Literacy + Business Training + Village Banks = A Better Life

-

ProLiteracy has joined forces with several other international organizations offering training in literacy instruction and business coaching to help small businesses in Ecuador improve their operations.

ProLiteracy, the world's largest organization of adult literacy and education programs, and Interweave Solutions, offering business training in developing countries, recently trained 22 people on literacy instruction, business practices, and community development. The trainees are loan officers and trainers from FINCA, a microfinance bank that provides small business loans to low-income people. The trainees will use what they've learned in their work with residents in 30 communities throughout Ecuador, giving residents the literacy and business skills they need to start and maintain businesses that will help them support their families and make improvements in their communities. The pilot project is sponsored by Citi Foundation.

"This exciting project is based on a similar, highly successful program in El Salvador that involved the same partners," said David C. Harvey, ProLiteracy president and CEO. "The goal is for the program in Ecuador to expand to 7,000 villages where FINCA has village banks. That represents some 140,000 families that have the potential to gain reading, writing, and math skills that will help them run the small businesses they'll start up with loans from FINCA."

Dr. Lynn Curtis provided the literacy training on behalf of ProLiteracy; Interweave Chair Dean Curtis and Interweave Ecuador staff members Julio Vizuenza and Oswaldo Andrete offered training in Interweave's six P's of business—plan, product, process, promotion, price, and paperwork.

FINCA country director Leonardo Polit called the ProLiteracy training "a new era for FINCA in Ecuador."

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 11, 2011 at 10:55 AM

    Our country and many others are dependent on society's knowledge, skills and abilities. An educated society creates vibrancy and opportunities. The collaborative effort between FINCA and Proliterarcy in training and readying individuals to be success business owners in their respective countries and villages is a positive step in the right direction towards global social change.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KathyJuly 18, 2011 at 4:58 PM

    I think this is a wonderful thing. Collaborating with others to learn how to build businesses and succeed. This is such an important global issue. As is, many countries help other countries out financially, and I think the goal of all of this would be to help countries eventually become financially stable on their own.
    Thank you FINCA and Proliterarcy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. KrisAugust 29, 2011 at 9:13 PM

    Dear Jan and Kathy,

    I agree. This is how global communities can share knowledge and thrive.

    Kris

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownOctober 23, 2011 at 4:23 PM

    Literacy for women and girls can quite literally break the shackles of back-breaking labor and continuous pregnancy and childbirth. By providing opportunities for women to support themselves and their children creates a win-win situation for all.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CONFINTEA VI - Blogging from Belem, Brazil

-
Image
David Harvey, ProLiteracy President & CEO - From the International Civil Society Forum (ICSF) - Belem, Brazil - 11/28/09 Lynn Curtis, head of ProLiteracy´s international programs, and I, David Harvey, arrived this past Saturday after a 10 hour flight to Belem, Brazil, to participate in ICSF. Over 1000 NGOs from all over the world are participating in the Forum, ahead of UNESCO´s CONFINTEA conference. CONFINTEA only happens every 12 or 13 years, so this is a rare meeting indeed! The Forum is preparing NGOs to participate in CONFINTEA, and will prepare an action agenda to try and influence the outcome of CONFINTEA. David Harvey, From ICSF Belem, Brazil - 11/29/09 One of the opening speakers of ICSF, Jose Roberto Guerara, from the Asia/Pacific Association for Basic Education, asked people to stand up if they had participated in past CONFINTEA conferences, with the first happening in the late 40s. A few people stood up. Mr. Guerara then asked, ¨"what has changed since t...
Read more

Increased Attention to Adult Literacy : U.S. Government and UN Join Forces

-
ProLiteracy’s 80 years of global experience have caused us to recognize the tragic reality that adult literacy, a crucial element of the development and poverty reduction process, is often missing from key international policy discussions. In the past few weeks, the adult literacy topic has been highlighted among top government and international organizations in three critical areas. Educating Girls Today, 796 million adults worldwide lack basic literacy skills; two-thirds of that population are women. UNESCO recently announced a joint project with the United States Department of State, targeting education rates among women. The program , “Better Lives, Better Future” will help stem dropout rates of adolescent girls as they transition from primary to secondary education. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hopes that this new focus will help policy makers effectively target education investments. “When we educate a young girl, we are shaping our world for a better tomorrow...
Read more

The World Welcomes South Sudan

-
Image
Women celebrating from Sudanese NGO, My Sister's Keeper In July 2011, South Sudan will become an independent nation, Africa’s 55th country, and the world’s youngest state. After two decades of civil war and high poverty levels, the new country will face many challenges. Literacy and education will play a vital role in charting a new course for South Sudan. A recent policy paper published by UNESCO discusses how education will be a first step toward the construction of peace and a better future for the people of South Sudan.The policy paper reveals that women face some of the most imminent challenges in terms of access to education. Today, only around 8 percent of women in South Sudan are literate, possibly the lowest female literacy rate in the world. Young girls in South Sudan face extreme disadvantages in education. Girls are less likely to enter school and more likely to drop out early. Today, a young girl in South Sudan is three times more likely to die in pregnancy or ch...
Read more