Van Mujeres – Planned Action for 2006-2007

1 - PLANNED ACTION: Administering Micro Credits to 8,000 Women (Completing Phase I)

July – September 2006

In order to accelerate the granting of loans to the women, arrangements have been made to increase the capacity of rural savings and loan institutions in Tabasco. One new rural savings and loan organizations was invited to open operations in Tabasco and the two existing one have streamlined operations and developed mobile operations. Field agents are coordinating with the financial institutions to organize groups of women to receive their loans and begin their projects. The capacity for granting loans has now been increased from an average of 40 women per day to 150 women per day. Thus, with the financial operations running six days per week, loans can be processed at a rate of 900 women a week. At this rate, Phase I of Van Mujeres (total of 15,000 women with self-employment projects) will be completed by October 2006 and Phase 2 can be started.

A second critical activity during the remainder of 2006 is the follow-up support that the field agents will provide to the women in the execution of their business projects and activities. A major training workshop of all field agents will be conducted in August to exchange experiences review lessons learned during Phase I and prepare for Phase II.

SITE: State of Tabasco, Mexico.


2 - PLANNED ACTION: Participation at SOW/CGI Fundraising Event

July 29, 2006

The Students of the World (SOW) program, in collaboration with the Clinton Global Initiative, have organized a fundraising event to support the Van Mujeres project and the four other SOW programs that received visits of students to film projects during Summer 2006. Representatives from Van Mujeres will participate at the event and offer options for donations to be made to support the women of Tabasco in launching new businesses, forming new savings groups, and implementing women-inspired community projects.

SITE: The Hamptons, Long Island, NY.


3 - PLANNED ACTION: Launch of Phase II: 15,000 New Women

September 2006 – April 2007

Due to the positive results of Phase I and the high demand from women throughout the state, Van Mujeres will launch a second phase to support another 15,000 women to create self-employment opportunities. The successful development of the Van Mujeres team and network-- field teams, administrative procedures, financial mechanisms, and other infrastructure—will permit an efficient rollout of the program over the next six months. Due to lessons learned from Phase I, the new women will be invited to form savings groups for the first 3 months of the program as a prerequisite for participation. Our experience with women who participated in saving circles in Phase I (and with women in saving circles prior to Van Mujeres) showed significantly higher success in establishing businesses, resolving problems, supporting others, and repaying loans than for women who were not in groups. Therefore, field agents and the women leaders of existing saving circles will support the widespread formation of women’s saving circles throughout the state. These saving circles will be self-organizing; they will choose how much they will save each week, how they will manage their savings, etc. Then, as in Phase I, field agents will train and support the women to identify their business projects and activities, and prepare loan applications. The goal will be to administer the micro credits and help this new round of 15,000 women to launch their business activities during the first quarter of 2007.


In Phase II, Van Mujeres will seek international funding partners to supplement local state funding to support program implementation, micro credit guarantees, R&D, training, and monitoring activities. International funding of US$1.9 million to match state resources is the goal for April 2007. Phase III involves a major expansion of the Van Mujeres network and program offerings into the neighboring states of Chiapas, Campeche, and Veracruz. Therefore, while continuing to maintain operations in the state of Tabasco at supporting 30,000 women every year, with sufficient international funding, we will also support an additional 30,000 in the neighboring states during the first year and grow this to 60,000 in the second year.

SITE: State of Tabasco, Mexico.


4 - PLANNED ACTION: Phase III: Expansion of Program in Neighboring States in Southeast Mexico (60,000 New Women in 2007-2008)

April 2007 – June 2008

Phase III involves a major expansion of the Van Mujeres network and program offerings into the neighboring states of Chiapas, Campeche, and Veracruz. Therefore, while continuing to maintain operations in the state of Tabasco at supporting 30,000 women every year, with sufficient international funding, we will also support an additional 30,000 in the neighboring states during the first year and grow this to 60,000 in the second year.

International funding needed to expand the program is US$8 million.

SITE: States of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, and Veracruz, Mexico.