WCCN's Newsletter, Spring 2010, Volume 26, No. 1

Download the PDF version of the Spring 2010 edition of Grassroots Connections here.

WCCN is pleased to announce the name change of its microfinance project from the Nicaraguan Credit Alternatives Fund (NICA Fund) to the Capital for Communities Fund.

The new name signifies WCCN’s commitment to supporting organizations that promote community-based economic development. As WCCN’s outreach now extends outside Nicaragua, the fund also is reaching micro-entrepreneurs and small farmers in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador. These microcredit borrowers face common challenges related to poverty and inequality, and they often are excluded from the traditional financial sector.

Without a doubt, 2009 ranks among the most challenging in WCCN’s 19 years in microfinance. Nicaragua’s microfinance industry witnessed “a perfect storm,” with a deteriorating economic climate resulting from the global economic crisis, plus a polarized political environment resulting from undemocratic trends during President Daniel Ortega’s three years in office. As if that weren’t enough, during the last two years, the Nicaraguan government promoted a politically motivated non-payment movement and – through action or omission – facilitated the movement’s expansion to several areas of the country hardest hit by the economic crisis.

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing…"
-- Article 25 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Rosa Milia Zamora and her family of five live in one the first four “Seed Houses” constructed in the Guadalupe Hills neighborhood of Managua, Nicaragua. After two months of living in her new home, Rosa said she still feels touched by God and “very big” living in her new home. Photo by Emily Allred.

Habitar wholeheartedly supports housing as a human right. For 18 years, this non-governmental organization in Nicaragua has provided technical support for organized groups of people constructing their houses.

Among the organizations supporting Habitar is Working Capital for Community Needs, which has donated $18,200 to Habitar during the past five years.

Two of Fundación Campo’s borrowers in San Miguel. Photo by Emily Allred.

Between 1994 and 1996, CARE El Salvador implemented a lending project in 100 rural communities in the country’s four eastern departments. Called Credit for Sustainable Agriculture (CAS), the project combined community organizing, technical assistance, participatory research and credit. The credit component was developed under a specific methodology based on rural organizations called ADESCOs.

José Aquilino Quezada, of Catamayo, Ecuador, has a loan from FACES, one of WCCN’s new Ecuadorian partner agencies. Photo by Michael Kienitz.

Working Capital for Community Needs started 2010 by adding two new partners in Ecuador: FACES and INSOTEC. This is the fifth country in which WCCN is currently working and the first in South America. Background information about Ecuador and these new partners follows.

Lois Rockwell (left), on a study tour to Nicaragua in 2005. WCCN archive photo.

Recently we learned the sad news that Lois Rockwell and Frances Smith, two of our dedicated and long-term supporters, passed away. A few years ago I had the privilege to travel to Nicaragua with Lois and Frances through two WCCN study tours and the opportunity to get to know them. Lois Rockwell’s husband, Ray, was a Baptist pastor, and their lives were connected to Nicaragua in an interesting way.

Clementina and her mother at home. Photo by Michael Kienitz.

Clementina Hernandez is a farmer raising chickens and pigs in Honduras. Women here always have raised livestock for food for their families. With the support of microfinancing, they now are expanding their flocks and herds -- not only to better feed their families but to earn a living.

Featuring special guests:

Carlos Felipe Tzoc, of ASDIR in Guatemala. ASDIR primarily lends to the Mayan people of the Guatemalan highlands.

Zobeida Hernandez, of PRODESA in Nicaragua. PRODESA provides microfinance, business development, housing, and youth programs in the southeastern part of the Nicaraguan Atlantic Coast.

Our invited speakers will tell their stories about microfinance and the beneficial impact it has on the lives of the poor and marginalized families in their country. They will transform microfinance from an abstract concept to something that has real impact on real people.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
United Way Building, 2059 Atwood Avenue, Madison, WI
$10 suggested donation

To RSVP, please call Jeanne Duffy at 608-257-7230
or e-mail jeanne@capitalforcommunities.org
or register online at http://www.CapitalForCommunities.org/2010RSVP