Program Visits – Day 1

Sarah’s note: The specific descriptions of World Neighbors programs were culled from handout information that Chris gave us as well as from interview questions that I had posed to Julio and whose answers were translated by Chris.

Today is our first day of visiting some of the programs that World Neighbors has in this area. We are going into the Cocharcas district. We woke up early, had breakfast and started off in our van.

There is a fair amount of traveling to do to get to the programs and once again, we found ourselves relying on our skilled driver Uri, as he negotiated the narrow, dusty winding roads we needed to take to get to our destination. One false move and over a one thousand foot cliff we would go. No guard rails out here! As if to underscore this point, as we approached our first village, seen from above, a passing truck stopped us and warned us that we would not be able to get through because up ahead a truck has blown a tire and was broken down in the middle of the road. Sure enough, as we turned a corner, there it was. A number of people were trying to tip it over into a ditch on the hill side on the right so that it wouldn’t be an obstacle to any other vehicles trying to get in or out of the village.

Uri stopped and we all got out and Chris, Julio and David joined the men attempting to tip the truck. I documented the event. After several futile minutes of this, they gave up and instead, decided that there was enough room for our van to squeeze by (on the cliff side, mind you!).

Uri told us to get out of the van and walk past the truck. He didn’t have to tell us – I most certainly would have done so anyway. Very slowly, he inched his way past the truck coming very close to the cliff (just the other side of the scruffy bushes in the photo). But he made it and we were not deterred, we drove on down the mountain to Coay, where we would meet out first promoter.

Promoters are those in a community who were the first to accept the World Neighbors program into their community and they are examples of the successes of the program. In the beginning of the process of setting up the collaboration, World Neighbors tries to identify who the community leaders are and invites them to be the first to try out the program. When others in the community see the successes of the promoters, they want to join in. As the promoters are leaders, they are also good at teaching to others the skills they learn.

The World Neighbors programs in this area of Peru are run in conjunction with the Apurimac Integrated Development Program and it is Julio’s responsibility to negotiate with local governments and oversee the overall running of these programs. We were told that the goal of the program is to develop the capacity of communities to create locally led organizations that will be able to sustainably increase their income and food security in order to improve the overall quality of life. Specifically, a key component to helping families increase their income is locally controlled savings and credit. All loans are approved by the local organization which sets the interest rate and collects the loans. The farmers receive credit at 1 percent interest per month that they pay back in monthly installments over the course of six to 12 months. Once the loans are repaid, this capital is used to make loans to new farmers. This goes on until everyone in the community has a chance to make an investment (via credit) and pay it back. (We later learned that some communities allow the original farmers to take out greater loans and to continue to expand their livelihood as long as they pay back one loan completely before they take out another).

With the poorest, the farmers are given livestock and they pay back the credit by passing along the baby animals to other farmers. The first loans are for animals. Then, by decision of the local group, the credit can be expanded to include seeds, tools, healthcare, education and community priorities. Though World Neighbors also assists in providing various types of trainings and education, the priorities of the savings and credit groups are set by the communities. What is really significant here is that these programs give the poorest communities a chance to build themselves up and out of extreme poverty. These communities would never be eligible for bank loans and, as I mentioned before, they are too remote for NGOs.

We arrived in Coay and met the community leaders (pictured left) who were waiting for us. We were welcomed and each one gave a speech. They all spoke about how grateful they were to have World Neighbors come into their community and they explained how the savings and credit program has worked for them.

The treasurer told us: “I never knew I could do something like be a treasurer and keep the books for a program like this, but World Neighbors taught me how to do this and now I am a treasurer.”

He then showed us his meticulously kept books with each farmer’s name and signature for each paid back installment. They told us that they, the community leaders, decide who is eligible for a loan and who might not be able to pay back a loan before they give one out. I asked them what they do for the people they turn down. There was a bit of hesitation before they answered; “Well, actually we haven’t turned down anyone.” The success of this project was apparent. In one year, they went from having a credit banking of 3864 soles (Peruvian money) to 50,000 soles.

One way a nearby community used their excess money was to sort out a difficult problem: vampire bats were attacking and killing their cattle. They were able to use their money to buy materials to capture the bats and to treat their cattle.

We met promoter Tomasai Yanez (pictured on the left of photo). She proudly showed us her store which she was able to create through this program. She started with animals, but did not know how to raise animals. She received training, and with the money she received from her business with animals, she was able to put up enough money to get a matching loan and buy and stock her store. Her store serves her community and neighboring communities. Tomasai and her husband also have a garden and sell what is extra from the harvest. She said that she and her husband now have enough money to buy their son’s school supplies.

We next visited a pig and chicken farm. The farmers there also grew corn. These farmers told us they first started out with beehives, but sadly, the pesticides their neighbor up the hill was using on his crops killed most of their bees. So they switched to raising pigs and they have a vision for the future to get more pigs to take to market. They have taken training courses from World Neighbors on how to raise pigs, including lessons on pig hygiene, what to feed pigs so they can be healthy. Pigs reproduce quickly, so they can have 3-4 litters per year. They also have loaned one of their healthy male pigs to other farmers for reproduction who paid them with the first born of the litter rather than with money.