Rotary Club of Indianapolis Calnali Microfinance Project Celebrates Fourth Year of Operation
By: Rotarian, Sara Anne Hook, 317-278-7690, sahook@iupui.edu, Rotary Club of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
As the project leader and “champion,” I am pleased to report that the Calnali (State of Hidalgo, Mexico) Microfinance Project just celebrated its fourth year of operation. Calnali is a rural municipality with a population of approximately 17,000. Poverty and unemployment are high and although this mountainous region is beautiful, it is remote, making travel to the area difficult and time-consuming. With substantial funding for loans from the Rotary Club of Indianapolis as well as a contribution from the Rotary Club of Cottleville/Weldon Spring, Missouri, the project has now provided several hundred women with modest loans so that they can start their own small companies, with some women receiving multiple loans as they demonstrate the success of their ventures.
As of June 2014, the project had 243 borrowers organized into 26 communal banks, which act a support groups, representing a 274 percent increase in the number of women being served since July 2010. As of June 2014, the average loan balance was $216 with a total loan portfolio of $52,580. Many of the women have used their loans to grow beans, corn and vegetables or to bake bread, which provides fresh, healthy, locally-sourced food to the community. In addition to their loans, the women receive empowerment training and money/business management training through Pro Mujer, the microfinance organization we work with. A number of community organizations in Central Indiana and in Mexico have provided financial, logistical and in-kind support and encouragement. The success of the project is especially gratifying for the Rotary Club of Indianapolis, because it is our club’s first foray into microfinance. In addition to continued support for Calnali, we have just approved funding for 2014-2015 to start a microfinance project in Sierra Leone.
One of the lessons learned from the Calnali Microfinance Project has been the importance of partnerships, because no one individual or organization can do everything. This has been particularly true in the case of Pro Mujer, which was willing to start with a small group of borrowers in 2010 and then expand its services with each annual contribution from the Rotary Club of Indianapolis. Pro Mujer has a proud history in the realm of microfinance, concentrating its efforts in five countries in Latin America, and was recently one of the first microfinance organizations to receive Client Protection Certification through Smart Campaign. Challenges with the project include the logistical issues with travel to Calnali, making it difficult for the staff of Pro Mujer to make regular visits to oversee the lending and repayment process and to provide training. Although Pro Mujer is converting more of its manual business processes such as loan verification to wireless/tablet technology, robust wireless service is not readily available in Calnali. Future plans include configuring training materials so that they can be delivered through tablets.
