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In April, WCCN hosted the Annual Meeting, featuring four guests from our microfinance partners. The guests represented institutions from each of the four countries in which WCCN is now lending.
Elizabeth Campos, FDL (Nicaragua)
Walberto Lazo, Fundación Campo (El Salvador)
Eva Mendoza, Credisol (Honduras)
César Tocón, CDRO (Guatemala)
To take advantage of their time with us, WCCN filmed interviews with each representative. We've begun posting the interviews on our website, www.capitalforcommunities.org. Look for a new video every few weeks. Eventually, all four will be available as part of our ever-growing video library.
The first interview is with Elizabeth Campos of FDL:
http://www.capitalforcommunities.org/Camposinterview
Until next time!
The WCCN Staff
WCCN is pleased to announce that NICA Fund Notes are now available online through MicroPlace.com. The minimum investment is just $20, and you can earn a return up to 6%!
Making an investment only takes a few clicks of the mouse. By clicking here, you can search through the Nicaragua listings. Each WCCN Note will say "WCCN's NICA Fund Notes" under the subject heading. You'll be able to choose the WCCN listing that meets your financial and social objectives and make an investment in that listing from the comfort of your own home. When you make an investment through WCCN on MicroPlace.com, you help the Nicaraguan working poor pull themselves out of poverty and live with dignity.
As a WCCN supporter, you know that the spirit of solidarity created through the link between North American investor and Central American borrower has always been central to our involvement in microcredit. WCCN's new partnership with MicroPlace not only helps provide opportunity to micro-entrepreneurs and small-scale farmers, but also gives investors of all economic means the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of the working poor.
Help us spread the news. Please pass this message on to friends and families with whom you'd like to share this amazing opportunity!
In accordance with securities laws, NICA Fund Notes are currently available via Microplace.com in the following states: AK, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, KS, MA, MD, ME, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, RI, SD, TX, UT, VT, WA, WV, WY.
If you live in a state not listed above, be assured that we are currently working to make this exciting opportunity available to you.
About WCCN: Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) is a 501(c)3 organization based in Madison, WI with a mission of partnering with individuals and organizations in Latin America and the U.S. to build sustainable economic opportunities that help people work their way out of poverty. WCCN has been enabling microcredit lending in Nicaragua since 1991, and this year is expanding its portfolio to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Throughout its experience in the microfinance industry, WCCN has never had a default from a partner microfinance institution and maintains a 100% repayment rate to investors.
About MicroPlace: MicroPlace (www.microplace.com), launched in 2007, is a website that enables everyday people to invest in the world's working poor. As an online investment marketplace whose mission it is to alleviate global poverty, MicroPlace is paving the way to enable a billion people to lift themselves out of poverty. MicroPlace is a wholly-owned subsidiary of eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY).
Revolving fund provides women with access to land
Few would contest that the unequal allocation of the world's resources is inextricably linked to poverty. Among the world's poor, women are at an even greater disadvantage. While women perform two-thirds of the world's work hours and produce 50 percent of the world's food, they earn only 10 percent of the world's income and own less than one percent of property worldwide. Sadly, the situation in Nicaragua is consistent with this trend.
This is precisely why WCCN is proud to continue its partnership with the Foundation Among Women, or La FEM, based in Esteli. In the past year, WCCN has supported La FEM as it expands its livestock production project, thus enabling women to raise chickens pigs, cows and pelibueys (a cross between a sheep and a goat) in the patios around their homes. This project helps fulfill food and income-generating needs, and teaches women how to sustain themselves and their families by becoming small-scale producers.
The livestock production project is often the first step the women working with La FEM have taken toward economic independence. However, it is difficult for these women to take the next step. "One of the limitations we always come up against is the issue of land. It continues to be one of the main things that limits women's empowerment," says Juana Villareyna, Director of La FEM.
To address the lack of access to land, WCCN and La FEM have initiated a new project that will ultimately lead to campesinas realizing a dream they never thought was possible-owning land. Through the project, WCCN will provide La FEM funding to purchase land to begin the process. La FEM will select campesinas that have demonstrated agricultural skills and financial responsibility. Small loans will then be offered to the women to work their own parcel of land. Once a loan has been repaid, La FEM will transfer the title for the portion of the land the woman worked into her name. The repaid loan will be returned to a revolving fund, and can then be lent to other landless campesinas, thus providing a continuous source of opportunity.
The La FEM land access initiative is a new project based off of WCCN's experience gained during an earlier pilot initiative with the Rural Women's Committee in Leon. WCCN will keep you informed of future advances. Of course, this initiative would not be possible without the generous support of WCCN's members and friends. If you are interested in contributing to the empowerment of landless women, you can do so by making a donation, which is as easy as clicking on the "donate now" button and choosing to have your gift designated to this project.
We also invite you to watch our online video about the inspiring work of La FEM and WCCN's other women's empowerment partners in Nicaragua.
Upcoming events: Ernesto Cardenal visits the University of Wisconsin
La Poesia de Ernesto Cardenal / The Poetry of Ernesto CardenalThursday, September 11th
5:00-7:00 p.m., Room B10, Ingraham Hall
1155 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706
Questions can be directed to lacisoutreach@lacis.wisc.edu or 608-262-0616.
Seating will be limited, and offered on a first come, first serve basis.
FREE and open to the public.
This event is being co-sponsored by The Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives, The Department of Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies, Global Studies at UW-Madison, WCCN and Centro Hispano.
This will be a poetry reading (an interpreter will be providing simultaneous translation) and a Q&A discussion.