Partners:

• Semillas de Bendicion (Seeds of Blessings), Tarija, Bolivia
• Anglican Diocese of Bolivia
• Association of Evangelical Churches of Tarija

Program Type and Services:

• Christian Microfinance Institution: “Savings-Led” with Group Savings and Guarantee

This project currently uses the Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCA) model, but plans are in place to develop these into Accumulated Savings and Credit Associations (ASCAs) in order to provide group members with the ability to save and borrow more flexibly.

Training and Resource Examples:

• Budgeting and saving in the household.
• Business ideas, planning, marketing, price setting.
• Christian discipleship and values in business.
• Preventative health, appropriate technology where there are no basic services, nutrition classes.

The Community

The Department of Tarija is located in the Southeastern part of Bolivia and borders Argentina to the south and Paraguay to the east.  The Department is divided into six provinces, and home to 20 different indigenous tribes with Spanish being the shared language.  The city of Tarija is located in a high and dry mountain valley at an altitude of 1850 meters.  70% of the people in Bolivia live in poverty, 25% of the population is malnourished, 13% of the population lives on $1 per day.

Women in these communities are primarily engaged in work on family farms, with limited access to financial, health or education services. The average number of years of schooling for rural women is only 2.5 years, while it is 4.7 years for men. Seasonal migration among the men is very high in some regions of the country, which leaves women, in many of the cases, as heads of the household.

The Program

Empowering the citizens of Tarija with business and personal finance skills are essential aspects of stimulating economic growth and improving unemployment. This partnership focuses on 10 women’s groups in the city of Tarija and 13 groups in rural communities, including El Puente, Entre Rios, Calamuchita and Valle Concepción.  These groups target those populations unable to access services from the limited microfinance industry in Tarija due to geographic or economic barriers.

Through this program, Five Talents expects clients to gain business skills as well as the habits of saving and borrowing, which will enable them to participate in enterprise development.

The Need

The project leaders need training in the establishment of ASCAs, improvement of their English language abilities, training on the legal process of establishing a small business as well as price fixing, and capacity support in formalizing the project into an NGO.  Five Talents aims to expand total outreach in Bolivia to 170 group members by the end of 2012. Please join us in praying for these needs.

2012 Funding Request:

• $24,000
• Cost per member to provide Five Talents' holistic services: $141.18

Help us empower the citizens of Bolivia with the capacity to improve their lives by supporting this Five Talents International program. You will be fighting poverty, creating jobs and transforming lives!

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