PRIZE WINNERS 2005 - Third Winner

Third Category for projects initiated, sponsored and/or implemented by individuals

The idea of the project is to grant small credits mainly to rural women, with a methodology of solidarity groups, without guarantees and in a staggered way, beginning with an amount of 9 dollars per person to be reinstated in a weekly way during four months, with an interest rate of 4% monthly. Each solidarity group names a directive table integrated by president, secretary and treasurer that are responsible to strengthen the integration of the group and to support them in the recovery of the credit. Also, an educational process is generated to encourage enterprising and credit culture to increase the income of the family and contribute to the women‘s empowerment.

Maria Teresa Garcia Moses and Martha Beatriz Orantes Gamboa, are the founders of two organizations that participate in a program of microcredits that has reached a great impact, in five states of the country, in areas with a high exclusion index such as Chiapas, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Tabasco and Morelos. Both of the founders, have 30 years of work experience in the rural areas, they have worked in organizational projects that have contributed to raise the production and commercialization and participated in educational health campaigns mainly in the excluded rural areas with fundamentally, indigenous population.

The project aims at giving financial services in an efficient way with competitive rates of interest directed to rural women, mainly. It also aims at promoting educational, and social development programs that allow the targeted groups to raise their standards of living and the acquisition of new skills, knowledge and abilities.

To grant small credits to enterprising people that don’t have access to the commercial banking and that live in rural areas, is such an innovative task in Mexico, where only 15% of the demand of microcredit is covered. The innovative methodology of lending money only to the word given that they will pay back means the trust in the solidarity groups, without any guarantee but the word given or the payment promise, they are able of getting a loan that will allow them to consolidate their business and increase the family income.

The project provided about 70 thousand micro-credits and supported approximately 9000 people of which a 90% are women, who don’t have access to the commercial banking and that want to start or to consolidate a commercial or a services business. In this context the project trained 600 women as professional managers and administrators of family companies, particularly in the field of mother and child care and environmental education reaching 2000 people.