WCCN's Newsletter, Fall 2009, Volume 25, No. 3

Members of a solidarity group in Chague, León, Nicaragua, meet with a WCCN delegation and explain what is happening with their microloans. Photo by Michael Kienitz.

When the financial crisis hit, Latin America was experiencing its fastest rate of economic growth in 30 years. During the boom of the 1990s and most of this decade, the percentage of Latin Americans living on less than $2 a day declined from 26.2% to 22.2%. However, the severity of the recent financial crisis threatens to erase twenty years of progress in the fight against global poverty.

Sitting in a dimly lit wooden shack in the rural community of Chague, in León, Nicaragua, are members of this summer’s WCCN study tour and Concepción Mendez, Maria Maraolioga, Ramona Monolez, and Ellania Mendez. The four women are a solidarity group that has been receiving loans to purchase livestock and plant crops for over a decade. As the women passionately begin to tell their story, it becomes painfully clear that the world recession is weighing heavily on Nicaragua’s rural poor.

As we have reported over the last year, as a result of the global economic crisis, the microfinance industry worldwide is facing one of its biggest challenges since it was created three decades ago.

Photo by Michael Kienitz.

After an escalating confrontation between the branches of the government of Honduras, on June 28, 2009, the Honduran military forceably removed President Manuel Zelaya from power and sent him to Costa Rica. Immediately afterwards, the Honduran congress elected Roberto Micheletti as the new president. The interpretation of the events and ideas on how to resolve the current crisis have created deep division and confrontation in Honduran society. Micheletti's government has not been recognized by any other government.

WCCN has decided to publish this communique from the Diocese of Trujillo, on the Atlantic Coast of Honduras, for two main reasons. Firstly, it is a very well-balanced analysis that shows the complexity of the current situation. Secondly, the diocese has been the main force behind Credisol, our new lending partner in Honduras. At press time, the situation on the ground remains unresolved.

Some of the staff and board of the Campesino Bank pose with WCCN staff members Carlos Arenas, Emily Allred and Francisco Barquero. The author is at the far right. Photo by Ann McSweeny.

In 1994, faced with the disappearance of the state bank and the slim chances of gaining access to loans from private banks, a group of producers met in the shade of a tree in the community of San Antonio, approximately 18 km from Nueva Guinea. In this meeting, the growers talked about the most serious problem in promoting production — timely and adequate financing — and they began to envision a little bank formed by and for campesinos. That’s how they started the efforts to create a Savings and Credit Cooperative, which would become el Banquito Campesino [the Little Campesino Bank], an organization designed by the producers themselves, and which would be able to understand them and accompany them in the development of their production.

Opening 5:30 p.m Friday, October 16th, 2009.
Runs through Nov. 15th , 2009

The Pyle Center
702 Langdon St., Madison, Wisconsin (Note: Langdon St. will be closed on 10/16 for UW's Homecoming parade. Please plan accordingly.)

$10 suggested donation
$5 student suggested donation

Esmeralda Espinoza, shucking corn to go in her nacatamales. Photo by Michael Kienitz.

As the sun rises over Managua, Esmeralda Espinoza stokes the coals of her brick oven and begins preparing the ingredients that will go into over 200 nacatamales. After each nacatamal is hand-rolled in plantain leaves, Esmeralda and five other women from her neighborhood travel to the industrial neighborhoods to sell their goods during the lunch rush.

Esmeralda started her small business ten years ago with a $300 loan from FAMA, a partner agency of Working Capital for Community Needs. Since then, she has received 15 additional loans that have allowed her to expand her business and hire five employees from her community. She has even taken her nacatamal business international, shipping a little piece of Nicaragua to loyal customers in the United States and Canada.