Yesterday marked the start of the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2010 Annual Meeting. The hot topic of the day (and the week) was that, for the first time since its inception, CGI was adding a new Action Area to its other three areas: 1) Strengthening Market-based Solutions, 2) Enhancing Access to Modern Technology, 3) Harnessing Human Potential and now, 4) Empowering Girls and Women.

(Insert collective whoop for joy here!)

This exciting announcement was kicked off by a plenary session led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and attended by Katie Couric, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, and our very own founder and CEO Kushal Chakrabarti.

This universal support and focus on empowering women and girls is particularly exciting to us because it’s an issue near and dear to our hearts, and to our business. More than 60% of our student borrowers are women, and we’d like to see that number grow even higher. The world has learned that by investing in women and girls, it’s not just a single life that you change, but it’s a whole family’s, a whole village’s, a whole generation’s, and the ripple effect goes on and on and on…

If you haven’t seen the new Girl Effect video, please take a moment to watch it. This is exactly the kind of change that we’re all about creating:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8xgF0JtVg[/youtube]

We know that the work that we’re doing is effecting change (Vittana students make 3x more after they finish school then when they started, and we also honor and support the thousands of organizations out there doing great work to empower women and girls in other ways. We know that in order for us to provide millions of today’s girls (tomorrow’s young women) with the opportunity to access post-secondary education, there needs to be institutional changes at every level.

We obviously care about access to primary and secondary education for girls, but there are other issues beyond education that are also important to our collective cause of empowerment; issues like: maternal and child health care, domestic violence prevention, property rights for women, HIV awareness and protection, and the end to sex trafficking.

We’ve been keeping track of real-time blog posts, Facebook updates and Twitter feeds from attendees and thought we’d share a condensed version of some of our favorite commentary on today’s CGI events. We hope they’re as inspiring and motivating for you as they were for us.

Tweets:

• @changemakers: #Women do 66% of the world’s work, produce 50% of the food, BUT earn 10% of the income & own 1% of the property. #CGI2010 http://is.gd/fjZqo
• @alvarodrigueza: #cgi2010 The power of the Goldman Sachs 10K Women initiative is not only the 10K women being empowered, but them as role models and the millions to whom they become a role model.
• @MCFoundation: #CGI2010. We must confront gender biases against girls and boys. http://myloc.me/chm96
• @WhitneyHSmith: Investing in women & girls dinner hosted by Goldman Sachs. 10000 women trained in business and management to help end poverty #cgi2010
• @ClintonTweet: @johnwood RTR of @roomtoread, Goldman Sachs, and Barclays will establish libraries and promote reading skills for 2 million kids#cgi2010
• @queenrania: Q: how do we get more money to schools around the world? A: Innovative financing! (link to article)
• @beyondprofit: Yunus says to commercial MFIs: Find some other name for yourself…it’s not microfinance.#cgi2010
  

Facts and Figures:

• 70% of the world’s poor are women
• Wages rise 20% for every year a girl spends in school past the 4th grade
• 2/3 of all children denied education are girls
• Full Fact Sheet from UNIFEM

Great Press & Quotes from today:

• Salon.com article on “Hillary Clinton, Cook Stoves and The Girl Effect“
• Excellent op ed piece on Good, “The Clue to Connecting the Dots in Women’s Development”
• Global Health Ideas writes about “Securing the Health and Safety of Girls and Women“
• Queen Rania: “Unleash the power of women; that’s how you’ll stimulate economies”
• The World Bank’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “When you change the lives of girls and women, you also change the lives of boys and men.” from @camfed on Twitter
• Raj Shah: “We spend 20 times more on food aid than we do on agricultural development.” from @oxfamamerica on Twitter
• Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: “1st step to make empowerment real is education, not just formal but access to knowledge” from @girls_inc on Twitter, and “What can we do to help women around the world? Elect more women leaders” from @ClintonTweet on Twitter.

Great Idea:

• Room to Read will open 4,000 new libraries in Africa and Asia and print more than 250 new local language children’s books and aims to have 17,000 girls enrolled in it’s Girls Education Program which supplies academic support and life skills to help girls complete secondary school. (Official Press Release)

Header photo credit goes to Listen Up!

On the heels of the amazing press we got yesterday, I’ve been thinking a lot about this statement from the Economist article: “Millions of poor would-be students could benefit (from microfinance student loans).”

Millions. Mmmmmiilllions. That’s a mighty big number no matter how easily is rolls off your tongue.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post on just how many potential students we think are out there waiting for loans, but right now, I want to make that number just a little more personal. If millions of potential students seem too big to imagine, and therefore too easy to not think about, I’d like to introduce you to a family I met one day in Peru.

Meet Rosas. I wish I had a picture of him for you, but due to a much maligned camera-stealing incident that happened many months after I met him, those real photos are gone for good. So word pictures will have to do. He’s a small man, shorter than I am, wiry but obviously strong. He tells me that he’s 48, but I would have guessed at least a decade older. He’s missing a few teeth, but he’s got a bright and easy smile that comes quickly and fills his face with friendliness. He’s a farmer in the high mountains (10,000+ ft) around Huaraz, Peru, where he and his family raise sheep, corn and of course Peru’s famous potatoes.

I met Rosas while hiking through some of Huaraz’s surrounding villages. He was heading back up to his hill-side home from his office job in the small town off the main road. Many people in this part of rural Peru are farmers in addition to holding jobs in the town, if they can get them. We met along one of the rocky and muddy paths that criss-cross the mountains. He overtook us and offered to guide us up the hill (I would have called it more of a mountain) to make sure that we found our way.

The village of Huaraz and surrounding moutains (photo by still searching)

During our walk, a boy in a school uniform ran past us down the path. With his bookbag flapping over his shoulder, it was obvious to see where the boy was going. I asked Rosas about it, and he mentioned that the closest school was actually a few towns away and this boy was running to catch one of the hourly combis (minivans that act like local commuter buses) on the main road. It was already almost noon. When I wondered out loud if he was already late and Rosas responded that many of the kids have farm chores to finish before they can head to school, and with a few miles to walk each way, and then a bus ride on top of that, students are often left with only an hour or so in the classroom each day. And yet, they still go. As we continued up the path we saw at least a dozen more students, ranging in age from 6 to 18, hurrying down past us on their way to school.

Back here in the States, school doors are officially open and I’ve been seeing the perky yellow school buses making their way around town, picking up and delivering their charges. As I was on that hill, I realized the obvious fact that there are a lot of folks in this world who’ve never seen a school bus; never sat on those hard high-backed seats or hidden from a spitball war started by the older kids in back. As irksome as many of us may remember those bus rides, it’s a luxury nonetheless. Sometimes it’s the strangest things that make your breath catch in your throat.

During our climb, Rosas talked about his family. He had four daughters, and as the conversation turned toward their education, I was pleased to learn that two had finished university already and two were still getting their degrees.  This seemed to me like a phenomenal ratio for any family, especially considering the hardships students faced to just finish their secondary schooling. As I learned some of the other details of his story though, the bloom soon came off that rose.

All of his daughters went to public university, which isn’t exactly free, especially considering books and living expenses, but Rosas and his family had been able to afford it, with his wife, his brother and sister-in-law all pitching in to support the family. But recently, times had been tough and Rosas said that he was having a hard time keeping his daughters in school. There had been a corn blight for the past six months, which, now that he’d mentioned it, I could see in the barren fields around me. He also talked about how the government was challenging the farmers’ water rights in the area, so they were concerned about next year’s harvest.

It was easy to see from the look in his eyes, the fear of a concerned father not wanting to disappoint his children. I felt almost cruel telling him about Vittana when he asked about the work I do. It felt cruel because I knew his girls were perfect candidates for our student loan products, and yet there wasn’t a bank within 300 miles of him that would offer him that type of loan.

Or rather, there is no bank, yet.

And that “yet” is what gives me hope.

I’ve been back here in the Vittana offices for just a few days now, but even in that short period of time I’ve watched our Partnerships Manager, Nick, make miracles happen on a daily basis as he finds new microfinance institutions to partner with, and new ways to help them be successful. In fact, just yesterday we uploaded about a dozen new students from Nicaragua, who are shining examples of folks who used to be in the same position as Rosas’ daughters, but who are now able to look forward to a much brighter future.

I’ve also watched the extreme generosity of our lenders – the people who are the real “doers” of this work – the engine grease that keeps this machine running so smoothly. Or, to use a more appropriate metaphor, they are our heart; they pump energy and passion (and of course, cash) into our work in a way that turns all the “not yets” into “hell yesses!”

So maybe the folks of Huaraz, Peru don’t have access yet to student loans. And maybe they don’t have school busses. I don’t think I can do much about the school bus situation, but I get pretty darn excited about the fact that I can (and we are) doing something about the student loan situation. Perhaps one day in the not-too-distant future, that young boy I saw racing down the hill to school will be going to college with a Vittana loan.

And that’ll be better than any school bus.

(School bus photo by Twix)

I recently spent a few days with the wonderful and innovative staff of the Paraguayan microfinance organization Fundacion Paraguaya.

Before my week in Asuncion, I knew practically nothing about this landlocked country, snuggled in between Brazil and Bolivia to the north and Argentina to the south. Here’s a quick primer on what I learned:

After winning its independence from Spain in 1811, by 1865, Paraguay was involved in another even bloodier battle — the War of the Triple Alliance — against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. One staggering statistic from this war is that Paraguay is said to have lost not only much of its territory, but also more than two thirds of its male population.

As you might imagine, this plunged Paraguay into a time of deep economic depression and resulted in much political instability. Between 1904 – 1954, Paraguay had 31 presidents, many of whom took and left their office by way of military coups. This was followed by the brutal 35 year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, ending in 1989. While in later years, Stroessner’s rule helped bring Paraguay into the 21st century economically, there were hundreds of accounts of human rights abuses, including kidnappings, torture and corruption. Currently, the political climate is slowly getting better and Paraguay held it’s first successful democratic election in 2008.

And now for a few statistics on on Paraguay’s society and (drum roll) education system.

• With about 6 million people, Paraguay is the 2nd poorest country in South America (just after Bolivia).
• 30-50% of Paraguayans live in poverty.
• Primary school is free and compulsory for 7-13 year-olds (1st – 7th grade) That being said, children are only required to attend school for ~700 hours annually, compared to ~1100 hours for students in the US and up to 1500 hours for students in Chile.
• Stated literacy rates are quoted as beings as high 93% for women and 95% for men, but I found these numbers are often based on the number of people who attended primary school, rather than the number of students who completed primary school or passed a literacy test. This is “a dubious assumption given the large number of monolingual Guaraní speakers who entered but failed to complete elementary school. Such speakers represented an estimated 90 percent of the children entering rural primary schools.” (Country Studies)
• In 1997 there were 905,813 students in primary schools. In that same year, there were 327,775 students at the secondary level.  Only 1/3 of students move onto high school, and drop out rates remain high.

Considering all this, you might imagine that hope is hard to find when talking to Paraguayans about the future of their young people. However, I found exactly that while talking to the staff of Fundacion Paraguaya (FuPa).

With the FuPa student lending team: Nancy Ramos and Tania Almada

FuPa is an organization built on the pillars of hard work, optimism and innovation. In 1985, it became the first microfinance organization to open its doors in Paraguay. Now, with 20 regional offices and more than 37,000 microfinance clients, FuPa has become more than just the first MFI in Paraguay, it’s become a leader in the field of bringing business-building credit to the under-served, and it’s building on its success in new and exciting ways.

For this reason alone, we are proud to partner with them. However, in addition, FuPa has a unique and ongoing focus on supporting education efforts in Paraguay. Specifically, FuPa has developed two landmark programs directly targeted at young people.

The first, Junior Achievement, is a program that teaches entrepreneurial skills to high schoolers by helping them develop their own real businesses. This not only teaches real-life business skills to youth, but also is having a dramatic impact on graduation rates among its members.

Photo of a student business from FuPa’s Junior Achievement program

The second is FuPa’s self sufficient Organic Agricultural School. To quote their mission, “In a country where agriculture dominates the economy and where over half the population is rural, the sustainability of environment is critical.” This program teaches modern business, ranching and farming skills to Paraguay’s rural youth who will most likely maintain an agricultural lifestyle throughout their lives. By teaching these vital skill sets, FuPa is helping the next generation of Paraguay’s farmers be more competitive in the global marketplace. They hope that this will contribute the economic well being of their students’ families, to the environmental health of their country and to the financial success of Paraguay as a whole. This school has been lauded as one of the most successful demonstrations of sustainable rural economic development in the world and is being replicated in multiple countries.

Photos from FuPa’s Agricultural School

With this type of leadership, innovation and commitment to creating educational programs for the underserved youth of Paraguay, it’s easy to see why we picked FuPa to help us develop a loan product targeted a sending young people to college. In a country where education is not just a way up the corporate ladder, but a way out of poverty, we see our partnership with FuPa as providing hope and opportunity to hundreds, if not thousands of Paraguay’s youth.

FuPa currently has 82 students and counting on the Vittana site, with students interested in everything from accounting to nutrition. Their history of successfully meeting difficult challenges with visionary solutions leads me to believe not only will they continue to add more and more students every month, but we’ll also see them serving the poor in new and exciting ways for years to come!

To better understand the context in which our Nicaraguan students study, one should consider the political and cultural history of Nicaragua’s education system. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Americas, and has a complex history involving devastating natural disasters, dictatorships, and civil war [1]. For a chronological list of key events starting in the 1950′s, take a look at the BBC’s Nicaragua time line. While this post does not offer a comprehensive narrative of Nicaragua’s history, it attempts to shed light on some of the major events and movements that shape the education system that is there today.

First, let’s examine the literacy rate in Nicaragua during the rule of two of the major political parties- the Somozas and Sandistas.  During the forty-four year long Somoza dictatorship, which began in 1937, Nicaragua’s illiteracy rate was estimated to be 75-90% in the more rural areas, and around 50% overall [2]. It was under the governance of the Sandista political party that the country’s education system was drastically transformed. The FSD states that, “education was a political symbol and a major priority in shifting attitudes and creating national unity” for the Sandista party. Under their rule the percentage of students enrolled in national schools just about doubled and the literacy rate dropped dramatically (UNESCO reports that it dropped from 53 percent to 12 percent)[3]. The Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign (also known as the Sandista Literacy Campaign), which launched in 1980, is said to be one the biggest educational successes of the Sandista party. There have been several literacy campaigns since then as well, including one launched in 2007 under Sandista leader Daniel Ortega [4].

Literacy Campaign poster

While some people “criticize the Sandinistas for their political use of the education system, their emphasis on educational opportunity and literacy did bring about a renaissance in Nicaraguan schools [5].” In 1990, following the Sandista era, Violeta Chamorro was elected president. Under this administration the textbooks published during the Sandista education reform were destroyed in order to rid the schools of any political Sandista ideology [6]. It is also interesting to note that Daniel Oretga was re-elected in 2006 and is trying to make changes to the constitution that would allow him to be re-elected for another term.

So far, we have focused on the structural aspects of education, but what about the affordability of education for Nicaraguans? While schooling through high school is said to be free, in reality there are fees for which many families don’t have the means to pay. “A World Bank article analyzed this issue, citing a researcher who completed a comparison study on Nicaragua’s school reform, and [noted that], ‘with the secondary school fee per child at 10 cordobas a month, families with 6 children could easily be required to pay half of their family income towards school fees’ [7].” Today, for the average Nicaraguan, “it is still a constant struggle just to find and keep a job, earn enough money to put food on the table, obtain basic medical care and medicine, and pay for tuition, books and uniforms to send their kids to public schools [8].”

The problem of affordability is even more pronounced when students reach college. This is where Vittana comes into play. Most universities are located in the capital Managua, which is also where our MFI partner AFODENIC is located. Students in Nicaragua must take an entrance test in order to be accepted at local colleges. Once students choose the subject they wish to pursue, “they follow a plan de estudios, or plan of study, fulfilling each level sufficiently before moving on to the next. In order to graduate, student must satisfactorily complete all courses with [in] their plan de estudios and complete a final project, which they defend in front of a tribune of professor [9].” Additional fees are often charged by universities for completion of these final projects as well as to process their degrees. Many students are unable to pay these fees, so although they have completed their college course work, they are left without a degree.

I wrote an article last month that details the story of one of our Nicaraguan students, Howard. He used his Vittana loan to help him pay such charges so that he will be able to successfully graduate. You can check it out here. Another one of our students studying in Nicaragua is Besty Olivares. She is studying marketing and advertising.

Betsy explains in an interview that without her Vittana loan she would have had to quit her schooling. She had just given birth and because of complications she had expenses for additional doctor visits and consultations. In an interview she explained that she “just didn’t have enough money to care for [her] health and pay for school“. Student loan programs are effectively non-existent in Nicaragua and Besty explains how important her Vittana loan was when she said, “For someone to come and offer credit or a loan of this type—it was a huge relief.  Because, you know, the banks don’t make this available“.

Without Vittana loans, and Vittana lenders like you, our Nicaraguan students would not have the capital they need to finance their studies. To view Vittana students from Nicaragua who are still in need of funding click here.

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