Sharing the JourneyWitnessing Global Partnerships’ work in Latin America leads to memorable stories and unique observations by our staff and supporters.

Global Partnerships’ mission is to expand opportunity for people living in poverty.

www.globalpartnerships.org

Tom Lucas, PartnerTrip traveler

ECUADOR // “For such a small country—slightly bigger than Washington State in area and twice the population—Ecuador has a vast variety of climates and landscapes, from dense jungles to sandy beach coasts. The openness of the people was striking as we met the borrowers in their homes and workplaces, attended village bank meetings and witnessed how loans create essential economic opportunities. Ecuadorians are well known for eating guinea pig, called ‘cuy.’ Raising these animals is also how microloans are sometimes employed—allowing people in poverty to create an income. It was my favorite food of the trip, and with each bite I knew I was sharing in an Ecuadorian tradition.”

Ricardo Visbal Ágredo, staff memberRicardo manages Global Partnerships’ relationships with current and potential microfinance partners in Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador and Honduras.

HONDURAS // “Siguatepeque is a green and vibrant city of 75,000 people in the central mountains of Honduras. When I visit I always notice the music in public places is disco music from the ‘70s, and Saturday Night Fever posters line the walls. Siquatepeque is home to COMIXMUL, a cooperative and Global Partnerships partner that was founded in 1986 by 12 women with only $1,000 in capital. Today, COMIXMUL has a loan portfolio of $22 million and serves more than 12,000 women with financial services, training, technical assistance and health services. The cooperative has been very busy and successful at turning dreams into realities. They’re currently building a hospital to serve members and their families.”

FALL 2011

Jane Stonecipher, board member and PartnerTrip traveler

BOLIVIA // “There is only one flight each day from the U.S. to Bolivia, landing in La Paz at 14,000-feet elevation. Our first stop was the airport 02 Bar for a cappuccino and piped-in oxygen. Later we visited a Global Partnerships microfinance partner called Pro Mujer. All the Pro Mujer borrowers and their children receive free basic healthcare—including immunizations and cancer screening. The five borrowers we visited live in El Alto, a sprawling urban center of one million people outside the main city of La Paz. The El Alto economy appears to revolve around cottage industries with little infrastructure, so having access to healthcare services is an important benefit. Each of the five women cares deeply about improving the lives of their families and is using their loans in meaningful, creative ways.”

Each of the five women cares deeply about improving the lives of their families and is using their loans in meaningful, creative ways.”‘‘

PERSPECTIVES

PartnerTrip to Peru: November 12 - 21, 2011www.globalpartnerships.org/partnertrips

VERACRUZ, MEXICOGlobal Partnerships (GP) recently partnered with Sustainable Harvest, a Portland, Oregon, coffee importer, to provide an innovative loan to Café y Desarrollo, an association of Mexican coffee cooperatives operating in some of the poorest states in Mexico. The loans provide flexible financing to the region’s small-scale coffee growers to help them pay for seed, fertilizer, labor and other costs of business when they need it most.

LOJA, ECUADORA new GP partner in southern Ecuador, FACES improves the lives of its 5,000 clients by combining credit with access to essential healthcare. FACES’ clinic offers general medical care, specialists, an on-site laboratory and a small dispensary. FACES is also, through an innovative pilot program, providing credit and training to a population rarely served in the developing world: people with physical and mental disabilities.

MEXICO

NICARAGUA

EL SALV

ADORGUATEMALA HONDURAS

FROM THE FIELD

Money on a MissionAt the heart of Global Partnerships’ strategy is a simple idea: We send money on a mission. We raise funds from donors and investors who care deeply about creating opportunity for people living in poverty. We identify, through an exhaustive screening process, programs that effectively counter poverty in Latin America. And we provide financing to those partner programs in the form of low-cost loans to make a difference in the world.

Fueled by our donors and investors, more than $36 million in Global Partnerships-raised funds is at work right now through more than 30 partners in eight countries: in large cities and in small villages and farms, in bakeries and wood shops, and in market stalls and coffee fields. How is it making a difference? Read on for snapshots of how we put the money entrusted to us to work.

MAP KEY:

current countries

prospective countries

PUNO, PERUPro Mujer’s Peru operations offer a package of financial and health and human development services to more than 55,000 women. Among its many health care offerings, Pro Mujer’s mobile clinics reach remote communities with critical primary health and dental services. Pro Mujer in Peru is also addressing the needs of the next generation: it has created preschools in five of its seven centers.

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LA PAZ, BOLIVIAOnly 4 percent of Bolivia’s microfinance industry serves rural dairy and livestock farmers despite a concentration of poverty in Bolivia’s rural areas. Sembrar Sartawi provides credit, training, and access to markets for this underserved population. Through partnerships with businesses in the “value chain,” such as milk buyers and equipment vendors, Sembrar helps lower costs for farmers and reduce the risk of default.

PUNO, PERUPro Mujer’s Peru operations offer a package of financial and health and human development services to more than 55,000 women. Among its many health care offerings, Pro Mujer’s mobile clinics reach remote communities with critical primary health and dental services. Pro Mujer in Peru is also addressing the needs of the next generation: it has created preschools in five of its seven centers.

PARAGUAYPARAGUAY

SIGUATEPEQUE, HONDURASHow would you like a corner pharmacy that was open 24 hours and offered basic medicine at half the normal cost? If you’re one of the women in Honduras who are members of GP partner COMIXMUL, these community pharmacies are just one of the services you receive beyond microcredit. COMIXMUL also helps members keep their businesses healthy through job skills training, business education and women’s leadership opportunities.

YOPAL, COLOMBIAIn late August, Global Partnerships made its first investment with a partner in Colombia. Fundación Amanecer is a small but growing microfinance institution working in a region that has been heavily dependent on the petroleum industry. By providing its borrowers with a strong combination of credit and job skills training in other industries, Fundación Amanecer is helping jump-start a more diverse economy.

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1932 FIRST AVENUE, SUITE 400 SEATTLE, WA 98101

206.652.8773

NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID

SEATTLE, WA PERMIT NO. 6624

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dean C. AllenPeter BladinBill ClappPaula ClappSteve DavisKurt DelBeneWalter EuyangCurtis B. FraserMike T. GalgonEnrique Godreau IIIBert Green, M.D.Gregg JohnsonTessa KeatingMatthew McBradyEddie PoplawskiJane StonecipherMaggie Walker

PRESIDENT & CEO

Rick Beckett

Photo credits: FACES, Fundación Amanecer, Chris Megargee, Lara Puglielli, Gerardo Talavera

PartnerTrip to PeruNovember 12 - 21, 2011

“Traveling with GP to Peru gave us a unique, firsthand opportunity to see how microcredit loans have given borrowers an opportunity to change their lives for the better.”

– David Marquez, PartnerTrip traveler, 2009

Join us for an unforgettable journey!

www.globalpartnerships.org/partnertrips

11:30 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Westin Hotel Grand Ballroom

Seattle, Washington

Ninth Annual

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Register: www.globalpartnerships.org/boh