Bolivia

The Far Reach of Help

The majority of Bolivia's poor families live in rural, even remote, areas, including in the high Andes. In the Altiplano (a high desert at 14,000 ft.), in Potosi (at about 13,780 ft.), and around Lake Titicaca (the world's highest navigable lake at 11,500 ft.), traditional communities must endure difficult conditions to survive. Providing microfinance and lifeskills training to the villages here is costly as well as difficult, so many organizations simply bypass these areas.

But Freedom from Hunger's local partner CRECER is committed to serving these and other rural communities because the need is great. And, despite the higher cost of providing service to these communities, CRECER fully covers its ongoing costs from interest paid on loans—permitting donations to be used for expansion to more communities as well as funding new services.

From its beginning in 1990, Freedom from Hunger and CRECER adapted Credit with Education to meet the particular needs of women in rural Bolivian communities so that, not only do the education sessions respond directly to the issues families face here, but the lifeskills training is presented in the languages most often used by rural women. Although Spanish is the official language of Bolivia, people living in rural villages are more comfortable using their traditional languages, such as Aymara, Quechua and other indigenous languages. That's why field agents use dialogue-based learning in the language most likely to be effective.

And, in spite of their lack of formal education, the women who participate in Credit with Education in Bolivia show true entrepreneurial spirit. The home-based businesses they start and grow with their loans include catching, drying and selling fish; buying raw foodstuffs in bulk to process into tasty dishes to sell at market; setting up tables on the street to sell food and household supplies; weaving and selling blankets and shawls; and creating beautiful handicrafts to sell to tourists. Read the story of Geovana, a Credit with Education client whose life was transformed through her participation in the program.

CRECER is also committed to innovation in its Credit with Education service. For instance, in response to women's requests, CRECER and Freedom from Hunger created a new education module on women's health with topics that include the importance of getting pap smears, what to expect in menopause, and even how to respond to domestic violence.

CRECER is also one of our partners in Freedom from Hunger's Microfinance and Health Protection Initiative (MAHP). Fully integrated into existing Credit with Education programs, CRECER's MAHP services include individual health loans to pay for large medical expenses such as surgery. We also worked together to develop new education on the prevention and treatment of common and chronic illnesses as well as how to seek health care effectively and how to manage health-related financial risks. CRECER has also established links to local health care providers who now visit rural communities on "health days" to provide primary care and basic diagnostic services. To learn more about MAHP, visit http://ffhtechnical.org/innovations/microfinance-and-health-protection.

Learn more about Credit with Education in the Andes

Learn more about CRECER