Pro Mujer is an international microfinance and women’s development organization whose mission is to provide Latin America’s poorest women with the means to build livelihoods for themselves and futures for their families through microfinance, business training, and healthcare support.
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Pro Mujer is an international microfinance and women’s development organization whose mission is to provide Latin America’s poorest women with the means to build livelihoods for themselves and futures for their families through microfinance, business training, and healthcare support.
Pro Mujer fights poverty by establishing sustainable microfinance organizations that provide an integrated package of financial and human development services that women require to build and improve their small businesses.
Pro Mujer supports the health of its clients and their families and helps women build their self-esteem. The network also links women and their families with existing resources and services in their communities. Hide
Background and Main Challenges:
In 1990, Lynne Patterson and Carmen Velasco, a Bolivian, began developing training programs in empowerment, health, family planning and child development for groups of Bolivian women who were receiving donated food. After the women requested help in increasing their incomes, they designed a ... Read more
In 1990, Lynne Patterson and Carmen Velasco, a Bolivian, began developing training programs in empowerment, health, family planning and child development for groups of Bolivian women who were receiving donated food. After the women requested help in increasing their incomes, they designed a training program in business development. In 1991, USAID and the Bolivian Government's Social Investment Fund provided grants that enabled Pro Mujer Bolivia to continue training and providing credit through communal banks to the women of El Alto, Bolivia.
Pro Mujer Bolivia is now Pro Mujer’s flagship microfinance institution and the foundational model on which all of its other microfinance institutions have been built. Its success in the region has been integral in replicating Pro Mujer’s achievements. Pro Mujer Bolivia works with impoverished women in eight of Bolivia’s nine regions. A majority of clients reside in small cities and engage in commercial activity, very often in local markets or selling goods produced in home-based businesses.
In 2008 the total number of clients (borrowers and savers) had increased to 101,976 with a current loan portfolio of $22,929,000. These women had also managed to save $9,088,000. Hide
Pro Mujer provides women with working capital loans ranging from US$50 to $1,500 with a term of four to six months. The average loan is approximately US$225. Women who repay their loans on time qualify for larger loans. Pro Mujer also offers loans for short term credit needs, and loans to pay ... Read more
Pro Mujer provides women with working capital loans ranging from US$50 to $1,500 with a term of four to six months. The average loan is approximately US$225. Women who repay their loans on time qualify for larger loans. Pro Mujer also offers loans for short term credit needs, and loans to pay for education and healthcare.
Pro Mujer equips women with more than just credit. It also arms them with the business know-how and skills they need to thrive as entrepreneurs.
Pro Mujer has pioneered an approach that integrates health care and financial services, providing information and services that help clients stay healthy and run their businesses.
Finally, Pro Mujer uses a holistic approach, making sure that clients are better prepared physically, emotionally and economically to improve their lives and that of their children.
MFI Report
