PROJECT SUMMARY

Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere, with an annual per-capita income of just $2,300. Masking the more devastating reality is that about half of Nicaragua’s wealth is in the hands of the top 10% of income earners. Poverty is particularly extreme in the rural areas. Unemployment rates of 50% or more are not uncommon.

In September 2005, Opportunity International began a three-year, $850,000 project which concludes in 2008. Through this project, Opportunity International will meet the needs in the municipality of Rivas, where the unemployment rate is 60 percent. There is a growing opportunity for tourism in the region, on which local residents hope to capitalize through small businesses. Opportunity Nicaragua estimates that microentrepreneurs represent 13.6 percent of the economically active population in Rivas, but that only 30 percent of the demand for microcredit is currently being met.

PROJECT GOALS

• To provide 3,000 new clients with microloans
• To improve the living standards of the 17,000 family members affected by the project
• Qualifiedly impacts such as housing improvements, education levels, heath care access and family nutrition will be measured using the Opportunity Network’s Common Impact Monitoring System (CIMS)
• To have a client ratio of 85% women
• To keep loan sizes to $200 or lower—which would indicate that the very poor are indeed being reached
• To expand towards the areas of El Astillero, Cardenas, Pena Blanca and the Island of Omepete
• To achieve 100 percent sustainability for the Rivas branch during the second year of the project.