Honduras,
one of the hardest hit countries by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, was the focus of
two social entrepreneurs in 1999. Ed Cohen a venture capitalist and Tony Stone
an American raised in Honduras
realized that the Hurricane was just the surface problem where lack of infrastructure
and opportunity were the root problems for Honduran communities. Therefore,
they created Adelante which provides small loans to women to encourage entrepreneurship
and thus self-reliance. The organization gives loans to women because they are
more likely to repay the loans, money can go straight to improving the woman's
life, money will also go to her children for education, and women become a good
role model for their family.
Women receive loans in groups of 4-6, with each woman receiving
about $50. This loan method has been found to be the most effective because it
requires the women to be responsible for each
other's actions because the loan
has to be repaid in total by the group. Many groups have joined together to
form assemblies which share information about their experiences when they meet every
two weeks. In addition, Adelante offers education opportunities on health, business,
and human rights issues which are conducted through peer to peer education. A
leader is chosen from each assembly which receives the lessons directly from
Adelante and then passes the lessons on to their assembly. This allows the
leader to become a long term knowledge resource for assembly. Also, since the
position rotates it helps to develop leadership skills for all of the women. To
date the organization has supplied 4900 loans with a repayment rate of 95%. For
more information on Adelante please visit their
website.
