“Andrea: Going From Shy and Insecure To Being A Community Leader”

Andrea Avelina Gironda is a client of Pro Mujer in Bolivia since last year. “I found out about Pro Mujer when its staff came to visit my neighborhood in El Alto and invited me to create my own communal bank group comprised of women,” she said.

Andrea owns a small grocery store and her life changed since her first loan cycle in Pro Mujer: She grew her capital and expanded her business so she could sell breakfast and lunch.

Andrea also transformed herself after improving her work skills thanks to the educational services that Pro Mujer has provided her. She went from being a shy and insecure woman to a leader who helps other women in her group, who, in her own words, “sometimes need a strong voice.”

Things at home also improved. Andrea says that now she communicates with her family more than before and she can pass along what she learned at Pro Mujer to her husband and sons.

The past year has been a year of positive impact. She visits the doctor’s office whenever she needs to or when one of her family members is sick. Andrea says she is grateful to her credit advisor because she reminds all the women in the group to visit Pro Mujer’s offices not only when they are sick but on a regular basis to control their weight and body size, and to get a Pap smear.

Since Andrea Avelina became a client of Pro Mujer in Bolivia, her life changed for the better.

Andrea wants to grow her small business even more and she dreams of having a bigger grocery store with more products and to offer wholesale trade. She also wants to get a bigger stove so she can serve more clients at her small restaurant.

Humbly, Andrea explains that, “every day I do my best to help my family and to give them the best I can. I want my sons to have a better future. I have some bad days at work, but we always have food at home. What keeps me going is that I always find a word of support from my credit advisor and friends at Pro Mujer. When the group gets together, we laugh a lot, and we really enjoy those two hours we spend every Friday.”

“I Was Able to Save My Life”

As told by Edelma Altamirano Espinoza to Alejandra Narvaez Jiron, Communications Specialist for Pro Mujer in Nicaragua.

Edelma Altamirano Espinoza has been a client of Pro Mujer in Nicaragua for the last seven years.

“My name is Edelma Altamirano Espinoza and I am a client at the Pro Mujer center in León, Nicaragua. I am 37 years-old and have two children, a girl who is 20 and boy who is 16. My daughter is married, lives with her husband and is in her third year of her Pharmacological studies at university. My son is finishing high school and lives at home with me and his father.

I used to work as a housekeeper. My husband also used to work, but one day he stopped working and started drinking. It was back then that I decided to start a business selling clothes. A friend of mine, who had a credit with Pro Mujer, told me about the organization. It caught my attention the way the organization operates and the opportunity it offered me to get a small loan with only my word as collateral.

I have been a Pro Mujer client in Nicaragua for the last seven years. My first loan was US$49, which let me buy some clothing in bulk to then resell. Later, my capital grew and now I buy clothing in higher quantities. I go to Honduras to sell them. I travel three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I can sell them at a better price in Honduras and sometimes I sell on credit between 10 and 12 dozens of pieces to one client.

Edelma buys clothes in Nicaragua and travels to Honduras to sell them at a better price.

I am the president of my Communal Bank Las Madrugadoras (The Early Risers) in León. In my role I try to motivate my group to stay together and pay on time. I try to instill in my group that the money we borrow from Pro Mujer is to invest in our small businesses, not to buy anything else.

I am really grateful for Pro Mujer because thanks to the organization I was able to save my life. They always tell us to go to the gynecologists consistently. In 2006, I decided to take a Pap smear for the first time and the medical staff at Pro Mujer found something that it was in an advanced stage. They did a biopsy and confirmed the presence of the human papilloma virus that can cause cervical cancer.

After a series of exams, Pro Mujer referred me to the Hospital Escuela de León so that I could have a hysterectomy so that I can avoid developing uterine cancer later on. That was three years ago. In the beginning I was sad and nervous because I heard people saying that a woman is not a woman if she does not have her uterus.

I did not have to pay for my surgery nor did I have to wait long for the procedure. It was a difficult moment for my family but thank God we overcame the situation. God had a plan for me and put Pro Mujer in my life.

Edelma did not have to pay for the surgery, neither had to wait long for the procedure thanks to Pro Mujer in Nicaragua.

I stopped working for three months, but I kept paying my loan to Pro Mujer. I could not fail the organization that not only gave me a credit to start my small business, but also helped saved my life.

Today, I talk with many women who are my neighbors, friends, sisters at my church, and my peers in my Communal Bank, to motivate them to get their Pap test. They should not procrastinate in taking care of their health. I also asked my daughter to do the test because you never know.”

A Life Transformed by Savings

By Alejandra Narváez, Communications Specialist, Pro Mujer in Nicaragua

Beatriz Espinoza, 34 years old, and her six children live in a humble house made out of tin and with dirt floors in the Villa Reconcialicion neighborhood in Managua, Nicaragua. The area where she lives is poor. She earns a living by selling vegetables, sodas and snacks from “El Mercadito,” as people refer to her store.

A few years ago, Beatriz did not have a job, let alone the means to start her own business. Everything changed once she became a Pro Mujer client in Nicaragua.

Originally from the town of San Miguelito, Beatriz hopes to fulfill her dreams of returning to her home town, see the ocean, eat a hamburger and go to the movies for the first time. She says that she had a tough childhood filled with hardships while living in the countryside, in her small town and then later on in the city where she migrated in search of better opportunities.

“Due to domestic violence when I was 15 years old, I moved to Managua. At age 16, I had my first son Cesar and then a year later, I had Jonatan. Their father abandoned us during my second pregnancy in 1996,” Beatriz says.

When Cesar turned two, he was diagnosed with chronic renal failure, a disease that was unknown to Beatriz.

“I was 18 years old and I didn’t know what do. I told myself that I would look for ways to make money and take my son far away to cure him. I didn’t understand that his disease was in his blood and that I could not extract it,” she tells us.

In search of better conditions, and to cover the treatment of her son, Beatriz joined her life with another man with whom she had two girls and twin boys. “But the cure was worse than the disease,” she says. “At the end, I had to continue struggling by myself. I became father and mother to my six children.”

With five younger children to take care of, it was not easy to deal with Cesar’s disease. “When he started receiving hospital treatment, they told me that he needed a room in our house for him alone. That was when a sister from the church told me about Pro Mujer.”

Posing in front of “El Mercadito” left to right: Jonatán Velázquez, Cindy López Espinoza, Beatriz Espinoza y Yorlin Montalbán. Forefront: Cristofer López, Eric David López y César Velázquez.

Beatriz became a Pro Mujer client in 2010. Her initial loan was US$80 which she used to start building the room for her son and to start her vegetables and fruits business.

Beatriz was always positive and found the economic means to survive. “My son was slowly dying and I could not go to the streets to work. During that time, I received my second loan of US$120 from Pro Mujer. I used this loan to diversify the products for my store. Now, I sell fruits, vegetables and sodas. Pro Mujer helped me when I needed it the most, with no guarantees. So I will never disappoint them”.

Meanwhile, Cesar survived connected to a machine that cleaned his blood. Only last year, the doctors mentioned the possibility of a kidney transplant.

“That’s when I turned to my two year savings from Pro Mujer. I made all the arrangements and Pro Mujer helped me out. They made an exception in order to give me all my savings. Cesar and I had to go through some urgent exams abroad to assess whether we were compatible and I could donate him one of my kidneys”.

Beatriz wrote a moving letter to Pro Mujer about her situation. She not only received US$500 from her savings but also additional help from employees at Pro Mujer who knew her story.

Last November 7^th, after 17 years of suffering, Cesar received one of her mother’s kidneys. “I am so grateful to Pro Mujer and my mother who gave me the opportunity to live”, says Cesar who is planning to go back to high school.

Beatriz’s life goes on. She is the president of the communal bank “La Dalia” in Villa Reconciliacion. Her business continues to grow and with her earnings she feeds her children, buys their clothes and pays for their studies. Jonatan is attending his second year of engineering at the National University of Nicaragua. Her two girls are about to finish high school and the twin boys are in fourth grade.

“On my behalf and my son Cesar, I would like to thank Pro Mujer for helping me during the most difficult time of my life, when there was no hope for him. Today, he has another chance to live,” says Beatriz. “I will always be grateful to you.”

Congratulations To The First Pro Mujer Class of 2013!

By Yesenia Diaz, Communications Coordinator, Pro Mujer in Mexico

Over the past five years, Pro Mujer in Mexico has offered free computer training to our clients and their families as part of the financial, health and human development services we provide. This computer course helps clients grow their businesses, and includes a suite of courses, including the use of products generously donated by Microsoft, a longtime Pro Mujer partner. Training modules include Word, Excel 1, Excel 2, PowerPoint, Internet 1, Internet 2, Publisher, Movie Maker and Access, among others.

A Pro Mujer credit officer (standing in red shirt) leads a computer training course for clients and their children

The culmination of this training is a formal graduation ceremony complete with certificates recognizing their efforts, time and dedication; attendance by clients’ families and friends, Pro Mujer employees, including course instructors and credit officers; music, dancing and of course – a celebratory cake.

In 2012, we graduated 220 clients in the first graduation ceremony of this kind. Demand for the training course was so high that we had to divide the course into two so that we can now graduate two classes in one year.

The first ceremony of this year took place last month and we graduated 188 clients! Among the class of 2013 were clients from centers in Xochimilco, Teoloyucan, Pachuca, Tizayuca and Ocotlan and by the end of the year, we expect to duplicate that figure.

Proud graduates from our Xochimilco center show off their computer training certificates.

Congratulations to the graduating class of 2013 for their efforts, dedication and perseverance!

A New Way To Combat Global Poverty At The Supermarket

For every box sold, Nature’s Path will donate 2 percent of the retail price (up to $20,000) to the nonprofit Whole Planet Foundation to fight poverty. The foundation provides grants to microloans projects like the ones run by Pro Mujer, which have received the foundation’s support for years.

Pro Mujer Celebrates the Completion of its Clinton Global Initiative Commitment with New “Breaking the Cycle of Poverty” Video

As we first reported on our blog at the end of September, Pro Mujer surpassed its 2009-2013 CGI “Breaking the Cycle of Poverty” Commitment to reach 350,000 – one year ahead of schedule.

In recognition of this achievement, the folks at CGI asked us to create a video showcasing our Commitment in action. The following video was shown on the final day, moments after U.S. President Barack Obama addressed a packed audience consisting of an array of heads of state, CEOs, non-profit leaders and other global luminaries.

For more information on our 2009 Commitment as well as our newest Commitment, which we announced at this year’s CGI, please click here.

Commitments to Innovative Solutions in Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

By Josh Cramer-Montes, Director of Communications

It’s been a busy but exciting week here in NYC as a cross-section of world leaders, CEOs, leading NGOs and foundations, and philanthropists came together for this year’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting, the UN General Assembly meeting and a number of related activities.

At this year’s CGI Meeting, Pro Mujer made two major announcements. First, we completed our 2009-2013 CGI “Breaking the Cycle of Poverty” Commitment – one year ahead of schedule. Secondly, we launched a new commitment titled, “Pro Mujer: A Market-Based Solution to Tackle Chronic Diseases in Latin America” that will run through 2015.

In 2009, we committed to provide 350,000 clients with our holistic package of services:  small loans, savings and insurance; business and empowerment training, preventive health education and high-quality, low-cost primary healthcare.

Pro Mujer President and Chief Executive Officer Rosario Pérez announces our Commitment at the 2009 CGI Annual Meeting

At the close of 2011, we surpassed this Commitment by cumulatively reaching 358,946 microentrepreneurs – one year ahead of schedule.

In completing this commitment, Pro Mujer:

• Disbursed half a billion dollars in small loans averaging US$369 to help microentrepreneurs start or grow their businesses;
• Taught educational and life skills workshops to 358,946 clients and reached their more than 1.4 million children and family members;
• Provided 272,806 medical consultations with a particular emphasis on chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, sexual and reproductive health issues, and breast and cervical cancers;
• Facilitated savings accounts, which grew from $18.1 million in 2010 to $20.8 million in 2011, providing clients with an essential financial safety net against life’s unforeseen emergencies;
• Opened 10 new Pro Mujer centers – safe and supportive environments designed for women and their communal bank groups that provide easy and convenient access to services
• Maintained a combined average loan repayment rate of 98.9% in all five countries of operation.

This year, with the financial support of GlaxoSmithKline and the Vitol Foundation, we launched our latest commitment, which begins in January 2013, to reach 470,000 women by expanding our geographic footprint in our five countries of operations, particularly in Mexico and Peru, by December of 2015.

In addition, we will continue to standardize and expand our new health pilot within and beyond Nicaragua, where it was first launched in 2010. The focus of this model is on screening for chronic diseases and providing primary health care. The emphasis on screening is particularly relevant to the countries where Pro Mujer currently operates, where chronic illnesses account for 47% to 75% of health-related loss of productivity.

A Pro Mujer nurse reviews client files in our León center, which is home to phase 1 and phase 2 of our Nicaragua health pilot.  

In making the announcement, Pro Mujer’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Rosario Pérez said, “While we have completed our 2009 CGI commitment, we are far from finished. Pro Mujer remains dedicated to providing as many women as possible with the opportunities they need to be the leading protagonists of their own destinies. We look forward to continuing to make a positive impact in the lives of many more women and their families across Latin America.”

Pro Mujer client Janeth Villegas, a chocolatier from Bolivia, stands with her three young children. To watch Janeth tell her story, click here.

Special thanks go out to our 2009 CGI Commitment partners. Pro Mujer received technical support from Harvard Business School, Harvard School of Public Health, the Ministry of Education of Peru and PATH. In addition, Pro Mujer received generous financial support from: Anglo American Group Foundation; Calvert Investments; Citi Foundation; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Global Partnerships; Microsoft Unlimited Potential–Community Technology Skills Program; JPMorgan Chase Foundation; Oikocredit; Weberg Trust; and Whole Foods Market’s Whole Planet Foundation.

How $28 Dollars Can Change a Woman’s Life

By Alejandra Naravez, Communications Specialist, Pro Mujer in Nicaragua

“Beans, cheese, hot tortillas!” María Vidalia Blanco, a street food vendor from Reparto Venceremos, one of León’s poorest neighborhoods, repeats this phrase over and over each day.

Before she joined Pro Mujer four years ago, María could not afford medical insurance with the earnings from her business. And naturally, illnesses do not take socioeconomic status into account. María is over 50, a diabetic, and had her ovaries and uterus removed several years ago due to lesions on her cervix. Like thousands of other women in Nicaragua, she had to decide whether or not to lose a day’s work and pay approximately US$25 for a preventive medical consultation, and she decided to delay care.  For women from impoverished communities, seeking medical care often requires immense economic sacrifice.

María Vidalia Blanco, a street food vendor from Reparto Venceremos, one of León’s poorest neighborhoods.

Today, with Pro Mujer, María has access to credit, training and healthcare – and all in one convenient location. Just a few days ago, she became the first client to buy Pro Mujer in Nicaragua’s new integrated health package, which will give her access to unlimited consultations, dental care, ophthalmological care, and discounts with different specialists – all for an annual fee of just US$28.

“I am a member of the Communal Bank Yahir,” explains María. “There are 15 of us, and we are already in our 9^th loan cycle. Our loan officer, Ana Leticia, explained that the health package would include a lot of services and that we could pay for it with our savings.  I’ve saved more than 5,000 córdobas (approximately US$214) and I decided to buy the package. It has gynecological care and unlimited consultations. Without paying anything extra, I can go to the clinic at Pro Mujer and see a doctor if I need to.”

María proudly displays her receipt for the health package she just purchased.

María admits that her last visit to the dentist was when she was 18 years old, and since then she has lost several teeth. She will now be able to save her remaining teeth, since Pro Mujer has two dentists on staff who work with the latest technology.

Other than its low cost, another benefit of the health package is that clients who buy it can transfer services to their children or grandchildren though discount coupons.  María insists that all of the services included in the package are valuable.  After a glucose test at Pro Mujer indicated elevated levels of sugar in her blood, she was sent to a hospital emergency room for immediate treatment. If she had not been seen on time, she would have faced serious long-term damage to her eyes, nerves, kidneys, and heart.

Pro Mujer is focused on preventive healthcare. The credit, explains Gloria Ruiz, General Manager of Pro Mujer in Nicaragua, is not the most important aspect of the organization’s work.  Above all, clients’ health is the highest priority, because an “unhealthy woman means an unhealthy business,” says Gloria.

Thanks to Pro Mujer in Nicaragua’s health program, the lives of more than 3,000 women have been saved because of a simple Pap test.

Nicaragua’s new health model has officially been launched in León, and in the words of Gloria Ruiz, “after the first step, we will never stop walking.”

To help women like María receive the new health package, please donate now.

Join Me on a Breathtaking 4-Minute Trip to Peru

A few months ago, I had the experience of a lifetime – to travel to Peru and capture the inspirational story of 22-year old Adela Charca Vilca. Adela lives on a small island made by hand with totora reeds. It is one of nearly a hundred such islands that make up the Uros Islands located on Lake Titicaca, which at more than 12,500 feet, is one of the highest lakes in the world.

Adela lives with her husband, two small children and other members of her family, including her mother Carmen, who is also a Pro Mujer client.

They are a proud family of Aymara-speaking artisans who, day after day, get up in the damp, dark hours before dawn to make vibrantly colored embroideries and mobiles. When the sun is about to rise on the horizon of the lake, they take the older children to school on a neighboring island by rowboat.

Later in the morning, Adela and the other women in her family sell their products to tourists who visit the islands as well as the nearby city of Puno. Savvy businesswomen, they’ve learned how to say goodbye to these visitors in a dozen languages, including English, French and Japanese.

By the afternoon, the sun is hot and intense, and they spend the remainder of the day securing new reeds to prevent their island from sinking.

Prior to joining Pro Mujer, Adela had no income of her own and was dependent on her family. As Adela will tell you in the video below, a small loan of about $75 transformed her life. In fact, today Adela’s family has electricity, thanks to a solar panel she purchased with her Pro Mujer savings account.

JOIN ME in making sure that strong and hardworking women like Adela have access to the vital financial, health and human development services that they need to start or invest in a business and make positive changes for themselves and their families.

Studies show that women reinvest 90% of their income back into their families. Here’s how YOU can invest in women and have an impact that transcends generations:

$54–can help us provide 2 women with 5 individual medical interventions each for herself and/or her family for things such as medical consults, PAP smears, glucose tests, and dental cleaning and fillings.

 $147– can help us provide 1 woman with a start-up loan, business and empowerment training, preventive health education and a high-impact healthcare package, which includes medical interventions for her and/or her family for 12 months.

$294 – can help us provide 2 women with a start-up loan, business and empowerment training, preventive health education and a high-impact healthcare package, which includes medical interventions for them and/or their families for 12 months.

$735 – can help us provide a solidarity group of 5 women with a start-up loan, business and empowerment training, preventive health education and a high-impact healthcare package, which includes medical interventions for them and/or their families for 12 months.

$2,940 – can help us provide a communal bank of approximately 20 women with a start-up loan, business and empowerment training, preventive health education and a high-impact healthcare package, which includes medical interventions for them and/or their families for 12 months.

Sincerely,

Joshua Cramer-Montes
Director of Communications

P.S. – Click here to invest in women like Adela so they have the tools they need to become agents of change for themselves, their families and communities.

** Special thanks to our friends at Silver Wave Records for providing the wonderful music of Peruvian artist Tito La Rosa for Adela’s story **

Profiles in Courage: Elsa Soza, Expansion Specialist for Pro Mujer in Nicaragua

As told by Elsa Adriana Soza Rodriguez

NOTE – the following testimony was told to members of Pro Mujer’s Velasco & Patterson Society during its inaugural, in-country  Encuentro or visit held on March 5th and 6th in Nicaragua.

***

“My name is Elsa Adriana Soza Rodriguez. I was born in Chinandega, Nicaragua, from a family with six children, meager resources, an alcoholic father and a mother who struggled alone — washing, ironing and cooking — to raise and educate her children.

Within the extended family, there were people who said that the Soza girls would never amount to much because of the simple fact of being daughters of an alcoholic. These words were deeply engraved in me. However, the efforts of my mother did bear fruit; most of their children are professionals.

I worked in SETAGRO, an agricultural services company for seven years whose staff were mostly male agronomists. I worked as an assistant, secretary and performed data entry. However, I had an endless list of problems with my partner such as jealousy, and physical and psychological abuse. My problems became unbearable and it resulted in me resigning from my job and I started working in the market selling agricultural products. However, it did not even cover the costs of food.

My situation was economically unstable and at home, we were experiencing domestic violence. My living conditions were unpleasant.  The house did not have proper walls in the front; it was covered with old cans and plastic. We only had two rooms and no doors to give us the protection we needed aside from that which we relied on from God.

A former work colleague asked me if I wanted to join Pro Mujer that I should bring my documents. This inspired my curiosity about Pro Mujer. Later, I participated in two interviews for a data entry job. However, they offered me an opportunity to be a credit officer starting on February 15^th of 2004.

Since I first knew of Pro Mujer, I identified with its mission and with so many women who need support to achieve development for them and for their families, which has helped me greatly in achieving significant changes in myself and my three beautiful children.

My experience at this organization has given me so much support to continue growing; the great human warmth, staff training and the opportunities for professional growth have helped me tremendously.

Currently, I have been separated for one year after so many attempts to improve the situation at home and I have managed to break the 11-year circle of violence that I lived in. Nevertheless, my conditions have improved in every way – what I had not achieved in 11 years with my partner, I did it in one year alone. I improved my living conditions by finishing the construction on my home and improving its façade. I managed to buy electrical appliances that were difficult to acquire in the past.

At work, I have developed technical skills that have enabled me to have other positions.  From being a communal bank credit officer, I was promoted to Credit & Housing Analyst and then to Rotating Adviser and now, Expansion Specialist.

There is more peace and stability in my family now, without punches or violence of any kind and our living conditions have also improved. Today, I live with my children one of whom is studying accounting and the other attending primary school, and their nutrition habits have ameliorated.

What Pro Mujer has taught me is that women are valuable. Pro Mujer is not only a microfinance institution, but a women’s development organization where there are opportunities to grow not only for me, but for many women like me both staff and clients. This encourages me to give the best of myself everyday for my own growth, the growth of the organization and the growth of my clients. As a woman I am proud of what a woman can be capable of achieving once she embarks on a project.

What I like most about working at Pro Mujer is the human warmth and the confidence in knowing that the word of a woman is enough to continue moving forward. In my plans much remains to be done, I will be working to break the paradigm that I can study and become a professional; I will be studying business administration since my family deserves the best of the best.

I am sure that there is no other institution like Pro Mujer where we are given the opportunity of women’s development and I would not have done it without her.

I would first thank God for creating Pro Mujer. Pro Mujer is a school where you learn to be proud to be a woman and I am also grateful for having the chance to change my life as well as so many other women with similar stories.

At the same time, I thank all the people and institutions who help make possible the dreams of many Nicaraguan women.”