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Noticias Recientes
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Credit Development Program PRODEC
PRODEC is an ongoing ASAPROSAR’s program that started in 1994 which mission is “to provide flexible financial service, equity and appropriate to the needs of micro business sector, to promote their empowerment and sustained improvement in their quality of life”.
Geographical location:
The area of influence of PRODEC is concentrated in the Departments of Santa Ana, Sonsonate, Ahuachapán and La Libertad. Being treated with three branches one located at ASAPROSAR compound, another in Colon Santa Ana’s office and the last one in Sonsonate city, to assist users of rural credit in the areas of South Ahuachapán and the department of Sonsonate.
Currently has presence in 42 municipalities, in three departments of the west of the country, and two departments in the central area (San Salvador and La Libertad).
General Objectives:
To help improve the living conditions of the population of the enterprise urban sector, urban marginal and rural west of the country and two department of the central area (San Salvador y La Libertad).
The ASAPROSAR’s credit development program is form by two subprograms: Microenterprise Credit and Rural Credit, bringing the way to offer the credit product detailed below:
Ø Micro enterprise credit program( MEC)
Ø Rural Credit Program( RUC)
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Name of de Subprogram: MICRO ENTERPRISE CREDIT (MEC)
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The program of MEC works with two types of methodology according the costumer borrowing and their business needs.
Individual’s credits:
Product aimed to meet financial needs of small business survival and build simple, with a year minimum experience in a management of economic units. The borrowing amount is between $ 100.00 to $ 3,000.00 for weekly payments, fourteen or monthly, in period of 4 to 36 months, secured by a trust, pledge, mortgage and/or mixed, with a fee for administrative expenses of 5.5% and a 0.25%insurance of the debt amount, and an interest rate of 3% monthly on balance. Working capital financial and investment capital to micro business in the trade sector, industry and services.
Credits solidarity groups:
Methodology aimed to men and women subsistence sector traders and/or simple accumulation of the urban or semi-urban area, incorporating a total of 5 to 10 persons each, so that through the joint guarantee may be subject to finance their productive activities in amounts between $60.00 to $ 1,500.00, in terms of 4 to 6 months, according person’s pay capability, have their own guarantee, but not enough to support access to an individual loan. They have the characteristics values of gender equality, solidarity, integration and a promotion of a culture of saving. Directed by a counsel in accordance with the frequently of their payments and for authorities elected by members of their own groups. Interest rate is 3% monthly from balances and commission of 5.5% plus 0.25% debt insurance from loan given to each solidarity group.
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Total Population Served :
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517
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SubProgram Name: RURAL CREDIT PROGRAM (RUC)
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The rural credit program starts in 2000, as an alternative of development for entrepreneur’s women of poor municipalities and the rural areas of the western part of the country. Based on the experience and methodology of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh adapted to the culture and context of women in our country, making ASAPROSAR pioneers in financial support to poor women in the country.
Rural Credit Department:
This methodology has to responsibility levels that come together to form one whole structure:
Group: is a collective of women voluntarily affiliated, who live in the same community, share the same living conditions, belong to the same socioeconomic status, enjoy mutual respect and democratically elect their leaders, they rotate their position every two cycles. The group is form by a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 5 users.
Center: This is a joint venture between 2 and 6 credit groups, to recognize and to support each other, choosing four members for the policy center, which might have representation from most of the partner groups, The center is comprised of a minimum eight in a maximum of 30 users.
The monitoring is done by a weekly meetings or every fourteen days lead by a credit advisor. The fund amounts ranging from $ 58.00 to a maximum of $ 1,000.00, weekly payments or every fourteen days in a period of 4 - 6 months. The warranty is solidarity. Pay an interest rate of 3% monthly and a commission of 4.75% from the given amount in concept of stationery, notary costs, plus, 0.25% for insurance debts
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Total Population served:
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2432 to April 2012
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Project Budget for this year is $352,984.36. |
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Visual Health is Not a Luxury
Reflections on the 2012 ASAPROSAR Campaign
By Liz Umlas
The patient sat before me in a clean white shirt, neatly pressed pants and old but polished dress shoes. His eyes were red, and his long, thin face had a weary expression that made him seem tired and old. At the same time, the dark, curly hair framing his face made him look younger than his 49 years. His chart revealed that he was a jornalero, a day laborer. This was the first eye exam he had ever had.
I asked the patient what had brought him to the clinic that day. He said he had noticed problems with his vision since he had started studying. "What are you studying?" I asked him. "I am in first grade," he replied. "I never finished primary school and I’ve returned to get my degree."
The ophthalmologist performed the eye exam, and then delivered the diagnosis to me. It was not good. The patient had early-stage glaucoma in both eyes, and must remain on medication for the rest of his life, or risk blindness. We could give him six months of glaucoma drops to control the pressure, but after that, he would have to get himself checked regularly, and eventually buy the drops on his own. Unfortunately, six months of drops were all we could provide: there were not enough resources to do more than that for everyone who needed it.
As I explained this to the man in Spanish, he absorbed the news as if it were a slow-motion blow, his face falling as he nodded slowly and repeated the word, "blindness." It was painful to watch him process the information, his shoulders drooping under the weight of the diagnosis. But after a few seconds’ reflection, he replied that everything was God’s will: a refrain we heard from many other patients that week. He said he had hesitated about whether to come to the clinic that day, but he eventually decided that God had intended for him to go, so he did, and that he was thankful for the treatment we were providing.
I was part of a group of volunteers – doctors, nurses, technicians, translators – who participated last month in an annual visual health campaign in El Salvador. We worked through a local NGO called ASAPROSAR (Asociación Salvadoreña Pro-Salud Rural, or Salvadoran Association for Rural Health), the country’s main provider of eye care – exams, glasses, surgery – to low-income people.
Setting up shop in two of ASAPROSAR’s eye clinics, the volunteers, organized by Massachusetts-based Friends of ASAPROSAR, carry out a week-long campaign every winter in the cities of Santa Ana and San Miguel. The aim is to provide surgery and glasses free of charge for Salvadorans who most need these services. In addition to its work throughout the year, ASAPROSAR promotes the annual campaign, prescreens patients from all over the country, provides the facilities and administrative staff to make the campaign possible, feeds the volunteers and handles all follow-up procedures with the patients. After over 20 years of practice,
the campaign is a well-oiled machine. In 2012, just over 2,000 people were seen – including 144 surgeries and 1,691 pairs of glasses given out in the space of less than a week.
Visual health is not a luxury. In wealthy countries we take it for granted, but it is a vital part of our well-being, and, by extension, that of the people we live with and support. Although during the campaign we met a few blind people who had been fortunate enough to receive specialized training in lines of work for which they did not need to be sighted, they were the exception. More often, we met people for whom visual impairment meant that their already precarious financial situation could only get worse. In a nation such as El Salvador, where almost 40% of the population lives below the poverty level, blindness can easily mean the loss of a livelihood, not only decimating family income but also often pulling another wage earner out of the system to care for the person who has lost her sight.
During my time in Santa Ana, and since coming home, my thoughts have returned repeatedly to the day laborer, more than to anyone else I met. Many of the patients were facing truly dire situations. But there was something especially heart-breaking about this middle-aged man who just gone back to elementary school to better his life and his prospects, receiving a diagnosis of an illness that – in a wealthier country, with universal health care – could be controlled through surgery and medication. What was to become of him now? |
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Meet William Edgardo Salgado Zumba
By América Hernández, ASAPROSAR Psychologist
Translated by Nicole Rodríguez
Fourteen- year old William lives in Santa Ana with his grandmother, a younger brother and many cousins. Orphaned at 7, he started going to the market to work with his grandmother so the family could afford food, clothing and medicine. Today he continues to help her when he is not in school..jpg)
With William’s help, his grandmother could work longer hours and provide the family with the basic necessities. The marketplace is a difficult environment bursting with delinquency and violence, exposing them to risk and abuse. They have to be very careful and aware of those they interact with and if possible, avoid talking with others all together. (The market’s motto is that one who learns to see, hear, and keep quiet will survive.)
For the past six years, William has attended ASAPROSAR’s Barefoot Angels Program near the marketplace and bus terminal. He was offered and accepted therapy to address the trauma of his mother’s death. This and other supports helped him see himself and his future in a positive light, develop supportive, positive relationships and improve in school.
William discovers new talents and skills each time he participates in a leadership training program. This is especially true in the Youth Social Entrepreneur Program, developed by ASAPROSAR and ASHOKA, encouraging youth to design their own business and find solutions to social issues.
William is currently in the 9th grade, at the Tomas Medina School of Santa Ana and has become the leader of REDMACOS –Red de Magus y Comediennes – Network Magicians and Comedians formed by Tom Verner, their teacher from the international Magicians Without Borders.
The support provided by ASAPROSAR has been instrumental in William’s personal growth as he continues to help his grandmother and in turn, his younger brother. He wants to be a bilingual teacher or a doctor, and says that he wants to make his family and country.
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Give Women Credit
by Palmer Corson
The idea of microcredit is not a new one, but in recent years it has begun to be seen as a hand-up to those living in poverty. The United Nations declared 2005 International Year of Microcredit. Microcredit is a way to spur entrepreneurship, generate income and in many cases exit poverty. Women are playing a greater role in these innovative financial services largely due to Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the microfinance organization he founded, Grameen Bank, with 97% of its borrower’s women.
Why focus on women in microfinance? As Nicholas Kristof states in his book Half the Sky it is “global poverty’s dirty little secret”, that men are unwise spenders. Kristof goes on to say that in the developing world the poorest families spend 10 times more on alcohol, prostitution, candy, sugary drinks and lavish meals than on education. When assets are placed in the hands of women more money is likely to be spent on nutrition, education and housing which in turn leads to healthier children and families.
ASAPROSAR has been engaged in microfinance since 1993 when it created the Fondo de Apoyo (Support Fund) as a financial credit structure, through a project financed by the Inter-American Foundation. In 1994 it became the Microcredit Development Program, which promoted and financially supported the micro-enterprise sector of the Western El Salvador. This population usually has no access to the formal financial system. With the help of ASAPROSAR the people are engaged in the development of productive activities in the subsistence sector.
Since 2002 the Microcredit Development Program offers financial services through two credit lines. One is credit to Urban Micro-Enterprise sector through the methodology of solidarity groups and individual loans for working capital and capital investment. The second is the Rural Microcredit, exclusively to rural women utilizing the microcredit methodology of the Grameen Bank. The coverage is in the western zone of the country. According to the data from December 2011, a total of over 2,500 participants in the program were served in 30 municipalities of the departments of Santa Ana, Ahuachapán and Sonsonate. Rural Microcredit participants following the Grameen Bank methodology make up 80% of the borrowers in the Microcredit Development Program while the remaining 20% are participants of the Urban Micro-Enterprise sector.
The mission of the ASAPROSAR microcredit program is to provide flexible, high quality, equitable and appropriate financial services to the micro-business sector and to promote Salvadoran’s empowerment and a sustainable improvement in their quality of life. Our vision is to be a sustainable non-banking financial institution, independent leader in the field of microfinance with national and international recognition. The service of the Microcredit Development Program of ASAPROSAR is oriented to serve women living in poverty, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, without a vision of their economic rights, with limited or no access to credit in the financial system, and with a great responsibility to sustain their family groups. A high percentage of these women are heads of households, being mother/father at the same time to their sons and daughters.
The Rural Microcredit model is based on the Grameen Bank methodology. This methodology has two levels of responsibility in a single organizational structure. They are as follows: a) Group: a group of women enrolled voluntarily, living in the same community, sharing the same living conditions, have mutual respect and democratically elect their leaders, who rotate their positions every two credit cycles. b) Center: this is a society, formed by two to six credit groups, which are recognized and supported by each other. Four members are elected to the governing board of the Center. This methodology permits the borrowers to further strengthen the values of responsibility, solidarity and respect through a simple and dynamic system where all participate actively. 100% of these women are unemployed or self-employed, so the micro-business activity is their only occupation. It is the main source of income to contribute or maintain their homes: 55% of the women are engaged in selling fruit, basic grains, vegetables, clothing, operating little shops, etc. 45% work in their own small businesses like, shoe shops or clothing repair, but are always in search of accessing reasonable and flexible credit for their productive initiatives.
ASAPROSAR continues to serve the poorest families in the western region of El Salvador and hopes to expand the Rural Microcredit program so that more women can be empowered and are able lift themselves out of poverty through income generating small businesses. |
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The Gift of Vision
For over 20 years a dedicated group of volunteers comprised of doctors, nurses, and support staff has quietly given thousands of families living in poverty the gift of vision. Friends of ASAPROSAR, Massachusetts based nonprofit organization, has conducted annual eye campaigns in conjunction with ASAPROSAR (Salvadoran Association for Rural Health) in El Salvador since 1989. In addition to visual health services, including ophthalmic surgery and prescription glasses, the group provides medical services for diabetes, hypertension and other health problems that contribute to visual impairment. These are all vital procedures that the families served could not afford. The campaigns started during El Salvador’s civil war and remarkably have continued uninterrupted with hundreds of volunteers from Massachusetts. Friends of ASAPROSAR was the only group providing visual health care to the poor people in El Salvador, during the conflict, without a political agenda. All volunteers went into war zones, paid all their own expenses, and raised the funds to support their work. Over the years, tens of thousands of people have been provided with care and the lives of hundreds have been saved.
Today, over 2000 patients are attended to in one week making the campaign a busy and rewarding experience. Dr. Alan Gruber of Cohasset, MA, says, “Everyone in the group believes in the adage, 'to whom much is given...'. This is a way to make miracles happen and we are committed to the idea that the world can only change by reaching out and helping one person at a time. That's what we're about." .jpg)
One miracle from the most recent eye campaign at ASAPROSAR in El Salvador was the arrival of 16 month old Rene Marcelo Rivera. Dr. O’Ine McCabe, a pediatric ophthalmologist from Lexington, MA, learned that his mother was valiantly trying to save her son’s vision. He had been found to have congenital glaucoma (high pressure inside the eye) and cataracts (a clouding of the lenses) in both eyes. Previously the baby had five surgeries that did not solve his problems. No doctor in Central America was known to have the experience needed to fix these problems in a child so young. His mother had been told that perhaps her son could be helped in the United States, but the cost would be 30 to 35 thousand dollars, an impossible sum for this poor family. When they arrived at the clinic Dr. McCabe found that the baby’s eye pressures were dangerously high and the outlook was total, irreversible blindness within six months. The Friends of ASAPROSAR surgeons knew that only a few specialists in the U.S. could tackle this type of problem.
 Dr. Alan Gruber, the leader of the group, sent out a “blast email” to all of his contacts. Miraculously replies began to come in quickly. Dr. William Sponsel, from San Antonio, TX, who had the necessary experience, replied that he was going to be doing surgery the following week in neighboring Guatemala. He made arrangements to perform the surgery at Visualiza, a specialized eye hospital in Guatemala City. Drs. Nicolas and Mariano Yee, the directors of the hospital, arranged for the necessary anesthesia and support staff and assisted in the surgery. Mr. Don Doyle, from Alcon Labs, provided the lens implants and the specialized surgical materials were donated by yet another group. Friends of ASAPROSAR took on all responsibility for coordination and the expenses necessary for transportation and lodging of the family.
The following week, Dr. Sponsel and the team performed the delicate, difficult surgery for René Marcelo. The scarring from the previous procedures was removed, shunts were placed to lower the eye pressures and new lenses were placed in both eyes. The surgery was considered to be successful and it continues to be very positive after two follow-up visits.
Little René Marcelo and his family have a long road ahead. Additional surgery will eventually need to be done as the eyes grow and frequent follow-ups will need to be done all of his life, but now the statistics are in his favor and the inevitable blindness has been avoided. ASAPROSAR continues to maintain close contact and follow-up with baby René and his family. They are back in El Salvador and feel they have been a part of a miracle. Those feelings are echoed by the volunteer members of the January eye campaign.
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