02 April, 2012
ANSE-A-APITRES, Haiti. – As a part of Batey Relief Alliance’s USAID-funded holistic approach to sustainable community development, the organization recognizes the importance of economic intervention and empowerment of local and small-scale women workforce. BRA and its main local partner, Fonkoze (Haiti’s largest, most innovative microfinance institution, committed to alleviating poverty through microfinance and education) have been working together since 2010 to support and improve local, rural-based women entrepreneurs in their business endeavors. After much research, investigation, and intense evaluation of the economic situation and prospective clients in Haiti’s Southeastern border regions, BRA and Fonkoze have identified and distributed loans to over 275 women from the communes of Anse-a-Pitres and Thiotte.
In addition to the microloans, BRA also arranged for its beneficiaries to attend classes on loan management, financial planning and decision-making. Furthermore, as BRA’s micro-credit and agriculture components team up, BRA provides classes for its beneficiaries on agro-business strategies and cooperative business practices. As a result, BRA has seen a handful of its beneficiaries begin to sell the crops (that their BRA-supported gardens and nursery produce) and turn a profit, to benefit the future of their businesses and their families. Through this business training, agro-business activities and micro-credit loans, BRA beneficiaries are showing great improvements with their entrepreneurships, and subsequently, with their socio-economic status and food security.
In the coming months, BRA and Fonkoze will begin distributing additional micro-credit loans in the municipalities of Grand Gosier and Belle-Anse. Additionally, financial and agro-business classes will continue to further equip beneficiaries in their business ventures.
