WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009 - (Page 20)

Microfinance ThE COLOMBIA PROJECT Returned Volunteers give back through a replicable microfinance loan program by Helene Ballmann Dudley n his book The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity Michael Maren (Kenya 77-80) describes disastrous results of misguided international assistance programs. The one-size-fits-all approach, especially when developed in London, Rome or New York has more potential to harm than help Third World communities. What does work is the model presented in Peace Corps training—find good local leaders, help them implement local solutions to problems they identify, and work towards sustainability. The Colombia Project follows this Peace Corps model. The project had its genesis in early 2000, at a round-table discussion in Bogota that included two former Peace Corps Volunteers who had served in Colombia, Colombian social workers, and attorneys and leaders of Associacion de Desplazados para la Convivencia Pacifica (Association of Displaced People for Peaceful Coexistence), an organization of families displaced by violence within Colombia. At that time, narco-violence was displacing an average of 25,000 I families annually and had driven out many international aid organizations. What was needed most from those outside the country, the Colombians said, was financial assistance for families with the experience, the initiative and the opportunity to reestablish economic independence. In response, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of South Florida, Inc. (RPCVSF) established The Colombia Project to raise funds for micro-loans. The loan program would be managed by effective Colombian grassroots partners already at work in marginalized communities. By partnering with Colombian non-profits and creating Web-based monitoring, we avoided safety issues and minimized administrative costs so that 100% of donated funds would reach loan recipients in Colombia. Minimal administrative costs incurred in the U.S. were—and continue to be—covered by proceeds from annual sale of RPCV calendars. Individual board members pay the costs related to due diligence visits to Colombia. Over the past nine years The Colombia Project has partnered with five nonJerry Fickel profits at seven sites to provide nearly $100,000 in micro-loans. It has created an indigenous co-operative benefitting 90 families and established communal banks that offer the only savings and loan services available in those communities. Loan repayment rates vary from 80% to 100%. Currently, over 40% of new loans are funded from loan repayments. Effective counterparts are key. The Colombia Project partners are rewarded for good results, not good intentions. Partners are not paid upfront to implement micro-credit programs, but may keep 50% of loan repayments. This encourages partners to seek good loan candidates and mentor them to ensure success. How does The Colombia Project find them? Through the RPCV network and through Colombian-Americans. The Colombia Project then supports those partners and encourages innovation. Experience has taught that differences in geography, leadership skills, local population, economic base, and political climate contributes to variances in opportunities and obstacles. A model that works well in one community may need Hourly rental of portable washing machines is a typical small business in Colombia. Some women can singlehandedly carry a machine to a rental site on their backs. This loan recipient now rents out 3 machines to help support her family. Jerry Fickel in June of 2009, The Colombia Project provided loans to 14 residents in el Pozon, a displaced community in Cartagena. 20 Summer 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009

WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009
Contents
More Peace Corps Campaign: Better and Bolder!
Africa Rural Connect
Readers Write
You Too Can Be Bill Gates
Taking Peace Corps Back into the Field
Come for the Information, Stay for the Dancing
A “Green” Community Rising
Microfinance Pioneer Receives 2009 Shriver Award
The Colombia Project
A Voice for the Unheard
Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Microfinance Podcasts
Selected Microfinance Resources
Bicycle! Bamenda! Orange!
Luck and Fame
A Step in the Right Direction
Bringing What She Loves
Letter from Botswana: First Tongues of the Kalahari
Letter from Tanzania: Homo Sapien in Africa
In the Beginning (There Was John)
The Peace Corps Community Making a Difference
Community News
Advertiser Index

WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009

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