Partnership Journey 2006 Managua, Nicaragua

From February 5th-11th, ten of us embarked on a trip Nicaragua to witness microfinance in action. The group included Board members Ann Hunter Welborn, Dave Brown, Norma Garcia and Norma’s son Mateo, as well as Joe and Judy Johnson of Stockton, CA, and wine makers Heather Pyle and David Lucas of Lodi, CA along with my daughter Maya and me.

On the trip, we visited with 4 of Katalysis Bootstrap Fund's Partners, ACODEP in Managua, Jose Nieborowski Foundation and Prodesa in the city of Boaco, and the Leon 2000 Foundation in the city of Leon. This included meetings with the Directors and key personnel, as well as field visits with urban and rural borrowers. Some highlights of the trip were:

* Visiting owners of two small home based stores near Managua who sell basic products to their neighbors.
* A saddle making business in Boaco. The owner is just 28 and over the past
8 years since he started it, the business has grown to employ more than 23 young men from the community in making leather saddles, which he sells to stores throughout the country.
* A seamstress in Leon who has grown her business and is now making clothing for the domestic market and for export and employing 7 others.
* A small jeweler and a tailor in Boaco who have been able to buy their homes and make improvements to them through the earnings
* A woman who has been selling homemade juices near the University in Leon for over 30 years. With access to loans now she has increased her sales enough to put a new tin roof on her home and tile floors in her home.

We met with Raul Sanchez, and Armando Garcia, Executive Director and President of the Katalysis Central America Microfinance Network, respectively. In one meeting, we met Sonia Aburto, the head of the economic think tank in Managua called FIDEG, which is undertaking a social impact study of microfinance in Nicaragua. We heard from Ms. Aburto how prior to their first study of microfinance 3 years ago she had believed that microfinance did not have a positive impact on the poor. After delving into the study, however, she found herself to be an advocate of microfinance.

For me it was wonderful to connect again with the impact of this work. Meeting the people and hearing their stories brings the purpose of the work to life again in a way that reading about it simply cannot.

The next Partnership Journey will be to Honduras from February 4-10, 2007. For more information contact us at
information@bootstrapfund.org

Best regards,

Christina Jennings
Executive Director
Katalysis Bootstrap Fund