This summer is the last time I get to take a summer off, the last time I will come back to academic work after putting it on pause for months.  Going into it I had conflicting thoughts, I wanted to experience it instead of working forty hours a week at a grocery store or gas station, which is what I usually do, but I still needed to earn some money if I was going to be able to buy books and potentially afford going to Honduras.  Eventually I opted to babysit (something I have always managed to avoid!) so I could earn more money in fewer hours, and live in Philadelphia since I had housing there for free.  This choice allowed me the freedom to spend a large amount of time working on La Ceiba, and that I did.

La Ceiba was fortunate enough to have interns through Students Helping Honduras that were our contact over the summer.  This has let us get so far ahead, not only do the people in the areas we’re working in know about the program, but the solidarity groups for the first round of loans are formed, the bylaws mostly written, and many of the women have business plans started.  However having the interns down there pushed us over the summer to sit down and make things happen, we had some very good abstract ideas about how things would work, but that didn’t answer our customers’ questions.  Sometimes we had definite answers, we were only going to give two loans per group at a time (in a group of five) so that the group would stay together and no one would have an incentive to bail.  This makes sense, right?  Talk to the women who are involved in the project and they answered that question with a resounding, “NO!”  Right now we’re making these women work for us, they have to form groups, attend meetings, write business plans, etc.  All of these require effort and take away from any current jobs or roles in their homes.  We have women that are willing to trust us and work with us, but only because of our connection with Students Helping Honduras, and expecting them to wait over a year for their first loan is a lot to ask.  Even now we’ve had women concerned, and at least one woman drop out of the program because of the long wait between now and when the loans are disbursed - the second week of January, 2009.  Though we are not changing that date, we did modify our initial plan after much reading and decide to extend loans to everyone in the group simultaneously.  This summer was a lot of information gathering, we had the opportunity to have direct access to our client base and ask them what they think of what we’re doing, what services they would like, and how we can better serve them.  Each customer is looking at it from their own perspective, which is not necessarily the best because we must take into account long term effects, sustainability, etc., but they are still the customer so their input and satisfaction is a large part of the equation as well.  We are taking their input into account as well as reading the past and present research on microfinance and best practices and modifying our plans accordingly. 

Personally I found myself overwhelmed at times.  Who made the decision that I was qualified to do this!?  I can read about microfinance and understand it in both practical papers and academic theory papers, but does that mean I should make a decision which determines whether a woman gets a loan and therefore whether her family has food, clothes, or the opportunity to go to school?  This is my inspiration, I do not want to meet someone who would like to but isn’t able to participate in La Ceiba’s programs because of a decision I made unless I know 100% that the decision is based on the best information available of both microfinance and the country-specific circumstances.  Then I will be able to look at it as my dad said, I am helping to provide opportunities to those who do participate, not harming any who can’t.

Dr. Humphrey and I went back and forth on many of the papers produced this summer, including the Customer Information Packet, the Required Capabilities, the Default Policy, and the Savings Program.  The Customer Information Packet was possibly the most demanding and I am working through it still.  The purpose of this is to supply all the information a potential customer would need or want before agreeing to participate in the program.  Thankfully because of our relationship with SHH people in the community trust us enough to sign on without all the information being settled, but since October 31st is the deadline for groups joining we want to finish it and send it with our long term volunteer who will be living there for the Fall so she can answer any questions that come up and help to clarify anything that has changed.  The Required Capabilities is the thought out on the ground process.  Everything from how to first recruit women (town meeting?  talking with community leaders first?) to the logistics of repayment this document attempts to have all the details hammered out to ensure security and preparedness.  The others are simply policies which have been evolving over the summer and which are going to be resolved soon.  I also outlined a working list of what our Point of Contact will be expected to handle, kept a running list of questions or topics that we will need to address as the development of La Ceiba progresses, and researched how to incorporate and get 501c3 status separately from SHH.  However, the document I may be personally proudest of is the Bylaw Manual.  This includes an outline of Solidarity Group Bylaws with specific questions to ask and prompting questions/suggestions to facilitate discussion within the group so that if any conflicts arise later the way to resolve the issue will already be written by the women themselves.  Unfortunately this document was too much too late, sent to Honduras with just a week left I believe, and the summer interns weren’t able to get it done.  Thankfully we have a long-term volunteer who will be there soon to take over, and the summer interns kept amazingly detailed files so the transition will be smooth. 

As I look forward I am nervous, this is a lot of work to commit to with consequences far greater than a drop in my GPA.  This is an opportunity for us to form a partnership with some amazing people in need, to help provide them with opportunities and services from which they’re currently excluded; sometimes I cannot believe this is truly what I am doing with my time.  This summer was hectic at times, as I’m sure this Fall will be, but ultimately this project has so much potential and I am going to do everything I can to make sure it fulfills that potential.While She Was Out full The Violent Kind hd

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