(download vanmujeres.ppt clic here)
(download vanmujeres.ppt clic here)
VanMujeres
Is a program of the Government of the State of Tabasco designed for all the women without distinction of ages, estatus or area of location. It facilitates his integration in the state economic development, through his entailment with channels of financing for productive projects, granting the technical attendance to them necessary to undertake his own businesses.
VANMUJERES is not a savings bank, nonsingle grants financings; it is more than a bank, since as political public of the Government of the State fortifies to the social bank, through oriented credits the enterprising women, who until have not received an integral program now that offers complementary services to them that are oriented to the personal overcoming.
General mission.
To incorporate to the woman in the economic development of the State, being improved its conditions of life when putting to its reach sources of financing to farming productive projects, of commerce or services, independent of its economic condition, its location or the resources on which it counts.
2005-2006 Commitment Progress Report
I. Summary of Commitment:
Project: VAN MUJERES – Women-based Sustainable Economic Development
Commitment by: Governor Manuel Andrade, Governor of the State of Tabasco, Mexico
Partner(s): Dr. Eric Hansen, President, Economic Transformations Group
Dr. Armando Mejia, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Tabasco
Soraya Perez, Director, Women’s Institute, Tabasco
Commitment Duration: 2005-2006 (ongoing)
II. Commitment Implementation:
1. Has your 2005 commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative been completed?
Yes, we have established the program for supporting 15,000 poor women in the
state of Tabasco, Mexico to launch and sustain their small businesses. Beginning
in January 2006, 15,000 women have received training and assistance in preparing
their business activities and micro credit applications. By May 2006, 4,030 had
women received loans of US$600 with which to carrying out their business
activities. As of July 2006, the number of women with micro credits has risen to
over seven thousand. The remaining loans are being administered by October 2006.
a. If not, when do you expect your commitment will be complete?
b. If so, have you undertaken any new or ongoing activities in connection with
your completed commitment?
Due to the success of this first phase, a second phase of supporting another
15,000 women will be launched in September 2006. During 2007, the goal is to
further expand the program by seeking international funding and support to
continue the program in Tabasco and expand the program for women in the
neighboring states of Chiapas, Veracruz, Campeche, Yucatan, Oaxaca, as well as
Guatemala.
Also starting in June 2006, we developed and began conducting a series of
additional training and experiential “social capital, trust, and empowerment”
workshops for the women of Van Mujeres aimed at enhancing their lives, and
helping them work together and support each other. The workshops are offered for
women who have already received their loans and are focused on gender equity,
domestic violence, self-esteem, trust and teamwork.
2. Please briefly list three of the most prominent actions you have taken or
accomplishments you have had between September 20, 2005 and July 1, 2006 toward
the fulfillment of your commitment.
ACTION
Sept 2005-Jan 2006: DESIGNED & DEVELOPED VAN MUJERES PROGRAM
The initial major accomplishment was the overall design and establishment of the
Van Mujeres program by developing the three major branches of the program.
1) Training-the-Trainers: Conducted “train-the-trainers” workshops with 120
field agents to prepare them to train and support the 15,000 poor women in all
parts of the state of Tabasco.
2) Developed Credit Application Process: Developed the mechanisms to process the
credit applications. Processed more than 30,000 applications from interested
women, and completed 15,000 files, each proposing a detailed business project
and containing all the documents required by the financial institutions.
3) Established Financial Mechanism: Established a Trust Fund and the financing
mechanisms and arrangements among the state and federal government, banks, and
rural credit agencies to administer and recuperate US$9 million in micro
credits.
The Governor officially launched the Van Mujeres program at a statewide Forum on
November 4, 2005 with more than 6,000 women attending.
ACTION
January – March 2006: 15,000 WOMEN TRAINED & MICRO-LOAN APPLICATIONS PREPARED
Field agents, working 6 days a week and holding as many as three workshops a
day, conducted more than 1,000 workshops (each ranging from 20-90 women) in 360
rural and urban communities throughout the state to help women identify
productive projects and micro-businesses and prepare their credit documents. As
a result, by March 2006, all 15,000 women had identified their productive
projects, completed their micro credit applications, and were trained as to how
to apply for loans and deal with financial institutions.
ACTION
March-July 2006: 7,000 WOMEN RECEIVED MICROCREDITS AND START-UP BUSINESSES
The granting of credits began in earnest in late February. By May 2006, 4,030
women had received credits and had launched their business activities. Many
women had already begun to repay their credits; a 97% repayment rate was
recorded within the first 3 months. As of July 2006, more than 7,000 women have
received credits.
ACTION
May - July 2006: CNN and STUDENTS OF THE WORLD CHOOSE TO FILM VAN MUJERES AS
POVERTY-REDUCTION SUCCESS STORY
Students of the World chooses to feature the Van Mujeres program as a success
story of the Clinton Global Initiative and sends a team of six students from the
University of North Carolina to Tabasco in May to make a documentary film about
Van Mujeres, with the intention of presenting a short film at CGI 2006 in New
York in September.
CNN selects Van Mujeres as a success story for alleviating world poverty to be
included in an hour-long program about poverty with President Bill (scheduled
for August 2006). A CNN crew comes to Tabasco during July 5-8 to shoot the
story.
III. Commitment Impact
1. For some projects, impact may not be immediately realized, but CGI is
interested in learning about the results your commitment has yielded. If the
impact of your project can be measured quantitatively, please refer to the form
attached, “How to Measure the Impact of Your Commitment,” for examples of terms
that may be applicable to the outcome of your project. If there is a different
way to capture the impact of your project in terms of quantity and/or quality,
please provide a few sentences that describe your project’s most significant
accomplishments to date.
IMPACT: [If applicable, please describe the most significant impact your
commitment has had in a short paragraph. To the fullest extent possible, please
include quantitative terms to measure the impact you describe.]
As of July 2006, the Van Mujeres program has supported 7,000 women to launch or
expand their small business activities. This recently launched program has
extended loans in excess of $3.5 million for self-employment purposes to some of
the poorest people in Mexico—rural indigenous women of Tabasco. With a
co-payment of US$100, participating women have received micro credits up to
US$600 to start-up or grow their business activities. While it remains too early
to measure the impact on the regional economy, the creation of new income
earning opportunities for the women of these communities translates into an
additional income of US$2-10 a day (the minimum wage in Mexico is US$4.20).
Because rural unemployment and underemployment of the men in the state ranges
from 40-60%, this means that with these new self-made jobs, the women are
becoming significant income providers for their families. Van Mujeres is helping
thousands of women to move from one or two meals a day to three, from one or two
sets of clothing to three or four, and to be able to send their children to
school, buy medicine, and have a little extra to deal with emergences.
One-third of the business activities that women are engaging in are
agricultural—raising and selling chicken, pigs, vegetables, even aquaculture.
More than 60% of the women are selling goods locally such as clothing, shoes,
jewelry or setting up small stores, or making and selling food. Five percent of
the women are engaging in industrial activities including clothing manufacturing
and food processing, such as meat butchering.
In addition to supporting women to create new economic opportunities for
themselves, Van Mujeres is positively impacting the lives of the women and their
families, and yielding social benefits in their communities. Initial surveys
reveal that the self-esteem of the women and hope for the future of their
families are significantly higher (67% of the women report higher self-esteem).
Women are reporting new promise for a modest, but measurable improvements for
these women and their families: better food, shelter, clothing, some basic
health care, opportunities for education, and more control, less anxiety, and
the ability to plan, within a limited range, for the future. Also, for the first
time in their lives, the Van Mujeres women are enjoying the benefits of life
insurance programs provided by the financial institutions (average life
insurance benefits are US$13,400). These positive impacts are beginning to
extend into the communities of these marginalized regions, because the local
activities are substituting for “imported” goods and services, therefore
capturing more income locally. As women see the results of women in the program,
new savings groups are forming and women not involved in Phase 1 are eagerly
awaiting an opportunity to participate in Phase 2.
Van Mujeres is showing strong early signs of success in terms of women repaying
their loans. For a brand new program, still working to solve the inevitable
administrative bugs and glitches, the repayment rate of loans is 98.6%, with
only 1.4% of women falling more than 3 months behind in their repayments. The
field agents are monitoring very closely those women who are missing payments
and helping them to solve their payment problems. In addition, women leaders in
the community saving circles are stepping up to provide local social support and
pressure to encourage repayment. As all women understand the risk that
non-payment poses for the future of the entire program, solutions for repayment
are typically discovered.
Finally, one of the most significant accomplishment of Van Mujeres is the
establishment of a strong foundation of 350 committed leaders, field agents,
financial stakeholders, and technical support teams. The training and on-the-job
learning of the technical agents, technicians, bankers, technicians, social
capital workshop leaders, and others that form the Van Mujeres Team has been
significant during this first year, and represents a substantial asset that can
be leveraged in subsequent phases of the program.
PARTICIPANTS: [If applicable, please list the participants affected by your
project’s outcome.]
SITE: [If applicable, please describe the cities, region(s), or countries in
which your project has had an impact.]
The state of Tabasco, located in Southeast Mexico, is one of Mexico’s poorest
states, has pockets of poverty and a high percentage of indigenous people living
in pockets of poverty
The state of Tabasco, located in Southeast Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico, and
bordering Chiapas and Guatemala, has traditionally been an agricultural region,
but in the last 30 years has become one of Mexico’s leading petroleum producers.
Despite its oil resources, the state remains one of Mexico’s poorest in Mexico
with a GDP per capita of US$3,900. Income distribution is very uneven and there
are pockets of poverty and a high percentage of indigenous people living in
marginalized rural communities. Van Mujeres is supporting poor women in all 17
counties of the state.
IV. Current Activities
1. If applicable, please provide specific information regarding activities
planned for the period July 2006 – September 2006:
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$8 million.
SITE: States of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, and Veracruz, Mexico.
V. Commitment Budget (if applicable)
The Clinton Global Initiative is not a grant-making entity and cannot fund
commitments directly. However, we can add information about your funding
requirements to the description of your project that appears on the CGI
web-site. Please provide the requested information to the fullest extent
possible:
FUNDING REQUIREMENTS FOR VAN MUJERES
CURRENT PROJECTED PROJECTED
Phase I Phase II Phase III
Van Mujeres Operations (US$) Sept05-Sept06 Sept06-Apr07 Apr07-Jun08
Training, Field Agents, Professional Services $660,000 $600,000 $1,450,000
Administration $40,000 $30,000 $75,000
Computer Equipment $6,400 $2,000 $15,000
Stationery $3,600 $4,500 $5,000
Printing and photocopying $2,700 $10,000 $6,500
Fuel $4,500 $10,500 $24,000
Food supply $19,500 $20,000 $33,000
Car rental $16,100 $16,100 $21,000
Transport equipment maintenance $2,000 $2,000 $3,500
Trip expenses $2,000 $10,000 $18,000
Women's & Visitors’ reception $6,250 $3,000 $4,600
Subtotal - Van Mujeres Operations $763,050 $708,100 $1,655,600
Trust Fund for Women's Micro Credits $3,214,000 $3,214,000 $8,350,000
TOTAL CAPITAL & OPERATING COSTS $3,977,050 $3,922,100 $10,005,600
Local Resources Raised to Date $3,977,050 $2,000,000 $2,000,000
International Resources Needed $0 $1,922,100 $8,005,600
VI. Feedback on the Commitment Process
Thank you for taking the time to comment on the commitment process as we pursue
our mission as a non-partisan catalyst for action. We are interested in
receiving your feedback and welcome any suggestions you have for improvement.
1. To what extent did your participation in the CGI commitment process help
advance or affect your project?
Our participation in the CGI has provided a major boost to our project in
multiple ways. The CGI Commitment support team has provided consistent
encouragement support and has connected the Van Mujeres project to other
resources within the CGI network. In particular, our involvement in the CGI
commitment process has:
1. Boosted the moral of all the team members to know that we are part of a
bigger network of global players committed to making the world a better place.
2. Provided a mechanism for our team to complete a timely and efficient
self-evaluation of our program.
3. Connected us to the Students of the World program, which is making a video,
holding fundraisers, and disseminating information about this incredibly
successful women’s self-employment generating program. The visit by the Students
of the World team (6 students from University of North Carolina) provided a
boost for all the women who were visited, as well as the staff. It demonstrated
that the rest of the world is interested and cares about our humble activities
and innovative programs here in Tabasco.
4. Linked Van Mujeres to CNN which decided to film the women of Van Mujeres and
include a description of the program in the hour-long program on Combatting
Poverty, hosted by President Bill Clinton to be shown in August 2006.
5. Our involvement in the CGI commitment process has given Van Mujeres
additional credibility and hope in the eyes of the women participants, all the
staff of Van Mujeres, and government and private sector leaders of Tabasco.
Interestly enough, even in the poorest and remote regions of Tabasco, when we
share with the women our CGI activities and involvement, all the women know of
and respect President Clinton. So, This “connection” with CGI has been
invaluable in untold ways.
2. What type of supports or services would you find helpful in the future?
1. Linking to other similar projects in order to share experiences or sign
collaboration deals.
2. Linking to funds providers
3. Linking with experts of the area for training programs or discussion groups.
How to Measure the Impact of Your Commitment
As a results-oriented initiative, we encourage members to pledge commitments
that make a difference. If the effectiveness of a commitment can be measured,
there is a way to determine whether it is successful or not. If the approach
turns out to be unsuccessful, a reassessment can be done over the course of time
to achieve better results in the future. Some examples of ways to measure the
effectiveness of your commitment are below. In addition to these examples, we
welcome any standard you suggest, as they pertain to your particular project,
and the goals you have accomplished.
Number of program participants
Number of religious/ethnic groups engaged
Number of workshops/forums
Amount of offsets purchased
Number of different stakeholders benefiting
Amount of donations / investments made to date
Number / amount of loans distributed
Number of people employed
Partnerships with private sector / public sector/ media / civil society
Tons of greenhouse gases saved
Number of business leadership activities undertaken
Number of new businesses/ international offices opened
Number of countries /cities/ villages operating in
New coalitions created
Number of new programs created
Number of people receiving services, care, treatment or medicine
New financial instruments
Other