Be looking for your official Adelante 2011 Calendar!
Coming soon
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 With only a dollar a day, you can have a direct impact on a family's life. Be the change you wish to see in the world and donate. |
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Microfinance and the Adelante Foundation Mission
"Adelante" in English means "forward" or "progress." Our mission is to improve the standard of living of the extreme poor in rural Honduras. To do that, we provide very poor women with the opportunity they so desperately seek, so as to build a better life for themselves and their families. We do this through a lending model called microfinance.
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When times get tough,
Adelante gets tougher!
For Iris Jimenez, the economic crisis has not had the harsh effects it has had for other Hondurans. Iris sells beauty p roducts and has been able to make profits while others have had losses. Iris shares, "Adelante helps us so that we can invest in growing our business and make more profit. This has been very helpful during this crisis because finding capital to invest in our business has become impossible. Adelante has stayed with us during this crisis and for that we are truly thankful."
In December 2010, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Honduran government presented the Millenium Development Goals report. This report exemplified how Honduras needs help more now than ever, especially since 2009 was an exceptionally hard year for the Honduran people.
According to this report, 60% of the population lives in poverty. Of these, 39% live in extreme poverty, which means that their monthly income is insufficient to cover the cost of the most basic living necessities. Not only is Honduras the second poorest country in the region, it is also one of the most unequal. According to this report, Honduras is the fourth country in Latin America with the most unequal distribution of wealth - the top 40% of the population holds 81.31% of the wealth, while the lowest 40% holds only 7.46%. Unemployment has also risen dramatically from 27.8% in 2009 to the current rate of 36%. Almost three million of Hondurans in the working age do not have jobs!
Despite the harsh conditions most Hondurans currently live, the situation for Adelante clients is promising. Our typical client would have been hit hard by the economic recession. Instead, they are becoming entrepreneurs - independent and making profits. Adelante clients, who once depended greatly on their husbands or money sent from the United States, today, are clients who not only own businesses and have an income but also provide jobs when no one else is doing so.
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We would like you to meet....
Sandra Almendarez had her first child at age 17. She had her second at 18, third at 19, fourth at 20, and fifth at 24. Now, at age 36, Sandra has a house full of rambunctious teenagers and seems to have a bottomless well of energy, optimism and enthusiasm. Sandra, her husband, and five children live at the edge of town, in the town of Yoro.
She received her first loan from Adelante and in vested it into restocking her shelves. Sandra exclaims, "Before, what I had to offer was meager, I barely had anything on the shelves. Now it has grown and looks like a real shop!" Her husband is also helping out with the business by taking supplies from the store out into the community on his bike to sell door-to-door.
Sandra appreciates the educational talks she receives during her assembly meetings, and says, "All of these lessons are helping us learn to work smarter and to take better care of our families." She is also happy to be part of such a good assembly group. "We look out for each other," she explains. "We just completed a group project to make and sell rosquillas (small corn biscuits) around town. With this project, we will each be able to gain a little extra money and also set some funds aside in case someone in the group falls on hard times and needs help covering her loan." Such innovation and unity are part of what has contributed to this Adelante group's success. |
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Picture of the month 
A group of Adelante clients after their assembly meeting in Las Hortencias, Intibucá
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