Watch WCCN's work in action with our new online videos
- Julio Cesar Cardenas has been borrowing from NICA Fund partner agency PRESTANIC for years. In this video, he describes how microcredit loans have changed his life.
Why is microfinance important in Nicaragua?
by Carlos Arenas
Executive Director
According to the Inter-American Development Bank, only 30% of the population in Latin America, and only 10% of their enterprises (including microenterprises) have access to credit. At the rural level, only 4% of the rural families in the Latin American region have access to credit from a financial institution.1 This lack of credit has allowed the birth of microfinance organizations throughout Latin America. At the same time, the success of the microfinance industry in Latin America and elsewhere has been a wake-up call for the banking industry in the entire region. In fact, during the last few years the main umbrella organization of banks in Latin America, the Latin American Federation of Banks (FELABAN), has been very proactive promoting the idea of providing microfinance services to the poorest members of society.2 Some people call this process “downscaling,” meaning that banks are now going down the social ladder to offer services to people who were previously excluded from services due to their economic level.3
WCCN keeps leadership role on social impact of credit
WCCN recently completed a study that confirmed the overwhelmingly positive impact that microfinance has on borrowers’ businesses, their lives and their children’s lives.
From WCCN's Executive Director
I just returned from our June study tour of Nicaragua, which focused on women’s empowerment. While there, we witnessed the deterioration of the political situation, as it becomes more and more polarized. In fact, the institutional pact between the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) and the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) has continued to erode state institutions and is severely damaging the democratic gains Nicaragua has made over the last 18 years. The latest action by the FSLN-PLC pact has resulted in the cancellation of the legal status of two political parties, the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) and the Conservative Party (PC).
To brighten the corners where we live
by Russ Rutter
NICA Fund investor and study tour participant
In January of 2008, my wife and I joined WCCN’s winter study tour to Nicaragua in order to learn more about the country and about the ways in which micro-loans help Nicaraguan people build better lives for themselves and their children. We paid a visit to an agency called Habitar, whose mission is to improve housing. There, our group watched a video that showed men, women, and children as, with minimal machinery, they built, moved, and piled up large wirework containers of rock called gabeones. The folks dwelling in this barrio had built gabeones, stretching for almost 500 yards down the riverbank, that hold back floodwaters—but that also bear witness to their desire to brighten the corner where they live.
A visit to scholarship recipients in La Loma
by Cody Rothschild
Intern and study tour participant
Halfway into this year’s WCCN women’s empowerment study tour, group participants visited the rural town of Malpaisillo, Nicaragua, and the Xochilt Acalt Women’s Center. Xochilt Acalt, which was named after a powerful indigenous chief’s wife, works with women of all ages in surrounding areas to promote citizen participation so they can organize and campaign for their rights independent of Xochilt Acalt’s help. It also provides agricultural instruction and youth and adult gender training. Additionally, it runs a free clinic in the town center that offers gynecological services and family planning education.
Look for us online!
Did you ever wish you could hear about WCCN's work and the latest news in Nicaragua and microcredit more often than every three months? Have you gone on a study tour and wanted to share what you learned with your friends and family? Or maybe you haven't had the chance to visit Nicaragua with WCCN, but would love the opportunity to see our work in action.
“Thank you for believing in us”
by Susan Frisbie
Development and Marketing Director
In the early ‘90s, with the war behind them, the vast majority of Nicaraguans still faced an uphill battle in the struggle against poverty and injustice. In May 1991, WCCN sent a delegation to Nicaragua to learn more about establishing a socially responsible trade and investment program that would foster economic development. This led to our first steps into microfinance through a partnership with CEPAD, the Nicaraguan Council of Protestant Churches.
WCCN begins promising partnership with Humberto Aguilar Co-op
by Carlos Arenas
Executive Director
As part of a new initiative to help to incubate promising organizations with the potential of becoming NICA Fund partners, WCCN has recently established a partnership with the Humberto Aguilar Co-op. This co-op is located in the town of La Concepción, in the department of Masaya, only one hour outside of Managua. La Concepción is the main producer of fruits and vegetables in Nicaragua. WCCN believes that there is an enormous potential for the co-op to increase their services and take complete advantage of the unique agro-ecological conditions of its region.
