuss this new alternative with the groups and ensure that all beneficiaries will get the opportunity to participate in the course.

Second repayment meetings - 11.02.10

2010-02-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

The second repayment meetings were held last night at both communities. Again repayment went smoothly and the women were happy to attend and chat. We informed them about the course they will be starting on Tuesday which will take place for the members of both groups together. The majority seemed interested in this, although some people have already informed us that they will not be able to attend as they will be at work. This time, different to all others, we held the meeting with “Unidos Para el Desarrollo” outdoors. This turned out to be very nice, as it created a different, more casual relationship between all. Also, we have printed out photos that we have been taking at meetings and brought it to the meeting so that we were able to make a poster all together, which will be put up on the wall of the communal room of the community.

Training sessions starting Tuesday 16th

2010-02-12T14:31:00.002-08:00

After a long delay in start, the members of both our ASOLs will be starting a course on entrepreneurship this coming Tuesday. Sessions will be held twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) for two and a half hours each and will last for a month. Unfortunately, we were told by a few of our beneficiaries that they will not be able to make the classes, as they are at work. We are going to try our best to change the hours, so that all can attend. The syllabus, which we have been working on together with the organization which is organizing this course (AVSI), does look very promising - we therefore do expect the members who are available to participate.

New Funding Received

2010-02-12T14:31:00.001-08:00

About a week ago we were informed that we will be receiving new funding for your project from the French NGO (Education World 86) which has been supporting us throughout this, as well as past SOLAC projects. Thanks to the 2,000 EUROS that they are sending us, we will be able to open two new ASOLs. We are planning to have our first meetings with them at the beginning of April. This will allow at least another 20 families in the area to benefit from our project.

We thank you very much for your support!

First Reimbursement Meetings: Sagrado Corazón de Jesús and Unidos Para el Desarrollo

2010-01-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

Monday afternoon, 11 January 2010, a month after the disbursement of the loans, we had our first reimbursement meetings with both groups, Sagrado Corazón de Jesús and Unidos Para el Desarrollo. Both meetings were very successful, we had only one person missing from each group and everyone (including the two missing - by giving the payment to a co-member) paid back the full installment.

We started off by reading out loud the bylaws they have come up with the previous meetings, regarding the consequences of not attending or coming late to a meeting and of not paying the installment. They have decided these consequences to be fines, i.e. they would pay a few Nuevos Soles into a money safe (to be used for all their savings and fines) we have provided them with, which forms a communal money pot - money to be spent on anything agreed upon mutually at the end of the cycle.

We asked the treasurer, secretary and president of each group to sit behind a table. Each participant was called up one by one to hand over the money to the treasurer, who would count it, sign the persons payment booklet, and who at the end separated the savings from the capital and put the former in the money safe, which is kept by the treasurer (the key stays with the president, to ensure one person cannot misuse the available funds). In addition to taking attendance, the secretary checked the money handed over to the treasurer and filled in a savings table to keep track of the amount going into the money safe. Normally, (s)he would also takes note of any decisions made at the meeting or of any situation which may be out of the ordinary, but there was nothing to note in either of these two meetings.

After having finished the more “formal” part of the meeting, we were able to spend some more time talking to the participants, asking them how they were doing and how things were developing regarding their economic activity.

2009-12-15T13:21:00.000-08:00

After the disbursement of the loans, the Asociación Solidaria Unidos para el Desarollo took a group picture with their loan officer, Ruth Pollak, and Asociación SOLAC's president, Jose Luis Incio Coronado.

Loan Disbursements - Sagrado Corazón de Jesús and Unidos para el Desarrollo

2009-12-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

On Friday 11th of December the members of the two village banks, a total of 20 people, received their loans, which ranged from 100 to 400 Nuevos Soles (35 to 140USD). The total loan portfolio amounted to a total of 6,450 Nuevos Soles (2,250 USD). This marked the beginning of a 6 month lending cycle, during which the village banks will have monthly repayment meetings, starting on the 11th of January 2010.

The President of Asociación SOLAC took part in both disbursement meetings, introducing himself to the groups and wishing them, as a group and as individuals, a lot of success for the next six months. The participants then signed a contract between each individual and the organization, and another one determining bylaws for their ASOL. Subsequently, when they received their loans, they were given personal booklets, which include their loan details and dates of the next meetings. Finally we celebrated the opening of the village banks with cake and a soft drink, and took some group photos.

Asociacion solidaria Unidos para el Desarrollo

2009-12-15T13:00:00.000-08:00

As planned, the final meeting before the loan disbursement was held in Santa Isabél on the 4th of December. In this meeting three men and seven women formed what we call an ‘Asociación Solidaria’(ASOL) – a village bank – and called it “Unidos para el Desarrollo” (United for Development). They elected a President, a Treasurer and a Secretary for the association and signed their ‘Acta de Constitución’. All members were looking forward to the loan disbursement held on the following Friday 11th.

Change of plans for the training sessions

2009-12-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

SOLAC had originally planned for the training sessions to start with the ASOL (Asociación Solidaria – Village Bank) of Unión Perú on Wednesday 2nd of December. However, after AVSI’s supporters visited the community of Santa Isabél on Monday the 30th of November, they required that the training opportunities be offered to all inhabitants of both communities, rather than just to the two ASOLs. Therefore, the beginning of the training sessions had to be postponed to give AVSI and SOLAC time to publicize the training sessions in the two communities and get more people to join that part of the project.

On Wednesday 2nd of December SOLAC and AVSI met the women of the ASOL ‘Corazón Sagrado de Jesús’ anyway to personally explain to them the reasons behind the change of plans, and coordinate with the President of the community, señora Katia Tellos, for a general assembly of the community to be held next week, so to inform the inhabitants of Unión Perú about the opening of this new opportunity. Subsequently, the same process will be followed for the community of Santa Isabél.

Asociación Solidaria Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

2009-12-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

On Monday 30th of November, the Village Bank which was coming together in Unión Perú finally became official. They chose three of the youngest women to be the board of directors, the elder ones claiming that they already had experience in these kinds of roles, and it was time for the younger ones to learn.

A brief discussion among them led the group to choose the name ‘Sagrado Corazón de Jesús’ (Jesus’ Sacred Heart) for their Village Bank. This kind of religious names are very common among Village Banks of all MFIs in Peru.

Finally, all members of the group signed the ‘Acta de Constitución’, where they officially declared that they would work together as a group for the common purposes of improving their economic and social situation.

New Village Bank in Santa Isabél

2009-12-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

On the 21st of November, the SOLAC microfinance team was informed that some more funding was being deposited by one of our most regular supporters, the French NGO Education World, to help our project along. This funding means that we are able to open the second Village Bank which we were planning to have as part of the Pilot Project, in Santa Isabél de Huachipa.

The following week we thus went to promote the project in the community of Santa Isabél, and organized a meeting for Friday the 27th for all those interested in knowing more about the project. As we had done in Unión Perú, in the meeting we explained the basis of Microfinance, and already has about a dozen people sign up as a group.

We then arranged a second meeting for Monday the 30th with those who had signed up, to explain in detail to them how SOLAC’s microfinance project is going to develop over the next six months. That day, a group of representatives of AVSI and other institutions collaborating with and funding them came to visit the community of Santa Isabél.

After the second meeting with the potential group, we visited them in the next few days to evaluate their economic situation and saving capability. In the mean time, a couple more people joined the group. We arranged to meet again on Friday 4th of December for the first official meeting, where the group will sign the ‘Acta de Constitución’, elect their board of directors, and choose a name for the Village Bank.

Pre-disbursement meeting - Unión Perú

2009-11-29T20:25:00.000-08:00

Last week, MF SOLAC finished the evaluation of all the participants of the group that had been formed in Unión Perú. The process allowed us to determine what amount each member could start off with in the first lending cycle.

On Wednesday the 25th of November, MF SOLAC met Prof. García Regál who has been invited by the NGO AVSI to be in charge of the workshops with Unión Perú. Our team took Prof. García Regál to the community where he was able to observe the living conditions of the members of the Village Bank and be introduced to a few women who will participate in the workshops. We also discussed the economic activity of each participant of the Village Bank in Unión Perú so that Prof. García Regál could adapt the workshops sessions to the specific small businesses that the participants are setting up.

On Monday 30th of November, the group will meet again to elect a Board of Directors composed of a President, Secretary, and Treasurer - who will be responsible for coordinating the meetings with SOLAC and promoting the participation of all members - and to sign the 'Acta de Constitución', a document which declares that the group is being formed, with a brief summary of its purposes and the names and signatures of all participants as well as the loan official representing SOLAC - Marta Dormal. The group will have the first workshop with Prof. Raúl García Regál from the Universitá Catolica on Wednesday the 2nd of December, which will be followed by the disbursement of the loans the following week, when the group will officially start its first six-month lending cycle.

Formation of the first Banco Comunal in Unión Perú

2009-11-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

On Thursday 12th of November the SOLAC microfinance team held the second meeting with the potential beneficiaries of Unión Perú, which culminated with the formation of the first Asociación Solidaria (ASOL). The group consists of 13 women and 1 man, who all signed up with their personal details and required an amount for their loan.

The meeting was also attended by Jorge Ramos, the general coordinator of the NGO AVSI, who came to present to the participants the content of the workshops on entrepreneurship that their are going to hold before and during the loan term.
After his presentation we came to the conclusion that, whilst the loans will only be given to the members of the newly formed group, the workshops will be open to more people, in order to extend the benefits of the project.

Over the next week, MF SOLAC will proceed to individually evaluating all those who have signed up, to see whether their economic situation will allow them to repay the loans, and exactly what amount they would be able to handle to start off with. Aside from personally visiting the participants and filling socio-economic forms with them, we will also enter their details in Infocorp, a data bank which registers the credit history of anyone who's ever taken out a loan from any institution in Peru.

First meeting with potential beneficiaries

2009-11-09T14:46:00.001-08:00

On Sunday 8th of November SOLAC had the first meeting with the potential beneficiaries of Unión Perú. About 20 people attended, with a majority of women, all seeming very interested and enthusiastic about the project.

Marta, who will be the loan official for the first village bank, explained to them what microfinance is, how it works in general, and briefly explained details of how SOLAC’s microfinance project is going to work.
Following, was a Q&A session, where we clarified some points that had remained unclear for the participants.

One of the women was appointed to put together a group of 10 to 15 people, which will meet SOLAC again on Thursday the 12th of November in a meeting where precise details of how the project will be carried out will be explained, such as the terms of repayment, interest rate, and saving rate. On top of this, the NGO AVSI will accompany SOLAC to present the programme of workshops they will hold on entrepreneurship and personal development.

At this next meeting, the potential participants will request a loan amount and leave their personal details, so that the SOLAC team can then proceed to evaluate their economic situation and appoint each one their loan.

Promotion for first Village Bank - Unión Perú

2009-11-06T13:17:00.001-08:00

At the moment, SOLAC is promoting and organizing a meeting with the potential beneficiaries of the first Village Bank in the community of Union Perú. The meeting will be held on Sunday the 8th of November in the community’s meeting room, with the aim of explaining the concept of microfinance to the population.

Following that, the people who are interested in the project will be invited to assist a second meeting in which we will explain in more detail SOLAC’s lending method, after which the first group will be formed.

SOLAC has also arranged for the NGO AVSI (www.avsi.org) to carry out the initial workshops as well as the workshops throughout the lending cycle. Together with SOLAC, AVSI is designing a series of workshops that will be adapted to the circumstances of the population of Alto Perú based on the results of our study. The topics covered in the workshops will be entrepreneurship combined with personal development and awareness such as self-esteem, gender, social responsibility, and personal development.

Post-Study Project description

2009-11-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

Following the Investigation phase, SOLAC put all the data together and wrote a diagnostic paper to complete the first stage of the project. Based on the results of the study, the Pilot Project will be carried out with two groups of beneficiaries; one group in the community of Unión Perú and another in Santa Isabél de Huachipa.

Beneficiaries

Each pilot group will be comprised of between 10 to 15 people, who will preferably be women, as in the experience of microfinance they have been found to be more responsible borrowers, both in repayment and in using the loan to benefit the family as a whole. Additionally the series of training and workshops which the beneficiaries will take part in are generally of greater interest to women (such as self-esteem workshops).

Loans

Each beneficiary will receive a loan of between 100 and 400 Nuevos Soles (23-92 Euros), depending on their need and their capacity to repay. Reimbursements will take place once a month over a lending period of six months.

Workshops

The loans will be complemented by a series of other services. There will be six training and workshop sessions on business skills and personal development and awareness throughout the entire lending cycle. We also decided to start with three workshop sessions before the disbursement of the loans, with the aim of developing a comfortable environment and strong group dynamic within the group and between the group members and SOLAC before the disbursement of the loans.

Investigation : July – October 2009

2009-11-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

Asociación SOLAC carried out a study to determine key factors needed to establish a microfinance system. The study includes information on the whole district of Lurigancho-Chosica, details on the area of Alto Peru, and more specifically data collected on the socio-economic situation of the families living in the three communities studied: Santa Isabél de Huachipa, Unión Perú and Santa Crúz de Huachipa. Interviews, focus groups and questionnaires were carried out to survey the specific economic, social, educational and health conditions of these families.

Meetings with Board of Directors and assemblies

Before starting the study, SOLAC arranged meetings first with the Board of directors of each community and then with the assemblies to introduce the association to the population and to inform them about the study. During the meetings, we explained the purpose of the study and the idea of the microfinance project, as well as asked for their collaboration during the door to door questionnaires.

Focus Groups

SOLAC conducted six focus groups with the population of Alto Perú. The purpose of these focus groups was to understand the reality of the area from the perspective of the local population, as well as to help us design the questionnaires to collect data on the communities. Two focus groups took place with teachers from the primary school and the kindergarten. We discussed the main issues affecting the academic development of the children of Alto Perú, as well as the problems the school is facing in terms of funding to ameliorate its facilities and the materials for the students.

In addition four focus groups were organized with the comedores (community canteens) of the three communities. Each community has at least one comedor which is run by ten to twenty women. These women take turns to prepare lunch in large quantities, which they then use to feed their families and sometimes sell to others for a very low price. Sometimes they receive funds from the state but usually they put money together and do a big shopping for the entire week. During the focus groups, women were asked to discuss the main characteristics of the community such as the main occupations, the quality of the community’s health centre and their children’s education.

Saturday workshops

SOLAC was invited to participate to a Saturday workshop that a woman from Santa Cruz de Huachipa, señora Estela, organizes every week in her house for all the women of the 3 communities. During these sessions, the women work together to make scarves, hats and jumpers, either for their families or sometimes to sell them. Each woman contributes with her skills, the old ones usually teach the younger ones how to knit. The women are not selling many of their products yet, and some of them explained that the main problem was the lack of capital to invest in the machineries and the material.

Interviews at the Clinic Alto Perú

The people from the communities of Alto Peru visit the rural clinic of the area for treatment and family planning. The clinic is run by only one doctor and four staff. SOLAC interviewed all of them as well as some patients regarding the infrastructure of the clinic, the most common illnesses that are found, and other issues affecting the centre. One of the main issues discussed was the most common illnesses treated at the clinic. These are usually caused by the poor living conditions of the population of Alto Perú, particularly poor nutrition, the extensive amount of dust in the air as well as the pollution from the factories, and the fact that the only water they have access to is contaminated.

Municipality

SOLAC visited the municipality to collect information on the whole district of Lurigancho-Chosica. They provided us with zoning plans of Alto Perú (Planos de Catastro), the list of local initiatives and Associations (Organización de base), and the development plan (Plan de Desarrollo) which explains the goals the municipality intends to complete by 2010. We also interviewed the mayor, señor Luis Bueno Quino, about the main issues affecting the district.

Door to door questionnaires

Following the interviews and the focus groups, SOLAC had gathered enough information to design the questionnaires to interview representatives of a sample of households from the three communities. The aim of the questionnaires was to collect information that would tell us which community had the highest proportion of people that fit our profile of ideal beneficiary of the project, whilst not giving any premature hope to the inhabitants of any one of the three communities. The questionnaires mainly focused on collecting information about the interviewee’s and their partner’s occupation, the infrastructure of their house, and their credit history. In addition, we also asked the interviewees other basic general descriptive information about themselves and their families: their sex and age, how many people live in their house, how many of these people contribute to the family’s economy with an income, and which school the children of the household go to. The latter information was collected with the aim of giving us a wider socio-economic perception of the communities, whilst the former was meant to differentiate among the communities which ones would most benefit from the microfinance project.

The aim was to interview 50% of the households in each community. SOLAC interviewed 114 people in total: 43 in Santa Isabel de Huachipa, 39 in Unión Perú, and 32 in Santa Crúz de Huachipa. We mainly interviewed women (79% of the sample) since they are the ones who usually stay in the house during the day and who will be the main beneficiaries of the microfinance project.

Pilot Project Timeframe

2009-10-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

The aim of the Microfinance Pilot Project is to set up a long term Microfinance Programme after the evaluation of this Pilot Project. It is extremely important to implement the Pilot Project to see exactly how the programme could work at the top of its potential and thus benefit the population of Alto Peru the most.

The Pilot Project is being carried out in three stages, each of them crucial to the successful outcome of the project and subsequent implementation of the programme:

1. Investigation (July – October 2009)

We started with the investigation phase of our project in July 2009, which included meetings and interviews with representatives of the communities, medical staff and teachers, the municipality and organisations working in the area, as well as a door to door questionnaire with the families of the communities. SOLAC is currently putting all the data together and writing a diagnostic paper to complete the first stage of the project.

2. Implementation (November 2009 – June 2010)

During the Implementation phase, SOLAC will set up two village banks, which will benefit a total of 20 to 30 people. We will provide four different services to the beneficiaries; an individual loan of 100 to 400 Nuevos Soles (23 to 92 Euros), workshops and training sessions on budget management and personal development and awareness, the promotion of saving and networking opportunities. Meetings with the village banks will take place once a month for a period of 6 months.

3. Evaluation (February – June 2010)

Throughout the implementation stage the Project will be continuously evaluated to make necessary readjustments for the future Programme. In addition by the end of February 2010, we will start evaluating the success of the project until June 2010, and outlining the steps that will be taken subsequently. The Pilot Project will end in June 2010, after which the Microfinance Programme will commence with a methodology based on the evaluation of the Project. The Programme will aim to benefit between 80 and 100 families of the communities of Alto Peru.