PRO MUJER!

So you might be wondering exactly why the Pro Mujer link has been in my blog resources section for the past several months.  Well FINALLY, as of two weeks ago, I am working with Pro Mujer!  I even have the desk and Pro Mujer polo shirt to prove it, but honestly I'm just friggin excited to be a part of this microfinance movement they have going on.

This NGO is no joke, these women work hard!  I found myself reviewing Nicarguan Microfinance laws and regulations with my peers at 5:30 on a Friday night.  I don't think I would have ever been caught dead in my cubicle on a Friday night in my corporate job.  These women take their job seriously and I dig it.

So what exactly does Pro Mujer do you ask?

Mission:Pro Mujer is an international women’s development and microfinance organization whose mission is to provide Latin America’s poor 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. 

Are you seeing how their mission is directly related to my work in advising small business owners and my personal goal of empowering women?  Perfect match!  The business training is where I come in.

Gloria Ruiz is the director of Pro Mujer Nicaragua and is located about 30 minutes away in the city of Leon.  Pro Mujer was originally started in Bolivia and the model was then replicated to open its second branch in the Leon/Chinandega region of Nicaragua in 1996. They now operate in Argentina, Peru and Mexico.  Let me tell yea this Gloria(see pic) chic is a fireball!  She is barely 5 feet tall and just overflowing with energy and excitement. She showed up along with the head of HR and the head of the Chinandega office to sign my contract along with my Peace Corps boss Georgia.  When the contract was signed, all 5 ft ish of her came over to me to give me "my initiation hug" which I had to bend way down for to be welcomed as part of the team. She told me her vision for me is to find a method to identify the most motivated of our clients with upside potantial and work with them one-on-one, as well as choose a bit larger of a group to do more technical training with such topics as accounting, economics, marketing and the like.  The cool part is I get to design and then implement this plan as well as carry it out.  Right now I'm getting to know the organization inside and out.

This last week has been spent shadowing credit analysts and visiting community meetings amongst the women in rural communities to ask about their goals and what additional training they could benefit from.  All day this last Friday was an internal training at Pro Mujer for all the analysts and also including my boss Anexis.  This was such an awesome experience because these women, along with the acception of a few men employees, are a tight knit group and I got to know everyone on a more personal level.  We played dynamicas(get to know each other games) and role plays with each other.  At one point I was barefoot racing my counterpart to grab a balloon with a question in it as everyone cheered us on.  You don't typically see this in the U.S. financial workplace.  Something else you don't see either is using documents with client sensitive information as scratch paper in a trianing.  That would have violated so many policies on so many levels at Vanguard where I used to work!  My eyes were bugging out of my head when I turned my scratch paper over to read a clients account number and whole name, what!?!?

Today I attended a meeting in a rural community where we were assessing 22 women to see if they were eligible to receive credit.  The fun thing is that they are already all friends.  One of the requirements for the group recieveing individual micro loans is that they are all tight knit because this model draws on the confianza(trust) that brings these women together.  If one woman defaults her friends and community know about it and have to pick up her slack.  No one wants that type of track record so it basically helps eliminate defaults.  See Grameen Bank Model Methodology which Muhammed Yunus earned the Nobel Peace Prize for in 2006.   In this rural community I basically walked around to every single small business in Chichigalpa(Nica's main rum producer) asking about what they plan to do with the money they receive from the loan and how they operate their business currently.  It was quite an experience.  The next day I returned to give a talk about generating new business ideas, leveraging local resources and evaluating competition in the market place.

Over all everyone at Pro Mujer is very welcoming and I'm getting to know each analyst one by one as I travel with them to rural communities.  I certainly feel like part of the team.  They seem to take me seriously although my spanish is less than perfect.  They all think its hilarious to speak to me in tid bits of english, really I just don't see how its that funny.  I love the fact that we will travel 45 mins by bus just to stop in and chat with the women in a rural community and build relationships for a half hour and then 45 min bus back.  It's all about the relationships and I can really appreciate their methods of getting to know these women they call clients.  I can't wait to see how my project with this NGO unfolds.

Work has been really gratifying to say the least.  I have also had some fun camping on the beach and waking  up for 6 am high tide to the sound of waves crashing.  Nothing better than watching the sun rise over the mountains from the ocean just floatin on your surfboard.  Well maybe sunset.....I also took a trip to the colonial city of Granada for the International Poetry Festival which was a cool cultural experience.

Just some observations I've had over the last few days that have made me chuckle.  I never drink purified water or out of a regular glass anymore, its always a Nalgene bottle and its always straight from the tap.  Only in Nica can one loose their cell phone while mountain biking and then ask the rural communities of shacks if anyone has seen it and actually get a response like" ya the girl in the shack down the way has it". What?! awesome!  And then the little girl who is 5 says she'll give it back to me for 100 cords, seriously?  at this age?  I no longer use bug spray daily or get eaten alive by mosquitos, I think I've finally adjusted.  I wear ear plugs every night, but have no problem passing out on a loud crowded bus with the wind in my face, who would have ever thought this possible!