WCCN's Newsletter, Summer 2006, Volume 22, No. 2

By Carlos Arenas
WCCN Executive Director

According to a recent report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), 70% of the population in Latin America is still marginalized from financial services by commercial banks. In rural areas of Latin America only 4% of the families have access to credit through a bank. This reality has made it necessary for the poorest sectors of society to access small credit and other financial services through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) since the 1980s. Over the years, little by little, most of these NGOs have become specialized in the field of microfinance and transformed into more sophisticated organizations. As a result of these forces, the microfinance industry is well developed in several Latin American countries, including Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Nicaragua.

During the last eight years, it has been a tradition at WCCN to commemorate International Women’s Day on March 8th with a special event in Madison. Once again WCCN joined Women for Peace, a local women’s group, to organize this event which was generously supported by the Eunice and Robert J. Wagner Foundation and the Center for South Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In this time of war, WCCN and Women for Peace wanted to address the issue of women’s resistance to violence. As a result, this year we had the opportunity to invite Malalai Joya, a young member of the Afghan parliament and well known women’s rights activist. Malalai belongs to a generation that has suffered from war all its life and has fought against it in different capacities. In fact, Malalai told us that she was only five days old when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s. Her father died during that war and her family had to move to a refugee camp in Pakistan where she grew up.

By Susan Frisbie
WCCN Development & Marketing Director

Thursday, May 11th marked the final day in which Nicaragua’s presidential hopefuls could register their party alliances in front of the Supreme Electoral Council. Speculation ran high as to whether or not the political right would settle their differences prior to the deadline. There have been instances of party swapping on the right, most notably former Alliance for the Republic (Apre) presidential candidate Jose Antonio Alvarado joining forces with the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC). However, the alliance that U.S. Ambassador Paul Trivelli had been jockeying for between the PLC and the U.S. government-favored Eduardo Monetealegre did not come to fruition.

By Alisha Steele
WCCN Outreach Coordinator

Again this year WCCN and Women for Peace hosted a celebration of International Women’s Day in Madison, WI. This year the main speaker was Malalai Joya, a legislator from Afghanistan who spoke on “Afghan Women’s Resistance to War and
Fundamentalism”. The event included performances by local artists Katrina Flores and Tracie Gilbert, as well as music and dancing by the Omulu Capoeira Group.

By Emily Allred
NICA Fund Manager

WCCN’s 22nd Annual Meeting was held in the late afternoon of Thursday April 20th. Guests steadily trickled into a sunny meeting room at the United Way building in Madison. Delighted voices rang out greetings, and new young faces became acquainted with seasoned members.

Much of the enthusiasm was from anticipation over the agenda for the evening, with the theme, “Picturing the Impact of Socially Responsible Investing: How Microcredit Creates Opportunities for Disadvantaged Nicaraguans”. The evening was very enriching as attendees caught a sneak preview of WCCN’s new video about the NICA Fund. They then learned more from expert guests in the fields of investing and economics.

Throughout the twelve years they have been in business, the Vega family has been successful in manufacturing and selling all sorts of concrete-related goods, such as bricks for construction, latrines, sinks for washing, etc. They started with very little money, but have grown their business, which now employs eight non-relatives as well as several family members.

Marcia is the owner’s bright young daughter who works in customer support for the business. She assesses what the customer needs and works to satisfy their expectations. Marcia learned the operations by watching since she was a young child and is now preparing to take the lead.