Grameen Foundation : Where we work : Latin America / Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean
Grameen Foundation’s goal in Latin America and the Caribbean is to reduce extreme poverty, particularly in rural areas, by providing its microfinance partners with funding, technical assistance and technology support. This allows these grassroots organizations to expand their outreach to more families and increase their impact. In a region with 125 million people living on less than $2 a day, and 50 million of those barely surviving on less than $1 a day, the ability for our partners to expand to reach large numbers of very poor families is even more critical.
In 2005, Grameen Foundation launched a four-year Latin America Initiative overseen by a Latin America Advisory Council of expert volunteers with a long-term interest in the region. This $10 million project addresses the need for financial services by many of the areas poorest people. As of March 2006, Grameen Foundation microfinance institution (MFI) partners were directly serving 126,334 clients (benefiting over 600,000 people) through the Latin America Initiative. This represents an increase of 32 percent compared to two years earlier, and was largely boosted by the addition of two rapidly growing partners.
The Initiative’s goal is to reach 186,000 impoverished clients by 2008, with 93,000 of them escaping poverty within five years of receiving of their first loan. To achieve that, Grameen Foundation provides vitally needed funding to expand the outreach and impact of 10 MFI partners in six countries as diverse as Haiti, Mexico, Honduras and Bolivia. We plan to add more partners to the network in the coming years to respond to the demand for services.
The Initiative allows MFI partners to receive funding through direct loans and loan guarantees, staff training, and information technology. MFIs will also be able to access Mifos, Grameen Foundation’s innovative, open-source platform for information management. Details of our technical assistance to MFIs can be found in our Toolbox.
The Latin America Initiative builds on Grameen Foundation's work in the region dating back to 2000, and is supported by philanthropists, volunteers and local financial institutions. Two key supporters are Fund for the Poor, Inc., a New York-based foundation and the Chiapas Project, a fund-raising initiative organized by businesswomen and professional women in Dallas, Texas. In this phase of our work, The Fund for the Poor has issued a challenge grant: for every dollar raised to support our goal, they will provide 66 cents in additional support.
Latin America Region Highlights
Read about our work in Latin America and the Caribbean:
Grameen Foundation : Where we work : Latin America / Caribbean
Grameen Foundation uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people. With tiny loans and financial services, we help the poor, mostly women, start businesses and escape poverty. Our global network of 55 microfinance institution (MFI) partners including our Growth Guarantee partners has touched more than 34 million people in 24 countries. In addition, we introduced and now sustain technology initiatives (Mifos and Village Phone) in Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, bringing our total country outreach to 28.
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