{"id":4639,"date":"2011-07-27T16:41:35","date_gmt":"2011-07-27T23:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stirringthefire.com\/blog\/?p=1115"},"modified":"2014-05-14T15:29:31","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T22:29:31","slug":"ffw-microcredit-programs-making-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/27\/ffw-microcredit-programs-making-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"FFW Microcredit Programs Making a Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"lead\"><em>Phil is in Liberia documenting the work of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foundationforwomen.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Foundation for Women<\/a> (FFW), an organization that strives to continually support and encourage impoverished women, both globally and locally, by funding and creating microcredit programs. A longtime supporter of Phil and his work, Kevin Castner is traveling with him and reporting back to us from the field.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Below are some examples of the women and small businesses that FFW serves.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nothing is easy; especially the beginning of everything.&#8221; \u00a0Martha Parotor, head of COSEO (Community Sustainable Educational Organization-Empowerment).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1116\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stirringthefire.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/27\/ffw-microcredit-programs-making-a-difference\/img_0402\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1116\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1116\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1116\" title=\"IMG_0402\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stirringthefire.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/IMG_0402.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1116\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amazing Grace<\/p><\/div>\n<p>One of the first businesses we visit is Amazing Grace (AG). \u00a0Grace has a loan from FFW and her business is taking old bottles that boys pick up from the sides of streets and pulverizing them into powder and melting that in molds to create unique bracelets and necklaces. \u00a0The bracelets sell for $5, the necklaces from $15 on up. \u00a0I need one immediately and love the constituent parts of the concept: she makes beautiful art pieces out of dangerous environmental waste, she makes a profit, and she provides jobs. \u00a0AG&#8217;s office is an abandoned shipping container. \u00a0To the right and behind the container are two small, improbable kilns, cobbled together out of some bricks\/cinder blocks and cement. \u00a0In one they make their molds and in the other they melt the glass fragments. \u00a0It is primitive but the end results are terrific.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1146\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stirringthefire.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/27\/ffw-microcredit-programs-making-a-difference\/img_0403\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1146\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1146\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1146\" title=\"IMG_0403\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stirringthefire.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/IMG_0403.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1146\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jewelry for Sale at Amazing Grace<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Sidenote: You can also find Amazing Grace jewelry at FFW&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundationforwomen.org\/shop\/index.php?main_page=index&amp;cPath=3_13\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Then we head with Emily Peal, FFW CEO, thru Congo Town out to Paynesville to visit COSEO.\u00a0 This is Emily\u2019s first visit.\u00a0 Here we are greeted by Martha Parotor, and I hear for the first time Emily referred to as \u2018Mommy\u2019, an affectionate and respectful title.\u00a0 I get a palpable sense of what her help will mean to these women.\u00a0 With FFW money they can buy equipment to help them grow a small business preserving local foods like cassava leaf, which is used in restaurants as a flavoring.\u00a0 Cassava leaf powder, the making of which is very labor-intensive, sells for $2US per 7 ounce bag.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1117\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stirringthefire.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/27\/ffw-microcredit-programs-making-a-difference\/img_0386\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1117\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1117\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1117\" title=\"IMG_0386\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stirringthefire.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/IMG_0386.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1117\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phil Documenting Women with Cassava Leafs Outside COSEO<\/p><\/div>\n<p>With FFW loans there are 30 women and they will get loans in groups of 5.\u00a0 So, there will be 6 loans.\u00a0 All 30 women will fill out an FFW questionnaire.\u00a0 FFW wants to know what they are doing now, what they want to do, their aspirations and fears, and more.\u00a0 Once granted, all 5 women in each group, individually and jointly, will be responsible for paying the loan back.\u00a0 FFW knows they will support each other and push each other.\u00a0 The knowledge FFW has about each woman, and the group structure of the loans, is a good reason why their\u00a0payback rate is 96-98%.\u00a0 Sophisticated first world banks with their off balance sheet securitization and \u2018liar\u2019 loans could learn something from this \u2018basic\u2019 approach.<\/p>\n<p>The average FFW loan is $100, but while the amount is minor the change to these women\u2019s lives will not be commensurate.\u00a0 With these loans and the profits they make their children can go to private schools and they can builds homes.\u00a0 They can build a future.\u00a0 They can regain pride and self-respect.\u00a0 The impact is immeasurable.<\/p>\n<p>We will have the chance to visit a few more businesses that are supported by FFW\u2019s microcredit programs before we meet some of the women taking part in FFW upcoming leadership conference and training.\u00a0 Stay tuned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Phil is in Liberia documenting the work of Foundation for Women (FFW), an organization that strives to continually support and encourage impoverished women, both globally and locally, by funding and creating microcredit programs. A longtime supporter of Phil and his work, Kevin Castner is traveling with him and reporting back to us from the field&#8230;.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/27\/ffw-microcredit-programs-making-a-difference\/\" class=\"more-link\" title=\"Read FFW Microcredit Programs Making a Difference\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,22],"tags":[136,137,215,216,139],"class_list":["post-4639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-documentary-training","category-stirring-the-fire","tag-foundation-for-women","tag-from-the-field","tag-kevin-castner","tag-liberia","tag-microcredit"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FFW Microcredit Programs Making a Difference - Phil Borges<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/27\/ffw-microcredit-programs-making-a-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FFW Microcredit Programs Making a Difference - Phil Borges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Phil is in Liberia documenting the work of Foundation for Women (FFW), an organization that strives to continually support and encourage impoverished women, both globally and locally, by funding and creating microcredit programs. 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