Adelante

One of our favorite organizations in Honduras is Adelante, based in La Ceiba.  Why Adelante?

•    Healthy philosophy
•    Results driven
•    Micro-credit, entrepreneur-based
•    Works with women

What does Adelante do?  They change lives for the better.  Let's take a look at their website -- it is rich in content and presentation (reprinted with permission):

"The Adelante Foundation helps the poor help themselves by providing them with the loans they need to start and grow their own microenterprise and with the education they need to succeed.  We provide these services to the poorest of the poor women in rural and peri-urban Honduras.  Our goal is the reduction of poverty by supporting local microenterprise and education." 


[Adelante's website continues]:

Our Credit Program
 

Solidarity Group Loans: Character Based Lending

Adelante provides short-term solidarity group loans. A solidarity group of four to six (usually five) women will jointly take out a loan. They will have pre-arranged ahead of time how much each member is to receive. The group is jointly responsible for the loan. That means if one week, a borrower cannot meet her repayment obligation, the others must cover for her. We explain this obligation many times before the group takes its loan, and so the group members pick each other very carefully. This is known as character-based lending, rather than collateral-based lending like most banks do for wealthier clients.

Loan Details

Our first loan is a three month term, and is usually about $50 per borrower. The women repay every two weeks. The week after making their last payment, the group is able to take out a subsequent loan.  It is usually for a larger amount, and they have more time to repay the loan, usually about six months.  The amount of the subsequent loan depends on how much the business has grown and how much more capital the business can responsibly absorb. 

Groups of Solidarity Groups Form an Assembly

In most villages, there are several loan groups. Six to ten loan groups come together to form an Assembly. The Assembly meets at the same time every two weeks and allows greater efficiencies in terms of loan disbursements and managing paperwork.  The borrowers also receive business and health education talks at the Assemblies.

Our Education Program

Integrated within our program are two forms of education:  business and health.   When providing credit to the extreme poor in rural areas, credit alone is not enough.  Our borrowers need basic business training to insure that they are as informed as possible as to how to maintain their businesses. We also have developed 30 different health workshops addressing topics such as nutrition, malaria prevention, domestic violence, AIDS, tuberculosis, and a wide array of women's health issues. All of our training materials are presented in visual form on brightly colored laminated posters, drawn by Adelante's in-house artists, in order that all of our borrowers, including those who cannot read, can understand the content of the presentation.  [End excerpt from Adelante's website]

Want more information?  Visit Adelante and hear the stories of three amazing women whose lives have been made whole through relationship with Adelante.