Successes

1)   37 credit loans have been issued to women's micro-enterprises, in the fields of agriculture and livestock, amounting to a total of $11,419.43.

2)  Six training workshops in financial administration.

3)  Four Communal Credit Committees have been formed in the following communities: Corral Viejo of the municipality of Tenancingo, El Bario and La Bermuda in Pepeistenango, and Suchitoto, Cuscatlan.

4)  With the above mentioned communities, we have established a work plan to ensure the efficiency of the
Committees in order to:
a) manage agricultural products on the market,
b) ensure good use of credit,
c) ensure credit is received, and
d) manage administrative instruments.

In all our activities, we want the project beneficiaries themselves to be the advocates in carrying out the work. This guarantees the capital necessary for productive activities, and gives the women control.

The granting of credit loans is carried out through meetings and discussions on credit loans in general.

The first step is to hold a meeting with the promoter to select the community that will benefit from the credit program.

Meetings are held with Women's Committees to explain the project and the prerequisites necessary to be eligible to participate. The women then select the individuals who are needy and who have expressed an interest in the credit loans.

Meetings are held with the women interested in receiving the credit loans. They learn about the project, its objectives and requirements, and the kinds of activities for which loans can be received. The women are told that Communal Credit Committees will be established so that they can take the projects into their own hands and learn how to run the program for themselves. This is a process the women will learn bit by bit through ongoing training.

When the women are informed of the Committees, they are eager to go ahead and form them, and to begin training so that they may put into practice what they have learned. They believe that this will motivate other women to join them in their work. They agree to hold another meeting to form the Committee and begin creating a plan.

The women then come to receive their credit loans, which must be approved by the Women's Community Committee who can vouch that these are women are responsible and hard working.

The loans are overseen by the project coordinator so that she can offer technical advice. Then they are passed on to the Central Credit Committee, which includes the president of CRIPDES, the vice president, and the women's coordinator.

After the Central Committee approves the credit loan, administration is notified so that checks can be made out. The promoter lets the beneficiaries know when they can come to pick up their check.

Once the loans are received, technicians continue to visit the communities to offer advice. This process continues with follow up visits.

Women who wish to receive credit loans for the first time must be trained before they can receive credit.

Currently there are 42 women who have received credit loans. Twenty one of them are in the communities of El Barillo, Nueva Consolacion, Maria Nella Garcia Villas (La Bermuda), Primavera, Buena Vista and Pepeistenango, from the municipality of Suchitoto. The other 21 are from the community of Corral Viejo, and El Pepeto of the municipality of Tenancingo in the department of Cuscatlan.

The initiatives being carried out are:
- buying and raising of grazing livestock and milk cows
- cultivation of basic grains
- commercialization of basic products through small stores
- buying of land
- sowing of squash plants