To combat rural poverty in the coffee-growing regions of western Honduras, Rotary Club of San Diego Downtown Breakfast seeks funding to establish a microcredit program for women smallholder farmers and their communities, in partnership with host club Rotary Club of San Marcos.
Honduras is the second poorest country in Latin America. More than 60 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of $2.00 per day; 36 percent live in the direst circumstances. Sixty percent of employed rural Hondurans derive their income from agriculture or natural resources. Most lack access to the training, services, technology, inputs, and capital necessary to ensure business viability and growth. All are affected by a changing climate: increasingly variable rainfall and prolonged periods of drought.
Despite these challenges, Honduras has considerable economic potential and possesses ample natural resources to provide for its people. The coffee and horticulture industry (36 percent of the country's agricultural GDP) in particular holds great promise but access to loan capital is desperately needed to fuel significant and sustainable growth and a way out of poverty.
Through microcredit, this Rotary project will enable Honduran women to acquire business literacy skills to start or improve operations. Their businesses are critically important in augmenting annual income, with many direct benefits for families: more affordable food, healthcare, and clothing; improved health outcomes (through better nutrition); expanded educational opportunities for rural youth; and greater self-esteem among women, in turn, building stronger communities.
The project will be based on the Grameen Bank model, in use since 1976. The model is built on a system of "solidarity lending"; loans are made to groups of women (95 percent of borrowers) that are typically ignored by traditional banks and marginalized in their communities. No collateral is required and there are no legal documents - the entire system is based on trust. Women learn the basics of business and finance before credit is extended.
The Honduran project will replicate successes in other Central America markets: since 2012, seven microcredit projects have been implemented, benefiting 500+ coffee women in four countries (Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, and Colombia). More than $200,000 in loans have been funded, used directly for coffee operations or other pursuits, like handicrafts and pig farming, that generate life-changing ancillary income for the women and their families.
Implementation of the Honduras project will be under the direction of the International Women's Coffee Alliance (IWCA) and Alianza de Mujeres en Café (AMUCAFE), a Honduran cooperative with more than 200 members. Verena Fishersworring will serve as project lead, working closely with IWCA, AMUCAFE, and members of the San Marcos Rotary Club, who will manage funds and assist with training and program implementation. Verena held this same oversight role for the Guatemala and Colombia projects, when she worked with partner Hans Neumann Foundation.
Training will commence in fall 2018, with a full project rollout in 2019. Funds will be distributed throughout the year as needs dictate and loans are repaid.
Paid
This project is "Paid". This means the funds have been received and the project is being implemented.
Project listed for the 2019-20 Rotary Year.
The TRF Grant application number is #2013842.
Proposed Financing
Existing Contributions Towards This Project
Date
Cash
DDF
Total
San Diego Downtown Breakfast (5340)
5-Nov-18
$28,787
$10,000
$38,787
Real de Minas-Tegucigalpa (4250)
6-Apr-19
$250
$1,000
$1,250
Colopeca San Marcos (4250)
6-Apr-19
$500
$0
$500
San Diego (5340)
11-Apr-19
$5,000
$0
$5,000
Rancho Bernardo Sunrise (San Diego) (5340)
28-Aug-19
$2,000
$2,000
$4,000
Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) (5340)
4-Apr-20
$5,485
$5,485
$10,970
Amount Requested from The Rotary Foundation
$21,011
$18,485
$39,495
Total
$100,002
DDF contributions in grey are pending approval of the corresponding district committee.
Note: as of July 1, 2015 there is a 5% additional support fee for cash contributions. This fee does not appear in the financials above because it does not apply if the funds are sent directly to the project account (without going through TRF, and therefore without Paul Harris credit). Clubs sending their cash contribution to TRF must be aware they will have to send an additional 5%.
Project Supporting Documents
There are no documents yet for this project. Go to the administration page to upload documents.
Project Photos
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Go to the administration page to upload photos.
History Log Entries
20-Apr-18
System Entry
System Entry: Creation of project page.
5-Nov-18
by Mike Whitehurst
System Entry: Pledge of $10,000 with $10,000 DDF by Mike Whitehurst of the Rotary Club of San Diego Downtown Breakfast, District 5340.
13-Dec-18
by Mike Whitehurst
System Entry: Pledge of $5,000 with $5,000 DDF by Maureen Gray of the Rotary Club of San Diego, District 5340.
13-Dec-18
by Mike Whitehurst
System Entry: Pledge of $5,000 with $5,000 DDF by Maureen Gray of the Rotary Club of San Diego, District 5340.
4-Apr-19
System Entry
System Entry: Pledge of $2,000 by Johnny Watson of the Rotary Club of Escondido, District 5340.
4-Apr-19
System Entry
System Entry: Pledge of $2,000 DDF by Johnny Watson of the Rotary Club of Escondido, District 5340.
6-Apr-19
by Roxane Helstrom
System Entry: Pledge of $250 with $1,000 DDF by Ricardo Valdez of the Rotary Club of Real de Minas-Tegucigalpa, District 4250.
6-Apr-19
by Roxane Helstrom
System Entry: Pledge of $500 by Sergio Mejia of the Rotary Club of Colopeca San Marcos, District 4250.
11-Apr-19
by Maureen gray
System Entry: Pledge of $97,317 with $10,000 DDF by Maureen gray of the Rotary Club of San Diego, District 5340.
11-Apr-19
by Maureen gray
System Entry: Project is now "Fully Pledged".
11-Apr-19
by Maureen gray
System Entry: Pledge of $5,000 with $10,000 DDF by Maureen gray of the Rotary Club of San Diego, District 5340.
24-Jun-19
by Roxane Helstrom
System Entry: Project reverted to "Published".
26-Jul-19
by Mike Whitehurst
SDDB Rotary increases DDF pledge to $10,000.
28-Aug-19
System Entry
System Entry: Pledge of $2,000 with $2,000 DDF by Kim Muslusky of the Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo Sunrise (San Diego), District 5340.
4-Apr-20
by Doug Dawson
System Entry: Pledge of $5,000 with $5,000 DDF by Doug Dawson of the Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo (San Diego), District 5340.
13-Apr-20
by Doug Dawson
System Entry: Project is now "Fully Pledged".
2-Jul-20
by Kim Muslusky
System Entry: Application Sent to The Rotary Foundation through Member Access.
2-Oct-20
by Roxane Helstrom
System Entry: Application approved by The Rotary Foundation.
16-Dec-20
by Roxane Helstrom
In process of collecting cash contributions. The project team has met and is looking to launch in February.
16-Mar-21
by Roxane Helstrom
System Entry: Payment has been issued by The Rotary Foundation.
23-Oct-21
by Roxane Helstrom
Project is underway! So far, 12 women have signed agreements confirming their participation in the training program. Each will recruit up to 10 additional women in their communities. The first round of loan distributions will take place in the next three months.
2-Jun-22
by Roxane Helstrom
Project is on hold pending a change in Host Club and MFI. We are working with Vanessa Vegas at TRF and expect to make this change by 30 June, 2022.
16-Jan-23
by Roxane Helstrom
Project is on hold pending identification and approval of new MFI. We hope to have this resolved in Q1 2023.
19-Aug-23
by Roxane Helstrom
We have been working since March 2022 to change the Host Club and MFI for this project. Our hope is to have this completed by September 15 so training can be restarted.
12-Mar-24
by Roxane Helstrom
The project has been restarted! The new MFI is Cooperativa Chorotega; Real de Minas continues as Host Club. HRNS (training partner) expects to issue a progress report this summer.
