Global Partnerships is organizing a delegation to visit partner microfinance institutions in Peru:

Join us for an unforgettable journey to one of the most fascinating countries in Latin America. We’ll travel to remote areas to witness firsthand how people are building businesses and improving their lives with the help of microloans and other support from GP’s microfinance partners. Along the way we’ll take in the amazing sights, culture and history of Peru, including a day at Machu Picchu and other Incan ruins.

As a GP delegation alumnus, I can personally attest to the value of these trips, and would encourage anyone considering investing in or donating to microfinance to consider this opportunity.

Justiniano Osco drove his dirt bike right into the meeting room where 11 women–members of a communal lending group, or village bank, sat awaiting him. The “room” was an open field in Achocalla, Bolivia. Justiniano is the loan officer who leads the twice-monthly meetings for this village bank, providing trainings, facilitating the loan process and supporting these women who are working to better their lives with the help of microfinance.

Justiniano visits 20 village bank meetings a week, often in remote areas.

I had the opportunity to meet Justiniano–a loan officer with Global Partnerships microfinance partner CRECER–last summer. I was immediately impressed by the respect that Justiniano showed the members of this village bank and the rapport he had with them. He started the meeting off with an icebreaker that involved jumping up and down in place—which led to lots of giggles as the women bounced in their broad skirts, derby hats perched on their heads and long braids flapping at their sides. He then led a participative training on good nutrition, complete with posters of the food pyramid.

Though he has every reason to be proud of his work, Justiniano is soft spoken and humble. An agronomist by training, he has served as a loan officer with CRECER for 11 years. He loves his job, in large part because he knows he is helping his own people.

Like many microfinance loan officers, Justiniano has a background that is very similar to the clients that he serves. He grew up in a poor, rural community: His parents were small farmers, working a tiny plot of land with a few animals.

Read the complete article.

See a 1-minute video of Justiniano at work.

Next Friday, February 5, GP will host a “virtual” PartnerTrip experience at REI in Seattle. Called “Latin American Microfinance Journeys,” the event will feature GP staff who will share stories and photos from past travels and talk about the PartnerTrips program in general. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet past travelers and find out about GP’s upcoming trip to Bolivia in April.To register for the event or to learn more about it, visit GP’s website or call 206.652.8773.

Speaking of PartnerTrips, GP is now recruiting travelers for our April trip to Bolivia. This is a phenomenal opportunity to travel with a small group to see one of the most fascinating countries in Latin America from the perspective of a micro-entrepreneur. The group will spend time in Cochabamba and La Paz, visiting the programs of two of GP’s microfinance partners, which are serving some of the neediest populations in Bolivia with microloans, business training, and health education. The journey will also include an overnight to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca, where they’ll visit the legendary Island of the Sun. Find out more on GP’s website.

I-DEV International (www.idevinternational.com), is excited to launch a 10-day program in December/January for young professionals and students interested in CSR, international development, microfinance and non-profit sectors. This trip is designed to provide an opportunity to visit base of the pyramid communities and witness the benefits of successful economic development and micro-business initiatives.

Trip Summary: Peru
* The trip begins with 2 days in Lima where participants hear from and network with regional directors/key staff from Kiva and other microfinance / CSR / nonprofit representatives.
* Next, participants are flown to the Northern Andes region of Peru (Cajamarca City) to see firsthand how micro-businesses have improved livelihoods at the BoP.

For more information, visit: www.idevinternational.com. Click on the Doing Development In…tab. Please refer questions to DDI@idevinternational.

GP’s PartnerTrips are an opportunity to experience firsthand how microfinance changes lives. Led by a Global Partnerships staff member and local hosts, our group will visit clients of two of our microfinance partners in El Salvador: Enlace, a microfinance institution (MFI) that focuses on very small loans to the poorest segments of the population in central El Salvador; and Apoyo Integral, an MFI serving about 30,000 borrowers throughout the country. We’ll visit the homes and businesses of microentrepreneurs and talk with them about their struggles and successes–all the while gaining a deeper appreciation of the day-to-day reality in which they live.

As a country still recovering from more than a decade of civil war, El Salvador will be particularly interesting to visit and witness how microfinance programs contribute to the efforts of citizens to rebuild their country and their lives.

For more information and to download an application, go to GP’s PartnerTrip page.

And to get a sense of what you’ll be seeing, check out this Facebook slideshow of photos from an ’07 trip.

To read real-time posts from the road about the extraordinary borrowers Chris and the team are meeting, follow along on our Facebook fan page and on Twitter. People like:

• Elisa and Rosa, clients of Global Partnerships’ microfinance partner FDL, who receive technical assistance such as training in vaccinating their chickens (pictured at left) as part of their loan package.
• FDL client Rosario, whose daughter Betsy is in her first year of university, thanks to the success of Rosario’s business.
• A 70-something FDL client named Porfirio, who demonstrated how he carefully prunes his 320 fruit trees to keep them healthy and flourishing.
• A León, Nicaragua, loan recipient named Norma, 59 years old, who only started receiving regular cervical cancer screenings when she became a Pro Mujer in Nicaragua client.

This Facebook photo album that Chris posted yesterday is a good place to start. The team heads to Bolivia tomorrow and is filming there until next Monday.

Editor’s note: Seattle-based Global Partnerships just led a group of travelers on a nine-day trip to Peru to see microfinance programs in action. What did they learn? A lot–including why you have to have strong lungs to be a FONDESURCO loan officer and the importance of communal meals for communal banks. Read trip leader Chris Megargee’s full travelogue on the Global Partnerships site; key excerpts are below.

“Arariwa [a microfinance organization in the Cusco area] serves 78% women using a communal banking methodology. They pride themselves on serving zones where no other MFI is working and providing small loans to people in poverty (average loan size is $400).”

“Although the members of [Aririwa’s] communal bank are just beginning their businesses and they live with very few resources in comparison to what we are accustomed to in the U.S., as the communal bank meeting drew to a close, heaping plates of fish, potatoes and salad were brought in and served to all of us. As we ate alongside the bank members, we learned that sharing a meal together is a regular part of the bank meetings–revealing the social ties and friendships that being an Arariwa client helps to deepen.”

“Silveria Champi Choque works with her husband, Hernan, raising livestock and farming to support their family. Silveria spoke only Quechua, so our conversation was double translated—from Quechua to Spanish to English. She primarily uses her loans to buy feed for her 12 head of cattle, fattening them up for selling. Married for 27 years, she and her husband use the profits from their farming to educate their children. They were very clear that education is their top priority, as they want all their children to become professionals rather than living the harsh life that farming often is for Peruvian campesinos.”

“Ninety-six percent of FONDESURCO clients are in rural areas. And in recruiting loan officers to work for the organization, physical stamina and good health are necessary credentials. Why? Because FONDESURCO’s loan officers have to walk long distances, at high altitudes and across rocky terrain, to reach their clients. Even dirt bikes can’t reach the places they need to go.”

“[FONDESURCO client] Jesús and his wife, Eufemia, have about two-and-a-half acres of land on which they grow potatoes, beans, corn and wheat. They also have two bulls and one cow. Loans from FONDESURCO have helped the family buy the seeds and fertilizer needed to increase their harvest–as well as the cattle that bring income from milk, meat, and farming help (pulling plows). It was truly moving to see the pride that Jesús takes in his land and the care he gives to his beloved cattle.”

Read the full travelogue here.

Location: University of San Diego
Link out: Click here
Start Time: 8:30am
Date: May 7, 2009
End Time: 2:00pm

The conference, which will highlight the local and international work of San Diego’s microfinance organizations, is open to all interested parties. Lynn McMullen, executive director of the Peace Alliance and a longtime microfinance consultant and fundraiser, will give the keynote address. Registration is $25 for the general public and $10 for students and is currently open at www.sdmicrofinancesummit.org.

Microfinance creates economic opportunities by providing business loans and other business development services to entrepreneurs who lack access to traditional forms of credit.

“When I needed a loan when my business was just getting started I, of course, tried with my bank first but did not get approved,” explained Oskar Thorvaldsson, proprietor of Dr. Clark Store (http://drclarkstore.com/), a Chula Vista-based nutritional supplement business. “I somehow found out about ACCIÓN and got my first $10,000. When the manufacturing plant of my main vendor was up for sale, I graduated from ACCIÓN to CDC Small Business Finance and, with lots of help from my loan officer and intense negotiations between seller, lender and buyer, I managed to buy the company. It could not have happened without ACCIÓN and CDC.”

The goal of the summit is to promote the effectiveness of San Diego’s microfinance organizations by sharing stories like Thorvaldsson’s and to promote collaboration across the area’s microfinance community. Partnering organizations include ACCIÓN San Diego, CDC Small Business Finance, Foundation for Women, Grameen Foundation, International Rescue Committee, Point Loma Nazarene University, Project Concern International, School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at University of California, San Diego, and the Ahlers Center for International Business at University of San Diego.

The summit features a series of panels with speakers from across the national and international microfinance sector. In addition to practitioners, local microfinance clients like Thorvaldsson will offer their thoughts on how access to credit provides them with new opportunities. Lunch will be catered by local restaurateurs who are also current microfinance clients. During the lunch buffet, participants will be able to network with representatives of the microfinance organizations on hand. In addition to food, there will be a marketplace where other microfinance clients will sell their wares and services. Among the expected vendors will be artisans, musicians and bakers.

Seattle Times:

Matt Flannery answers your questions about Kiva

Friendship paves a path towards helping the poor

Questions for Kiva.org co-founder and CEO Matt Flannery

KUOW:

Microfinancing Abroad and in Washington State

Seattle Channel has published the schedule for rebroadcasts of the event over the next month, here.

Global Partnerships is planning a trip to Peru later this spring, and would like you to join them.

“Join us on an incredible journey to Peru and experience firsthand how microfinance changes lives.

Designed for donors who have made or who are considering making a personally significant gift to Global Partnerships, on this PartnerTrip we will travel from Lima to Arequipa, where we will meet clients of our microfinance partner FONDESURCO, followed by sightseeing at the Colca Canyon–an excellent location for seeing giant condors in flight. We will then travel to Cusco, the headquarters of our partner Arariwa, to see their work in action. The trip will close with a visit to Machu Picchu, where we will spend the day exploring these historic Inca ruins.”

To download an application, click here.

To view the itinerary, click here.