|
Global Grant Proposal Form for Project G-133 1. Host Partner Information
2. International Partner Information
1. Describe the benefiting community including its location, using any relevant geographic and demographic information (Please be as specific as possible). If the activity is a scholarship, enter "N/A". Honduras is the second poorest country in Latin America: 60% of its 8.1 million residents live below the national poverty line; 39% live in extreme poverty. This project’s focus will be business training and microloans specifically for poor, indigenous Lenca women living in the country’s highly-forested, remote mountains that make up the 'Lenca Corridor.' These potential clients live throughout the departments of Intibucá, La Paz, and Lempira where illiteracy and childhood malnutrition rates are twice the national average and the Lenca are among the most marginalized of Hondurans. These hardy people live hours from the nearest towns and must walk miles to reach the nearest bus routes. Although this is largely an agrarian society, the root of Hondurans' poverty is that 70% of the people have no access to land, the country is vulnerable to natural disasters, and agricultural productivity is low. Many who own land have only tiny plots to cultivate -- not enough to feed and support their families. Thus, helping rural women start modest businesses such as grocery stores in their homes, raise chickens or goats, create pottery, or sell bread, cheese or vegetables, can increase their family’s income and put enough food on the table to stave off malnutrition and starvation. The Lenca people are scattered throughout the departments of Intibucá, La Paz and Lempira. These departments are contiguous to each other and the project will take place there. 2. What community needs have been identified? If the activity is a scholarship, enter "N/A". Helping poor women to start businesses is one proven way to address the poverty throughout the Lenca Corridor but the demand for microloans in this region is not being met. Of the 24 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Honduras, only eight serve this region, and their investment makes up less than 5% of the total MFI loan pool in the country. The Cooperating Organization on this proposal, the Adelante Foundation, serves 1,046 clients in this area, with a loan pool of $151,621, and estimates that 90,000 more women in the Lenca Corridor would benefit from microloans. The need is there, what is lacking is business training and loan funding. 3. How are these needs currently being addressed with local resources and/or government agencies, NGOs, etc.? If the activity is a scholarship, enter "N/A". Of the eight MFIs that serve the Lenca Corridor, seven offer loans that average $1,053; Adelante's loans average $144. This is one reason Adelante is the preferred Cooperating Organization for this grant -- their target clients are the poorest of the poor. Adelante has provided education and microloans to impoverished women in Honduras since 2000, and operated an office in La Esperanza, Intibucá, since 2005. 1. Summarize the proposed activity(ies) in 250 words or less, including the need it will address, the intended beneficiary(ies), and the potential benefits to the community. This Rotary project will provide business training and over 565 loans starting as low as $25, to indigenous Lenca women (99% of clients) and some men, in Honduras’ rural highlands, so they can start or expand a small business and begin to lift themselves out of extreme poverty. Because repaid money will go back into circulation to fund more loans, this one-time Rotary grant will be recycled for years and transform many lives. During bi-weekly meetings with a loan officer, clients will receive education on business and health topics presented on brightly colored posters so that even illiterate clients can follow the presentations. Business topics will help the clients throughout the process of launching and growing their businesses, administration, and improving sales. Health topics will be tied to the needs of each community and include diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, dengue fever, and malaria, among others. Siguatepeque Rotary Club members will provide oversight and assistance in the design and implementation of the project, and members of the International partner clubs will make at least one site visit to review the progress of this project. 2. Please list any cooperating organization(s) or university(ies) involved in the proposed activity(ies). The Adelante Foundation, Inc. (www.adelantefoundation.org), headquartered in Colorado, USA, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that provides very poor women in rural Honduras the opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their families. Since 2000, Adelante has invested over $2.13 million in Honduras, and currently has a loan pool of $151,621 in the Lenca Corridor. Past and current organizations that support Adelante's efforts in the Intibucá region include the Inter-American Foundation, and Women's Empowerment International. 3. Describe how the benefiting community will be involved in the activity(ies) (Provide specific examples). If the activity is a scholarship, enter "N/A". The Lenca women who receive the loans are actually instrumental in the success of this program, which is based on the Grameen Bank model of microfinance. Under this model, a Solidarity Group of four to six women jointly takes out a loan. Two or more Solidarity Groups make up an Assembly, which is led by an elected Chief, Vice-Chief and Treasurer. While each woman receives a pre-arranged portion of the loan to invest in a business of her own choosing, the group is jointly responsible for repaying the loan. That means that if a client cannot meet her repayment obligation, the others must cover for her. Before loan requests are presented to the Adelante credit officer, they must be approved by a credit committee at the Assembly level, made up of the clients themselves. Because the women choose who will be in their group and trust each other’s character, it is known as character-based lending. In addition to Adelante's ongoing business training, the women in the Assembly act as mentors and counselors to each other, with more seasoned businesswomen advising those just starting a business, or having trouble keeping her business going. 4. Has the benefiting community(ies) confirmed that it would like the activity(ies) to take place? Yes. There are not enough microloans available for impoverished yet enterprising indigenous women in the Lenca Corridor who seek and would benefit from the opportunity to start a business and work their way out of poverty. 5. Proposed Start Date: 1-DEC-2011 6. Proposed Completion Date: 30-NOV-2012 1. With which area(s) of focus is the proposed activity aligned?
2. Please describe how the activity(ies) will address the goal(s) of the area(s) or focus. Economic/Community Development: Because this project will focus on women who have no collateral, and no other hope of getting a loan with a reasonable and repayable interest rate, these Rotary loans will help break the cycle of poverty that has trapped Lenca families for generations. As the client makes money, there will be a financial trickle-down effect of her disposable income in her community, allowing her to purchase goods and services that she cannot now afford. The communities are remote and without the availability of the goods that will be offered by the new businesses. The villagers travel for miles on foot or by bus to obtain basic supplies that they will be able to purchase in their village through one of the businesses. This will improve the lives of the recipients as well as improving the local economy. Due to the availability of microloans, Adelante estimates that more than 200 new businesses will be launched each year in the Lenca Corridor. 1. What will be the immediate and long-term outcomes of the activity(ies). If this project is awarded $47,250 in funding, by project completion it will have helped hundreds of women to begin working their way out of poverty by starting or expanding a business and bringing much-needed income into their homes. It will have funded at least 566 microloans, perhaps more. The long-term effect will be greater financial security and quality of life for the loan clients and their families, the chance to attend school for the children, and greater economic strength for the clients' rural communities. Typical Adelante clients in the Lenca Corridor successfully complete at least four loan cycles, by which time they rise from subsistence to sustainability. As their business grows, they hire employees or put their families to work. Such economic growth has a substantial impact in these isolated communities, where poverty is generational, 40% are illiterate and those that are not have, on-average, 4.5 years of schooling. In such impoverished conditions, it is hard to describe the profound impact on a family of finally having a stable income, and on a community that has new businesses and employment opportunities. 2. Explain how all involved parties will act to ensure the sustainability of the activity(ies) and/or outcomes. The Host Partner, International Partner and Cooperating Organization have fully collaborated on designing this proposal, and are committed to providing due diligence regarding its execution. The goal is to ensure that the funding creates feasible enterprises, that repaid loans are recycled to fund new loans, and that the clients and their communities reap long-term economic benefits. The commitment after the grant period is that Adelante will continue to serve these communities as new clients receive reissued Rotary loans. During the grant execution, the Siguatepeque Club will provide oversight and technical assistance in the implementation of the project, provide voluntary services, and communicate with the International partner club. The Rotary Club of Poway will work with the Host club to oversee the project and complete all reports. Adelante Foundation will comply with the terms and conditions of the matching grant, maintain communication with the Rotary partners, and continue to service the Rotary-funded client communities, post-project, for as long as such programs are needed and feasible. Adelante has the track record to make this happen: it's been a major provider of microloans in Honduras since 2000; its administrators and loan officers on the ground are Hondurans, primarily from the regions they serve; and its Board of Directors brings many areas of expertise to their oversight, and most have deep roots in Honduras.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||