microcredit

Julio Cesar Cardenas has been borrowing from PRESTANIC for years. In this video, he tells how it's gone for him.

by Susan Frisbie
Marketing and Development Director

I just wanted to let everyone know that Brian Standing has made the NICA Fund video available online on his website. You can view the entire "Better Futures: Voices from the NICA Fund" at www.Prolefeedstudios.com

Now you can see the video and share it with other people without waiting for a copy of the DVD.

By Sue Lloyd
WCCN Board Member

It was 15 years ago that WCCN began to channel investors’ money into community economic development in Nicaragua through what is now Prestanic, the community loan fund started by the Nicaraguan Council of Churches (CEPAD). Just a year earlier, after the 1990 election ended the revolutionary Sandinista government, WCCN’s director, Sonia Taddy, and the Board had agreed that our focus going forward would be economic issues and projects. The opportunity to partner with CEPAD, a strong Nicaraguan NGO which shared a focus on economic development, came our way. WCCN took the initial steps on the road by which we eventually forged a model for investment in microcredit and community economic development in the third world.

By Shannon Bell
WCCN Intern

Bianca’s bright pink house is exemplary of the style of homes in the colorful neighborhood of Santa Clara, a community of Juigalpa. She and her seven children, her aunt, and two grandchildren share the home built from concrete with several rooms and running water. Only a short time ago, however, Bianca and her family were sharing a single room made from scraps of plastic and zinc and staying dry was a constant challenge. She longed for a house where she wouldn’t get wet, but she needed help.

Sunday morning I rushed from my hotel room, eager to get a good seat for the opportunity of a lifetime: A live speech from Muhammad Yunus. News of his and the Grameen Bank's award of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize came just in time for the 2006 Global Microcredit Summit, a gathering of 2,000 delegates from the field of microfinance representing over 100 countries. The opening ceremony began with a music video produced in honor of microfinance, followed by a fantastic live performance of african music and dance. The audience rose as a procession of distinguished guests, including Yunus and several foreign dignitaries, filed into the arena. As they took their seats, photographers swarmed Professor Yunus. I had become acquainted with a woman named Amy sitting beside me, who told me how her airline had lost her luggage. She was on the same flight as Yunus and she met him personally when they were filling out forms. Sure enough, he stood apart from the rest of the honored guests with his casual blue shirt and khaki pants.

WCCN is proud to announce the release of Better Futures: Voices from the Nicaraguan Credit Alternatives Fund (NICA Fund), an informational video, which details how microcredit, provided through the NICA Fund, has positively affected the lives of the working poor in Nicaragua.

Using a sustainable model, the NICA Fund helps alleviate poverty by channeling funds from socially responsible North American investors to Nicaraguan nongovernmental organizations (partner agencies) that specialize in lending to the poor. Through the NICA Fund model, small loans, typically 600 dollars or less, are issued to Nicaraguan entrepreneurs, farmers and households who are not served by commercial banks.

Angelina Osejo fled Nicaragua with her children during the 1980s and returned nine years ago to open a small flower shop. At that time, flowers were still only used for the deceased and flower businesses were struggling. Angelina’s ingenuity expanded the market for flowers as she brought flowers back to life for the people of Nicaragua.

From her assured and confident manner, you would not guess that Angelina was initially fearful to borrow money. Her mother had taught her to always pay cash-in-hand. When asked what she would do if money ran out she would shrug her shoulders and reply, “God help me.” NICA Fund partner agency FODEM alleviated her fear by letting her know they “trust her”, and she has been borrowing from them ever since. Now business is flourishing. “[It] is a small business but doing very good,” Angelina proudly explains.

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.