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World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) and the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions will host a small group of volunteers in Guatemala, March 2-6, 2020. Our purpose will be twofold: (1) to support the Guatemala credit union expansion into small business lending, and; (2) to learn Guatemalan insights for the immigrant market in the U.S.

In the rural highlands of Guatemala, many of the weaving and textiles industries for which those regions were once known are gone. Communities ask their credit unions to create economic opportunity for young people. World Council has worked with Guatemalan credit unions to finance small farmers, which has helped provide higher income in rural households. Buoyed by that success, World Council now supports the credit unions in training for financing small business to offer youth jobs or opportunities to start enterprises.

Oscar Olivia Vidal (above left) is CEO of the Guatemala credit union association called the Federación Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito de Guatemala (FENOCOAC) and is pictured at the site of a market assisted by credit unions. A father and son pose (above right) with products from a small leather business aided by the country’s credit unions.

Guatemalan law only allows credit unions to make loans to individuals and not to legal entities. As businesses become larger and ask for larger loans, a member business owner often will not wish to take the loan on a personal basis—but wants the loan to be to the business. Larger loans also quickly bump up against loan concentration limits. World Council has assisted in the establishment of a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO), which could provide loans to legal entities and pool funds for the larger loans. The Guatemala credit unions have carried out their market, legal and business studies for the establishment of the CUSO and are beginning to establish the entity.

The Guatemala credit unions and visiting volunteers will exchange best practices and practical experience in development of their commercial lending methodology, CUSO design and CUSO-based lending.

We will arrive in country on Monday, March 2. We will visit credit unions in the field on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 3rd and 4th, to observe their community, how they are doing lending and to hear what their challenges are. We will do a two-day workshop in Guatemala City with credit union CEOs and loan officers on Thursday and Friday, the 5th and 6th. The workshop framework will include an interactive forum in which visitors and Guatemalan hosts pair up to present and compare methodologies and lessons.

Our host country will also address serving the Guatemalan diaspora community and immigrants in the U.S. — and will learn from your experience serving immigrants.

For a daily schedule, click here. For budgeting purposes, please plan on:

paying your round-trip airfare from your location to Guatemala City, Guatemala;
your hotel costs for the five nights (March 2-7); Hotel Barceló, Guatemala City;
$2,000 per person to World Council for your share of group costs for meals, local transportation and translation as well as support for the program.

Interested parties can register at:
https://www.woccu.org/events_and_engagement/events/field_engagement_guatemala/?a=92985&check=b9bc045859000facb6e48274ea26d2e3