A letter from WCCN’s Executive Director

At our Annual Meeting this spring, WCCN commemorated its 25th anniversary. This important benchmark for our organization was a good opportunity to remember and thank our founders and long-term supporters, revisit our work over the years, and rethink our original mission and vision and how it has evolved and been reshaped over the years. WCCN’s approaches and tools have changed throughout our 25-year history, but our commitment to empowering the poor, with an strong focus on women, has not changed.

WCCN is currently undergoing a series of transformations — a name change, expansion from Nicaragua to other Latin American countries, and re-branding. We have decided that the celebration of 25 years should not focus only on our past. We think that the best way to celebrate our anniversary is to focus on the challenges of the future. This is why we invited managers of four microfinance organizations we partner with in the four different countries we are currently working with to attend our annual meeting. We had the privilege of hosting Elizabeth Campos, from the Local Development Fund (FDL) in Nicaragua; César Tocón, from CDRO in Guatemala; Walberto Lazo from Fundación Campo in El Salvador, and Eva Mendoza, from Credisol, in Honduras.

WCCN’s model of intervention has been tested in Nicaragua for 24 years, and it has proven to be successful. Our challenge now is to expand it to other Latin American countries and succeed there. There are three guiding principles in our model. The first one is partnerships with organizations that are locally based and well-rooted in communities. We have also developed an expertise in selecting those partners by having a well-qualified staff on the ground. The second principle is facilitating people-to-people connections. WCCN connects our supporters and the final beneficiaries of the projects we are working on. We also allow everyday people to participate. As mentioned in Emily Allred’s article in this newsletter, MicroPlace has allowed us to extend the opportunities we offer to everyday people to get involved. Finally, WCCN’s model is also characterized by being holistic in our approach to development. Microfinance is our main tool, but we recognize the importance of other complementary approaches, such as women’s empowerment, housing and fair-trade initiatives.

As we expand, we have had to deal with unexpected challenges, such as the most severe global economic crisis since the 1930s. Although microfinance throughout the world still demonstrates a great level of resilience to the crisis, the reality is that these are hard times for everyone, everywhere. We are committed to staying the course, and continuing our expansion process, but at the same time, we are monitoring how the economic crisis evolves and how it will affect the countries and communities in which we work. We are also making the necessary adjustments to better monitor the risks that this economic environment creates for microfinance institutions. WCCN has a long tradition of transparency. We are committed to continuing to do this. We strongly believe that understanding our work and the challenges we face makes you and our other supporters better partners with us, and most importantly, with the working poor that we are reaching on your behalf. Once again, thank you for believing in our work and for your continued support, which is especially appreciated during these difficult economic times.

In solidarity,

Carlos Arenas
WCCN Executive Director