Field Trip

The office of Pastoral Social in Ambato -- where I have been interning -- closed for two weeks in August for vacations.

What to do?

Pastoral Social belongs to a network of four organizations (all closely affiliated with the Catholic Church) that are involved in Microfinance in Ecuador. All four more or less follow the village banking model. I asked to be "shipped" to one of the other institutions for the two week period.

My wish was granted by my supervisor, Mario Moreno, and off to Santo Domingo de los Colorados I went.

Santo Domingo is five hours (by bus) west of Ambato. It is considered to be part of the coastal region of Ecuador (eventhough it isn't on the coast!).

Orlando was my host/boss for my two weeks. Muy amigable (very friendly!).

Basically, the operation runs the same as Ambato, with a few subtle differences. For example, Santo Domingo is considered less "secure" so they don't use cash. The members have to deposit their payments in a bank, and receive checks at the time of loan delivery. Also, there appeared to be less of an emphasis on evangelization and health issues. The result is that the meetings take less time. (Meeting length is often a sore point for bank members in Ambato -- where meetings can run well over 2 hours.)

Did I learn anything new? Frankly, not really. But I did visit more village banks. I saw another part of the country and . . . took another step in my journey in "developmentland."

Five weeks to go in the Internship

My goal in coming here to Ecuador was simple. I wanted to experience and see and feel and expose myself to as much "Microcredit" as I could get my hands on. I wanted to see what happens in the field. I wanted to see how a Microcredit institution works. I wanted to meet the clients.

Of course, more deeply, I wanted to see if Microfinance holds any possibilities for me in the future.

Right now, I would say my experience has been mixed. So far, I have definitely seen how village banks (i.e. Bancos Comunales) work in the field. [Village Banking is one "area" of Microfinance. Other areas are "individual lending" and "solidarity groups." I haven't received any exposure to these latter two types.]

I have attended at least a dozen meetings of different Banco Comunales -- some rural, some in the city. Unfortunately, I am not seeing much of the "back-end" of the operation. Ideally, I would like to see more of the administration.

I am aware that it is probably unreasonable to expect to walk into an organization for three months and expect to be shown everything inside and out.

Let's see what my last five weeks in Ecuador brings . . .

What does a Village Bank look like?

Here are pictures of two Village Bank groups here in Ecuador.

The "senoras" meet once a month -- usually to make payments on their loans.

The members are usually quite shy and reticent. Nevertheless, they are always polite and patient with my "espanol."

Banco Comunal San Pedro

Banco Comunal Luz de Santo Domingo