Joint Collaboration Programs

Banrural Grameen Microfinanza, Guatemala




In an attempt to combat poverty in Guatemala the Asociacion Civil Guatemalteca Grameen Credit (ACGGC); a Build Operate and Transfer project of Grameen Trust was set up in December 2005 with the financial assistance from the Whole Planet Foundation, U.S.A. The project operation began in April 2006. The project surpassed its initial primary objective made of reaching 4,500 members within a period of three years. By the end of 2007, ACGGC reached 6,457 members.

Despite of facing many challenges such as language barrier, legal complexities associated with getting registration, obtaining visa and work permit for the Bangladeshi staff at the initial stage of project operation, the Asociacion Civil Guatemalteca Grameen Credit has been very successful in terms of its outreach and providing qualitative services to its clientele. In order to overcome the difficulty of communicating with the Spanish speaking borrowers, the Bangladeshi staff of ACGGC took up a language course in Spanish soon after they arrived in Guatemala. The locally recruited staff of ACGGC was trained initially on Grameen methodology and technology, so that they will be in a position to implement the project on the ground without facing any difficulty.

The success of ACGGC has led to the interest of many organizations offering to work in a joint collaboration with it. Following this, an agreement between Grameen Trust, Whole Planet Foundation and Banrural, one of the largest commercial banks in Guatemala, was signed in 2007 in order to implement the project through collaboration. The primary objective of Banrural Grameen Microfinanzas is to expand the coverage of the microcredit program following Grameen methodology in Guatemala. The collaboration with Banrural will allow for an increase in financial and logistical support that will facilitate program expansion in entire Guatemala. The collaborative effort aims to disburse loans to 60,000 women by the end of 2010.

The year 2008 was of high significance for Banrural Grameen Microfinanzas, for it being the first implementation year through a collaborative effort. It is worth mentioning that the project has been highly successful in reaching out to new members, opening up of new branches in new locations and loan disbursement. In this year only, the project has reached out to 3,513 new members and disbursed USD 2,015,255 to its borrowers. In addition to this, it has opened six new branches in Quiche, Chimaltenango, Totonicapan and near Lake Atilan. The project has a plan of opening three new branches in 2009.