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• Region highlights
• Bolivia
◦ FONDECO
    ◦ Pro Mujer
    ◦ Feliza & Margarita's story
    ◦ Adela's story
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Grameen Foundation : Where we work : Latin America / Caribbean : Bolivia : Pro Mujer

Pro Mujer

Bolivia

Status snapshot as of March 2008
Active clients	100,511
Loan portfolio (USD)	$17,723,566
Portfolio At Risk >30 days*	0.6%
* Value of all loans outstanding that have one or more installments past due more than 30 days

Bolivia is the first and largest affiliate of Pro Mujer International, a microfinance network dedicated to empowering Latin America women to lift themselves out of poverty through access to microfinance and health services. With partners in Peru, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Argentina, the network serves an estimated 124,000 women, with more than 70,000 in Bolivia alone.

Pro Mujer Bolivia works with impoverished women in eight of Bolivia’s nine regions. Ranging in age from 18 to 67, most clients have four to six children, and are often single parents. They typically have been excluded from educational opportunities beyond elementary school. A majority of clients reside in small cities and engage in commercial activity, very often in local markets or selling goods produced in home-based businesses.

Outreach:

In accordance with its mission, Pro Mujer Bolivia provides clients with credit as well as other opportunities for holistic development. One example is the “Credit with Education” initiative that offers financial education and social services along with business development training and health education. Pro Mujer Bolivia also operates computer centers and education services for clients’ children.

Pro Mujer Bolivia plans to increase its outreach to more than 105,000 clients by 2009.

Grameen Foundation support:

Pro Mujer’s initial contact with the Grameen model began in the mid-1990s when Carmen Velasco, the co-founder of Pro Mujer and country director in Bolivia, visited Grameen Bank in Bangladesh to receive training on the implementation of microfinance. Impressed with her work and commitment, Grameen Trust provided Pro Mujer Bolivia with a $60,000 loan.

Pro Mujer Bolivia became a Grameen Foundation “high growth partner” in 2005, a categorization reserved for only the most promising microfinance institutions with the potential to reach large numbers of new families during GF’s 2004-8 strategic plan. High growth partners are expected to adhere to very high standards of performance and accountability, and receive increased financial and technical support in recognition of their achievements and potential.

Since 2005, Grameen Foundation has disbursed $50,000 to Pro Mujer to expand its loan portfolio. In 2006, Pro Mujer became the first Americas partner, and the second partner overall, to use Grameen Foundation’s innovative Growth Guarantee product. As a result, two guarantees totaling $750,000 were placed with two Bolivian banks to provide Pro Mujer with $1.5 million in local currency financing. Read more about this innovative transaction >

Grameen Foundation recently completed a post-implementation review for Pro Mujer. Grameen Foundation’s technical consultant evaluated the system including its operational capabilities, performance, data validation and consolidation, and reporting. Grameen Foundation also developed a series of next steps, or action items, for Pro Mujer.

As of December 2007, Grameen Foundation has provided $80,000 in loans to Pro Mujer, Bolivia

Awards:

Pro Mujer was awarded the Grameen Foundation "2006 Pioneer in Microfinance Award."

Learn more at: www.pro-mujer.org/

Grameen Foundation : Where we work : Latin America / Caribbean : Bolivia : Pro Mujer