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 In
July, 1998, several indigenous communities
of the Coast and Southern Sierra regions
of Oaxaca received agricultural aid from
the Social Pastoral Department of the Catholic
Church to sustain the region following Hurricane
Pauline in October of 1997. They distributed
this aid in the form of loans to be repaid
into a revolving fund. In 1999, some of
the recipient communities pooled the remaining
aid to create a small community based savings
and loan project. They set the fund up to
alleviate other basic life necesisities,
cost of food, education, health care.
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COMMUNITY
BANKS PROJECTS
Name |
Location |
| La
Providencia (Providence) |
Paso
Lagarto, Colotepec |
| San
José Obrero (St. Joseph the
Worker) |
La
Rivera, San Francisco C |
| San
Francisco de Asís( St. Francis
of Assisi) |
San
Francisco Cozoaltepec |
| San
José (St. Joseph) |
San
José Pueblo Viejo |
| Virgen
de Guadalupe (Virgen of Guadalupe) |
La
Crucesita, San Francisco Cozoaltepec |
| Santa
Maria de Guadalupe (Mary of Guadalupe) |
Paso
Limón, Magdalena Loxicha |
| San
Lucas (St. Lucas) |
La
Obscurana, Sta. Ma. Colotepec |
| El
Futuro del Mañana (Tomorrow's
Future) |
San
Mateo Piñas, Pochutla |
| La
Esperanza (Hope) |
Santa
Maria Sola |
| La
Ascensión (The Asencion) |
Tataltepec
de Valdés |
All of these projects have received traning
in administration, accounting, grassroots
organizational development, formation and
training in various themes. They all belong
to RECGUESA, a networking and support organization.
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METHODOLOGY
Utilizing Popular Education tools, dynamics,
drawings, icebreaker games, group work,
collage, journaling, interchanges, our program
seeks to build participant confidence and
interest in assuming more active roles in
their organizations. Similarly, we encourage
participants to assume more active roles
of leadership in their local communities
and governments.
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 ACHIEVEMENTS
•
Provide local communities a local retail
store offering staples and basic necessities.
• Create attitudes and practices of
saving.
• Create new savings forms, such as
a savings program for children.
• Provide access to credit and small
loans: loans to rural farmers (seed), loans
to heads of households, education loans,
health care loans
• Provide financing and support for
the creation of new community based production
and service cooperatives (eg: bee keeping,
small farms, small scale cattle, etc)
CHALLENGES
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Assure
that the community banks maintain their
purpose of serving the community while
at the same time realizing a financial
gain in their work.
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Maintain
adequate levels of participation by all
members of the banks and also equitable
access by each to credit.
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Resist
the values of “straight competition” and of individualism from taking over
the community banks. These values destroy
the communal base of these projects.
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