All Photos Pro Mujer is an international microfinance and women's development network whose mission is to provide Latin America's poorest women with the means to build livelihoods for themselves and futures for their families through microfinance, business training, and healthcare support. Pro Mujer fights poverty by establishing sustainable microfinance organizations that provide an integrated package of financial and human development services that women require to build and improve their businesses.

Focus Areas:	Economic Development, Health, Human Rights, Poverty, Gender & Equality, Microfinance
Countries Served:	Argentina Bolivia Mexico Nicaragua Peru

Description of Services:
Pro Mujer's communal association methodology is designed specifically to empower poor women to be more effective in all areas of their lives' at home, at work and in their communities. Reinforced by their successful use of credit and the solidarity with peers in their communal association, the women become aware of the vast possibilities for improvement in their lives. All Pro Mujer country programs provide training in health and empowerment, and link women and their families with health services. Pro Mujer's focal centers, where clients meet on a regular basis to repay their loan installments, offer an ideal base for education programs covering family planning, domestic violence, nutrition, hygiene and good health practices, among others.
History:
Pro Mujer establishes and develops microfinance institutions in Latin America that provide an integrated credit and training program for poor women microentrepreneurs. Pro Mujer developed its communal association methodology in Bolivia in 1990 and has successfully replicated the model in Nicaragua (1996), Peru (1997), Mexico (2001) and Argentina (2005). Over the last seventeen years Pro Mujer's microfinance institutions have disbursed $488 million in small loans -ranging from $50 to $1,000? with an average loan of $236. Pro Mujer clients are encouraged to save; currently, these women have saved $16.5 million in individual accounts providing a financial buffer for their families in times of crises.
Accomplishments & Progress:
Fall 2007 - Pro Mujer in Peru was awarded the 2007 Excellence in Microfinance Award from the Inter-American Development Bank. This award recognizes non-regulated financial institutions exhibiting growth of sustainable financial services and innovation in new products. March 2007 - Pro Mujer in Nicaragua was awarded the 2006 Financial Transparency Award from the World Bank-based Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). June 2007 ? MicroRate, a microfinance external rating agency, gave Pro Mujer in Peru an ?A? rating for its high yield, large net operating margin, the excellence of its methodology, portfolio, efficiency and productivity and for serving the poorest niche in Peru?s microcredit industry.