2012 fall sower

FeaturesSaving for Change

Spotlight: Chiang Mai, Thailand

DepartmentsDirector’s Corner

Breaking News

47

23

in this issue

FALL 2012

environmental solutions to Humanitarian problems

PWP The Sower_fall_12'_production.indd 1 10/1/12 3:14 PM

2

This summer, I took my

family to the Dominican

Republic to see firsthand

the work of Plant With

Purpose. We began our

journey, just as Plant With

Purpose did over 25 years

ago, in a shantytown on the outskirts of the cap-

ital city of Santo Domingo.

The community sits on a slope too steep to be

of value to anyone except squatters. Lottery

booths and cock-fighting rings are prominent—

alcohol and gambling play an important role in

keeping despair at bay. Stepping through piles

of trash and down alleyways, we visited sever-

al homes, enjoying the remarkable Dominican

hospitality. When I asked families where they

had come from and why they were living in this

slum, the answer, without exception, was that

they had been farmers. They had come from

remote villages because they were tired of be-

ing hungry. Tired of working all year for just one

harvest-time payday that too often fell short. As

one man said, “There is no money in farming.“

A few days later, we visited one of those remote

mountain villages, Cañada Miguel, sitting in on

a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA)

meeting. Like many communities, they were ini-

tially skeptical of the idea of VSLAs. They were

farmers—they didn’t have money to save.

Despite their skepticism, they went through the

training. The group established a share price

of a dollar, meaning each member would con-

tribute at least one dollar per week. In their first

12-month cycle, this group saved over $4,000

(U.S.). This money was used to provide loans

for entrepreneurial members to start business-

es. The interest on the loans then came back to

the group to increase their savings. When the

end of the cycle came and they cashed out, their

money had grown, and group members were

“stunned that every peso was accounted for.”

Now—midway through their second cycle—

they no longer doubt their saving capacity,

and everyone is saving the maximum number

of shares. People have even given up drinking

and gambling so they’ll have more money to

save. When we visited, they had over $12,000

saved—an amount they could barely believe

themselves.

These business owners are still farmers, and

Scott SabinExecutive Director

they proudly showed us their avocados, cit-

rus, and other fruits they had cultivated

with the help of Plant With Purpose, as they

searched for more sustainable and higher-val-

ue uses of their land.

We often talk about empowerment, but it was

almost startling to see the degree to which

this community had realized their own pow-

er. At the same time, they also realize it is not

all about themselves, and they are grateful

to God for the opportunities and talents they

have discovered.

In this issue of The Sower, we present stories

of other families and communities who are

realizing their collective power through VSLA.

And like the group we met this summer in

Cañada Miguel, I am grateful for the way God

is using the work of Plant With Purpose to

transform lives.

Director’s cornertHe sower issue #97Plant With Purpose, a Christian nonprofit

organization, reverses deforestation and poverty

around the world by transforming the lives of

the rural poor.

ExEcutivE DirEctor: Scott [email protected]

DEvElopmEnt DirEctor: Doug [email protected]

markEting anD EvEnts: Becky [email protected]

stay connEctED: 4903 Morena Blvd. Suite 1215San Diego, CA 92117

Ph: 800.633.5319

Email: [email protected]

Web: plantwithpurpose.org

Tw: @PlantWPurpose

Fb: facebook.com/PlantWithPurpose

Email [email protected] to lEarn how you can: • Share your Plant With Purpose story• Host an event• Become a Plant With Purpose advocate

Leave a Legacy. Please consider including Plant With Purpose in your wills and bequests. Con-tact Doug Satre: [email protected].

copyright © 2012 layout by Caava Design

Danny anD amanDa sabin meet a family near santo Domingo


WWW.PLANTWITHPURPoSE.oRG 3

Join us for the 2012 Planting Hope Gala on octo-ber 13 to benefit life-changing programs that are working to alleviate poverty in rural communities. It will be a night of fabulous food, amazing auction items, inspiring updates from the field, and gener-osity that transforms lives.

planting Hope gala october 13, 20126 o’clock in tHe evening

breaking news 8 million treesThis summer, Plant With Purpose reached a new milestone: over 8 MILLIoN TREES planted through our programs worldwide. Celebrate these numbers with us!

8,278,292 total Burundi - 191,375 Dominican Republic - 4,063,438 Haiti - 1,732,453Mexico - 528,361Tanzania - 1,642,528Thailand - 120,137

Haiti recovers From tHe storm

Haiti received 8-12 inches of rain and strong winds from Hurricane Isaac in August. Lives were spared, but farmers will be feeling the effects for months as homes need repair, and crops were destroyed. In this photo, farmers from Fonds-Verrettes, Haiti, enthusiastically receive tree seedlings following the storm.

Tune in to find out just how much money Wilmer won for Plant With Purpose!

Flying HigH in national geograpHic

In August, Plant With Purpose was men-tioned in a piece on National Geographic’s Adventure Blog and on Cross Country mag-azine’s website. The Wings of Kilimanjaro crew did a reconnaissance climb to the sum-mit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in preparation for the launch of 200 paragliders in February 2013. A percentage of funds raised by these pilots will support Plant With Purpose programs in Tanzania. In fact, you can help one of our board members, J.K. Shea, fly by visit-ing wingsofkilimanjaro.com and heading to the Sponsor a Pilot page.

upcoming vision trips If you haven’t visited one of Plant With Pur-pose’s programs, we’d love for you to prayer-fully consider joining us. Please contact Doug Satre for more information: [email protected]. January 23-February 3, 2013 - TanzaniaMarch 15-20, 2013 - Oaxaca, MexicoMarch 17-22, 2013 - Dominican RepublicJune 2013 - Thailand

Hooray For HollywooDIn September, Plant With Purpose was once again honored by a partnership with Kel-logg Garden Products in hosting a table at the Environmental Media Awards (EMAs). The EMAs recognize those in the entertain-ment industry who are raising awareness of environmental issues and inspiring action. Stay tuned—we’ll be sharing about the ad-venture on the blog in october.

in tres, Dos, uno … plant witH purpose on munDoFoX

What do “Minuto Para Ganar,” This Shirt Helps, Wilmer Valderrama, and Plant With Purpose have in common? A November ap-pearance on MundoFoX! Wilmer Valderra-ma (Fez from “That 70’s Show” and the voice of Handy Manny) will be appearing on Ce-lebrity Week of “Minuto Para Ganar” (Minute to Win It) to raise money for the charities that This Shirt Helps supports. Marketing Coordi-nator Becky was in the audience and got to share about the work of Plant With Purpose.

register online or by calling (800) 633-5319


4

FigHting poverty witH Just pennies a Day

You see, Maria Paula has been taking part in

Plant With Purpose Dominican Republic’s new

Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA)

program. Through VSLA, she comes together

with a group to save whatever coins or cash

she can set aside, and it’s adding up to make

a huge difference.

“In reality, I was waiting for something real in

my life so I could progress—prosper,” Maria

Paula explains. “I never had the opportunity

to save. I never had leftover money. … As a

result of the group, I have learned to save. … I

don’t have to go to the bank to take out a loan

with high interest.”

vsla: sustainable microFinance

Jose is the father of two young daughters.

He says the main problems his family has

faced in El Zamo, Dominican Republic, are

economic. “You can’t give your kids the edu-

cation you’d want with a poor income,” he

says. “We feel great about it [VSLA]. We’ve

seen a huge change in our lives. Now we

can count on savings that we simply didn’t

have before. So we feel great about that. The

methodology that we’re using—we couldn’t

have dreamed of it beforehand.”

The system that Jose mentions is simple.

Through the VSLA model, self-selected and

self-managed groups come together both

to save and to create credit opportunities.

The groups generally comprise 20 to 30

people, who elect their own leaders and

draft their own by-laws. They then decide

together how much money each will com-

mit to save per week. That amount, often $1

U.S. a week, goes into a collective fund.

Most of the rural poor—who make up 70%

of the world’s poor—have no access to for-

mal credit systems, such as bank loans.

Instead, their alternative is to borrow from

loan sharks who charge oppressively high

this summer, maria paula began constructing a house,

and this fall she was able to buy uniforms so her children

could go to school. a few years ago, these simple things

would have been nearly impossible for this mother living

in rural aguacero, Dominican republic. so what changed

for maria paula in the past year? it turns out these big

differences actually came through small change.

Maria Paula has learned to save through her vsla grouP.

i was waiting for something real in my life so i could progress—prosper.

“

“

By Beth Luthye, Grant Writer

~Maria Paula, a mother and VSLA group member


5WWW.PLANTWITHPURPoSE.oRG

interest rates. Through VSLA, group members

can take out loans from the collective savings

fund at a reasonable interest rate determined

by the group. This interest payment goes back

into the collective fund, which increases the

amount available for future loans as well as

the individual savings of members. At the end

of each saving cycle, the accumulated interest

is distributed to all of the group members.

VSLA members can take out loans to develop

small businesses, but they can also take loans

to invest in their farms, provide for children’s

education or family health care, or to cover

costs related to unexpected emergencies.

Estella Rodriguez, who manages the VSLA

program for Plant With Purpose Dominican

Republic, emphasizes the way the savings-

and-loan groups help children. “If their par-

ents save … they can provide better nutrition,

better education,” she says. “And the parents,

conscious that they should save, will also

transmit this [value] to their children so that

they continue this legacy.”

And that legacy is one of empowerment.

Through VSLA, families and communities are

discovering what they are capable of doing

on their own and with their own resources.

wHy a savings-leD approacH works

Rodriguez admits that in the beginning she

didn’t think VSLA would work. But now, she

shares her excitement about the way this

program is transforming families. The key,

she says, is the savings-led approach to mi-

crofinance.

Rodriguez explains that there wasn’t a “cul-

ture of saving” in rural Dominican commu-

nities when they started. Families “did not

have money saved to work their land, to

create or improve a business that they had,

for their children’s education,” she says. “Be-

cause of these [VSLA] groups … families

have changed their way of life, changed their

culture, changed their poverty for a life of

dignity—for a better life.”

A savings buffer is crucial for rural farming

families, and VSLA groups provide a safe

mechanism for families to save. Christi Huiz-

enga, Plant With Purpose’s Africa programs

officer, says that there is a waiting list of

people eager to join VSLA groups in Bu-

rundi. She notes that the increased interest

resulted from a period of volatile weather.

Due to drought in some communities and

severe flooding in others, many farmers

lost their crops. After that experience, many

said they understood why saving is so vital.

With a savings buffer, these farmers could

have bought new seeds to start over, but in-

stead they were faced with difficult choices

such as selling a cow—their financial safety

net—or keeping their children out of school.

Burundi is one of the five poorest countries

in the world—a place where saving money

isn’t easy—but 17 VSLA groups there are

now working together to build their savings

and increase their wealth.

Through Plant With Purpose’s VSLA pro-

gram, thousands of individuals in rural

communities around the world are discov-

ering the same thing Maria Paula and Jose

have learned: The hope of real change can

start with just pennies a day.

The number of people involved in the 89 VSLA groups in Tanzania2,436

The dollars (U.S.) in the com-bined portfolio (savings + loans) of VSLA groups in Tanzania

$335,200

The percentage of VSLA members in Tanzania who are women76%

The number of people who joined 22 new VSLA groups in Thailand this summer

440

The dollars (U.S.) that 8 new VSLA groups saved in their first six months in Burundi, one of the 5 poorest countries in the world

$1,789

The dollars (U.S.) that the 44 VSLA groups in the Dominican Republic have saved in just one year

$81,407

The number of active Plant With Purpose VSLA groups181

you can’t give your kids the education you’d want with a poor income....We’ve seen a huge change in our lives. Now we can count on savings that we simply didn’t have before.”

~Jose, a father and VSLA group member

through vsla, Jose and his wife, Maribel, are building a better future for their daughters.

by tHe numbers

“

“

“


6

For 36-year-old Violeta Josefina Montilla, join-

ing the VSLA group “Mujeres Sin Límites”

(Women Without Limits) has empowered her

to become a change agent in El Aguacero,

Dominican Republic. The VSLA group is a con-

venient and safe place to save what little mon-

ey Violeta earns. She has taken out loans to

build a house for her family.

Violeta’s VSLA group is not only making an

economic impact, but it’s also bringing about

social change in her community. Violeta was

elected to a leadership position in which she

organized a rally against garbage pollution. The

rally was so effective that it gained the atten-

tion of the mayor of the municipality.

“I am convinced—unity makes a force,” she

says. Violeta trusts that her VSLA can be a force

for change by uniting in prayer and action to

transform El Aguacero.

unity makes a Force: empowering women in the D.r.

the village savings and loan associations (vsla) model may just be the best-

kept secret in microfinance. plant with purpose began implementing this in-

novative methodology with groups in tanzania six years ago, and it has be-

come so successful that all plant with purpose programs are now using this

approach to microfinance. here’s why it works:

• sustainability: Traditional microfinance models depend on a continuous influx of outside capital, but VSLA equips groups to mobilize their own funds. Instead of giving loans, Plant With Purpose provides high-quality training.

• rural inclusion: Most microfinance institutions (MFIs) tend to avoid rural communities because they are expensive to access and serve, but VSLAs are ideal for rural communities.

• savings: The majority of people living in rural areas have no access to formal banking, so VSLAs become a way to safely save, allowing families to plan for the future.

• intErEst accrual: The buck literally stops here with VSLA groups because interest payments stay with the group rather than going to outside MFIs.

• rEpaymEnt ratEs: According to VSL Associates, VSLA groups have the highest loan repayment rates of any microfinance model in the world.

• lEaDErship DEvElopmEnt: Groups are self-governed, so members have opportunities to exer-cise democratic leadership skills.

• EmpowErmEnt: People discover how much they are capable of doing on their own. Not only does this instill dignity, but there is an overflow effect in which groups decide to tackle other issues with-in their communities.

simply sustainable: 7 reasons Vsla is smart microfinance

VSLA groups collect their money in a lock box that has three keys. Three different individ-

uals are selected by the group to be the keepers of the keys, and an additional individual

becomes the holder of the box. The box is then opened only when the entire VSLA group

is present, and the money is counted in the presence of everyone. This system creates a

safe way to hold the savings as well as creating group accountability.

“i am convinced—unity makes a force.”


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when most people think of thailand, delicious cuisine, beautiful temples, and exotic beaches come to mind. For others, the harsh realities of the sex industry and opium trade clutter this pristine image. and over all of that is a haze of smoke from harmful slash-and-burn agricul-tural practices. in the north of thailand, hill tribe refugees who fled myanmar (burma) are doing their best to make a life.

Because of its reputation for one of the world’s highest rates of forest destruction, the govern-

ment of Thailand has designated forest areas as protected land. This has directly affected small-

holder farmers who live off the land in the northern hills of Thailand. They often lack legal docu-

mentation, and without proof of citizenship they can’t own or even work the land. This has further

marginalized hilltribe families.

The Chiang Mai community of Huay Wai consists of 60 households. Up to five families live in

each house. only 10 of these households “own land,” which is not formally documented, but by

making improvements to the land and participating in reforestation efforts, these 10 families have

been granted permission to grow one crop a year (dependent on rain). Livelihoods are etched

out by working as day laborers in tangerine orchards, lychee canning factories, or working in the

fields, which earns about $5 U.S. a day.

In these difficult conditions, Plant With Purpose is gaining favor with the governing authorities

and implementing further steps to empower families through legal assistance, reforestation pro-

grams, and sustainable farming training. Microfinance through Village Savings and Loan Asso-

ciations (VSLAs) is also taking root. Expansion into additional villages is on the horizon.

We’ve received positive feedback from farmers such as Jabo Jasee and his Chiang Mai community,

where they have learned techniques that allow them to work with the land instead of against it. Jabo

uses sustainable farming methods such as planting nitrogen-fixing beans in his cornfield, which im-

proves soil quality and increases food production. Jabo is making his own feed for his animals, re-

ducing the amount of money spent on supplies and increasing savings. He shares the practical skills

he has learned through Plant With Purpose with others in the community. Jabo says, “I have more

happiness in my family since Plant With Purpose, and I feel that my family has enough food to eat.”

region spotligHt: chiang mai, thailanD By Becky RosaLeR, Marketing and Events Coordinator

Jabo Jasee and family have enough to eat because of plant with purpose.

nearly 3 billion people—about half the world—rely on cookstoves fueled by wood or charcoal to make meals and boil water.

Not only do these stoves add to the problems

of rampant deforestation and poverty, but they

also cause serious health consequences. About

2 million people each year die because of smoke

inhalation, and millions more suffer the effects

of related illnesses such as child pneumonia,

lung cancer, and heart disease. Women and girls

are put in additional harm’s way as they walk far-

ther and farther from their homes in search of

firewood.

That’s why Plant With Purpose works with com-

munities to build improved cookstoves. These

fuel-efficient stoves require 50% less wood,

which decreases the need for cutting trees, and

they burn more cleanly, which drastically re-

duces the risk of smoke-related illness. What’s

more, women have to spend less time walk-

ing for wood, providing more time for tending

farms, developing small businesses, and caring

for their children.

disaster response in mexico

spark cHangeWhen disaster struck the community of Santa

Cruz Mitlatongo last fall, Plant With Purpose

Mexico stepped up to help with recovery ef-

forts. Heavy rains created landslides that liter-

ally wiped away the town, and local authori-

ties relocated the entire community to a new

location. In response, Plant With Purpose

Mexico has been assisting by building la-

trines, laundry facilities, and a 70,000-liter cis-

tern, as well as establishing family vegetable

gardens for a source of food.

LandsLidE CausEs CoMMunity to rELoCatE

viDeo eXplanation oF stoves in meXico


Plant With Purpose

4903 Morena Blvd. Suite 1215San Diego, CA 92117

Ph: 800.633.5319

Email: [email protected]

www.plantwithpurpose.org

NoN-Profit orgU.S. PoStagePaidPermit 751SaN diego Ca

transForming livEs

We use soy-based ink and 80# environment text

with 80% post-consumer fiber. FSC certified.

Become a Sponsor A Village partner for just $1

a day and give the gift of hope to communities

in need.

plantwithpurpose.org/partners

farmers plant fruit trees on a hillsiDe in the Dominican republic.

communities plant Hope tHrougH small cHange.


2012 fall sower

Documents

work of plant

group members

help of plant

caada miguel

remote villages

remote mountain villages

village savings

entrepreneurial members