Measuring Our Impact
Latin America
Latin America is FINCA's birthplace. The Village Banking group lending methodology was conceived in Bolivia, and was the foundation of our first FINCA subsidiaries in South and Central America. The region includes some of the poorest countries in our network. Besides suffering income inequality and crime, these countries are also prone to hurricanes, flooding and earthquakes. Our clients regularly face these challenges with resilience and determination.
Financial exclusion and economic vulnerability remain high in the Latin American countries where FINCA works. Our operations there have a strong and continuing commitment of reaching out to women, who make up 3 out of 4 borrowers. One third of FINCA’s Latin American clients are in rural areas.
Financial Inclusion
Latin America:
Reaching the Financially Excluded
Access to banking services is a must-have in today’s economy, no matter where a person lives. But not everyone is near a bank or knowledgeable enough about how banks work to get an account, let alone credit for a business. And not everyone feels comfortable that they can walk into a bank and be welcomed – just as they are.
Most of FINCA's subsidiaries in Latin America are medium-sized, with 30 to 50 thousand borrowers. Three of them -- Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua -- are licensed to take deposits, although at present only Nicaragua offers this service. Guatemala and Ecuador have significant rural outreach, while Honduras and especially Nicaragua are mainly based in more urban areas.
As a region, Latin America maintains its focus on women, which has been its legacy since the first FINCA subsidiaries were launched. About 75% of all borrowers are women, placing it well ahead of the network average and even far ahead of Africa, which follows at 58%. In terms of female outreach, 4 of the top 5 subsidiaries are located in Latin America. This includes Haiti, which has 89% outreach to women, placing it only behind our microfinance operation in Jordan.
Living Standards
Latin America:
Quality of Life
No data has been collected yet for this indicator in Haiti.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATEFinancial exclusion often goes hand in hand with poor living standards. So when we provide access to finance, we know that this is just one piece of the puzzle in breaking the cycle of poverty.
Among the countries that FINCA serves in Latin America, Honduras has the poorest quality-of-life indicators. About a third of our borrowers lack water and/or electricity in their homes. Nearly half of our clients in Latin America live in a household where the main earner has less than a secondary education. In Guatemala, it is over 75%, placing it right ahead of Afghanistan, a country which has been at war for most of the last several decades. With 68% and 56% respectively, Honduras and Nicaragua are not far behind.
Income & Employment
Latin America:
Income & Employment
No data has been collected yet for this indicator in Latin America.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Ecuador.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Guatemala.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Haiti.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Honduras.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Nicaragua.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATECheck back in the early summer, when we will start updating this section with enterprise data from Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Women’s Empowerment
Latin America:
Empowering Women
No data has been collected yet for this indicator in Haiti.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATEThe ability to contribute to the family budget enhances a woman's decision-making authority in the household. This has a positive effect on her confidence and it can influence how a family spends its disposable income.
Most of FINCA's female borrowers in Latin America are the main income earners in their households. In Nicaragua and Honduras, about half of these female breadwinners are also single parents carrying the full burden of their family's well-being. Guatemala, which has strong cultural traditions rooted in small rural communities, is the exception; about two thirds of our clients there are contributing a supplemental source of income to their households. FINCA will be updating this page with a full set of empowerment indicators once our enterprise surveys are uploaded from Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Check back in the spring and summer of 2017 to see the new data.
Clients’ Goals
No data has been collected yet for this indicator in Ecuador.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Guatemala.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Haiti.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Honduras.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Nicaragua.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Ecuador.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Guatemala.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Haiti.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Honduras.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Nicaragua.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATEWe will be updating this section in spring and summer of 2017 with data from Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Check back to see our clients' goals and the degree to which FINCA is making them possible. In the meanwhile, you might be interested in the results from one of our other regions.
Special Topics
FINCA Loan Sectors
No data has been collected yet for this indicator in Latin America.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Ecuador.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Guatemala.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Haiti.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Honduras.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Nicaragua.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATEProfit and Profit/Sales Ratio by Sector
No data has been collected yet for this indicator in Latin America.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Ecuador.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Guatemala.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Haiti.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Honduras.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Nicaragua.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATEJobs by Sector Due to FINCA Loan
No data has been collected yet for this indicator in Latin America.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Ecuador.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Guatemala.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Haiti.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Honduras.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATENo data has been collected yet for this indicator in Nicaragua.
The support of FINCA donors is vital to our efforts to understand our clients and better serve them. Please Donate to support this important work.
DONATELatin America Stories
A One-Woman Conglomerate
It Takes a Village
