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1 - 1 9 - 9 6 “FONDO DE CREDITO RURAL PARA LA REACTIVACION ECONOMICA Y SOCIAL DE CUATRO MUNICIPIOS DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE LEON NICARAGUA AFECTADOS POR EL HURACÁN MITCH” PProojjeecctt NNCC--223300 EESSPPINNOO BBLLAANNCCOO Ana Beatriz Urbano Andari Pedro Roberto Jacobi Marcelo Cortes Neri Project Coordinator: Marcelo Neri Centro de Políticas Sociais/IBRE/FGV Rio de Janeiro, October 2007.. This Version 2 D. Micro-credit Impact Evaluation: Project NC – 234 - Espino Blanco Index I. Executive Summary II. Overview of the Project III . Micro-credit Impact Evaluation Are IAF-supported credit funds reaching the poorest? If not, why? Can IAF-supported credit funds help the poorest? If so, how? What are the impacts of credit funds with technical assistance? Did the management of credit funds build a stronger institutions? What have been the winning features? What are the institutional challenges for managing a micro-credit fund portfolio? IV. Conclusions V. Some Recommendations at Programs, Institutional and Country Level VI. References VII. Acknowledgements 3 I. Executive Summary - Micro-credit: Lessons Learned Espino Blanco is a institution focused in the provision of credit mainly for low income borrowers in the rural areas of Nicaragua Overview Espino Blanco initially operated a credit fund, but in very primitive manner, without the necessary tools to handle with credit in a efficient manner. IAF project allowed them to hire advisors – among which was Roberto Garcia (LLAS) – that fortunately managed to tackle most of its fragilities. This allowed it to remain until today and developed into a sustainable institution. Espino Blanco is an institution of intermediary level of development and carries out operations of commerce and services as well as agriculture and cattle raising. It is a very clear example of an institution which received a fund from IAF, managed it well, made it grow a little bit and it is still providing services to the people. It is far from well develop as Leon 2000, in size as well as in professionalism, but it carries a clear mission of micro-credit which is not the case in other institutions such as Agrodersa, for instance. Besides, the fact that it extends its services also to agriculture and cattle raising is very valuable as well, since those activities are far more difficulty than to deal with commerce and services. History of the project a. Espino Blanco The Sociedad de Servicios Integrales para el Desarrollo Rural “Espino Blanco” y CompañiaLimitada was constituted legally on June 6, 1996 as an agro-forestry organization. ESPINO BLANCO is created as a private institution whose main goals are to provide technical services, advice, training, technical assistance, manage and 4 intermediate credit funds, as to also formulate, execute and follow-up of projects with community participation. Its philosophy and methodology is focused in rural participatory intervention towards the development and empowerment of local capacities to commit themselves in the process of planning and execution of activities. The project NC 230 is focused on the strengthening of productive systems of the peripheral areas (urban and rural) of four - León, Telica, La Paz Centro and Nagarote, of the ten municipalities that compose the department of Leon. The challenge of the Project was to improve the economic situation of farmers and small entrepreneurs, reactivation of their economies alter the dramatic effects of Hurricane Mitch, enabling improvement in living conditions, reducing environmental degradation, increase of productivity and mainly enlarging the entrepreneurial capacity of small and medium entrepreneurs through the implementation of a credit fund and a fund of social inversion, what is the main innovation and exemplarity of the project, notwithstanding its reduced resources but relevant impacts. Financial Environment The financial system is highly concentrated in three large banks and favors corporate clients and offshore activity, and most institutions that center their activities in micro- finance1 emerged during the 1990s based strongly on support from international donors, for which microfinance is a tool to reduce poverty. After Hurricane Mitch, in 1998 many donor agencies increased their support to the country. The micro-finance growth is being led by 2 regulated finance companies, 21 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and 12 finance cooperatives. Presently the number of organizations that provide financial services to people that have very limited access or no access to the traditional banking represents around 300 institutions, which are composed of 2 regulated finance companies and approximately 7 private unregulated corporations, 100 private NGOs, and 190 cooperatives, around 300 organizations with a combined portfolio of US $240 million (ASOMIF, 2007). 5 Micro-credit providers have increased the number of credit clients they serve by approximately 26 percent per year since 1999. This growth has, however, been concentrated in a few institutions: 12 out of the 35 largest MFIs (including 2 finance companies and ASOMIF affiliates) accounted for 80 percent of the increase in number of credit clients and 90 percent of the growth in outstanding portfolios between 1999 and 2004. Within this context, microfinance emerged as an alternative to include those that are not reached by formal financial market, and according to recent studies nearly 20 percent of the Nicaraguan population is either a direct or indirect user of microfinance services. Role of the grants The project relied on a comprehensive strategy, which went beyond the provision of credit alone, as they had an involvement with its beneficiaries – ranging from from selection to loan repayment. The projects helped their beneficiaries by identifying their main potentials, but it had a strong focus on credit, as in the case of Espino Blanco 71%. In total, the IAF donated US$ 308,151.92 to Espino Blanco . This donation enabled the institution to leverage a credit fund whose main objective is to concede credit, guarantee, capacity building, technical assistance and technology transfer to urban and rural borrowers. Espino Blanco fund did not grow significantly in number of loans beneficiaries. It is safe to say tha Espino Blanco capitalized on the IAF donations and it enabled activities that in the case of Espino Blanco stimulated the communities to organize within the Social Investment Fund premises, and as to the individual loans both institutions developed specific processes of dissemination of the existence of credit for low income families and micro-entrepreneurship. Credit History and Profile of Borrowers 6 Espino Blanco had a rate of 1.5% monthly for a term of 18 months for borrowers at the rural areas and for the other the average loan was of 12 months at 1.5%. Most of the clients have a story of continuity. Most of the clients are women, representing 54% in Espino Blanco. Reaching the poorest There is a strong poverty focus in both institutions operational guidelines. Espino Blanco focused its activities on beneficiaries who do not have access to formal credit. It has adopted integrative strategies where the lack of access to financial services is only one of the many constraints faced by the poor. Its strategy focuses on orienting borrowers about the intricacies of finance, providing technical assistance. It develops from the very beginning of their relationship with their clients a very intensive relationship, which has ensured better rates of return and repayment. Role of technical assistance The participation in both institutions credit programs and technical assistance has helped clients to obtain better outcomes and make a more adequate use of the resources, and in the case of the farmers and small industries it also helped to organize their merchandising schemes. Institutional features Both institutions had an important development with IAF grant in terms of strengthening of their organizational capacity. The fact that both projects relied on a comprehensive strategy, which went beyond the provision of credit to its beneficiaries, implied in the development of institutional strategies. Both institutions, at different levels invested considerably in specialized personnel to assess perform the main functions in it credit operations, such as: assessment of borrower profiles, give financial and technical advice, ensure adequate follow-up. 7 The overall the institutional features have been: adequate risk management; adequate repayment collection system; focused geographical coverage; good but organizational small administrative experience; credit committee, experimented rural technical assistance. 8 II. Overview of the Project 1. The Sociedad de Servicios Integrales para el Desarrollo Rural “Espino Blanco” y CompañiaLimitada was constituted legally on June 6, 1996 as an agro-forestry organization, composed by a group of 13 partners, all agronomists that had already been involved in projects to deal with problems generated by monoculture of cotton in the region. It is created as an initiative of the technical and administrative team that participated in the project “Apoyo a la Actividad Forestal Campesina de León y Rehabilitación del Sistema de Cortinas Rompevientos”, within the framework of the Regional Forest Program for Centroamérica (PROCAFOR), financed by the Finnish Agency for International Development (FINNIDA), with the counterpart of the Ministery of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) and later the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDR).