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Among its microfinance operations worldwide, CARE is particularly active in Guatemala, where its Edubancomun project reaches 2,500 women in 78 groups.
Marta Chavez is president of the women's group in the village of Santa Lucia Utatlan --- an association of 15 women who have taken out microloans to start their own businesses. (These include raising chickens, sewing and selling flowers at the local market,) Part of their loan agreement is that a portion of their earnings will go toward supporting their daughters' educations.
According to CARE, Chavez has become a landowner after seven years in the program, and her daughter is able to stay in school full time.
Explaining why his Grameen Bank makes nearly 95 percent of its loans to women, Muhammad Yunus told PBS "NewsHour" in 2001:
"Women are very cautious with the use of the money, but the men were impatient; they wanted to enjoy right away. They will entertain friends, they will go to the movies, they will do whatever they could to enjoy for themselves personally. But women didn't look at it personally. Women looked at it for the children, for the family and the so on, and for future."
Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
