Credit with Education is Coming to Peru

In Peru, where more than 50% of the population lives below the poverty line, life can be especially hard on families that live in rural areas. Here, far from the services available in cities like Lima, families struggle to meet their most basic needs.

But help is coming in the form of Credit with Education. The launch Credit with Education in Peru is thanks to a very generous grant from Doe Run Peru and facilitated by its parent company, the St. Louis-based Doe Run Company.

Bruce Neil, president of Doe Run Peru, praised Freedom from Hunger's program, saying, "The Credit with Education program will expand our outreach to local communities, providing our hardworking neighbors with the resources to create meaningful, sustainable income opportunities. We're pleased to underwrite this effort."

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Like in other regions of the world, Credit with Education will provide a proven self-help solution that invests in the determination of a woman to improve the lives of her children, and equips her for success. Through a combination of cash credit and vital health/nutrition education, women can buy more and better food, invest in their children's education, take control of their families' health, and help each other to have a greater influence in their communities.

Freedom from Hunger created Credit with Education to accomplish two important goals. The first is to provide women -- the primary caretakers of children under the age of five-with access to working capital loans to build home -- based businesses. As these women increase their earnings, they also get lifeskills training in the basics of health, nutrition, and business management. Each week, as women meet to repay their loans (with interest) and deposit their savings, they participate in these learning sessions and build their self-confidence to create change.

The second goal Credit with Education accomplishes is to strengthen the capacity of local organizations to provide high-quality, high-impact services to the rural poor. Our technical assistance missions, while intensive at first, reduce over time as each local partner is able sustainably provide services on an ongoing and even growing basis.

A three-year launch of Credit with Education in Peru is just beginning (spring of 2006) with a goal of serving 18,000 women in the Credit with Education program and the benefits of their participation reaching their 95,000 family members. The program will launch in the departments of Junin and Huancavelica where poverty is widespread but potential for improvements in economic standing, family food security and, especially, child nutrition are significant.

We will work with three local partner organizations, all of whom share our commitment to providing sustainable micro-financial services and critical health and nutrition education to the rural poor.

You can help bring Credit with Education to Peru – and every corner of the globe where there are women living in poverty. Donate now.

Freedom from Hunger is proud of the way we manage our funds! We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. If you would like to learn more about our finances, click here or call us at (530) 758-6200 ext. 1033.