RG '05: success stories

Transnational Institute for Grassroots
Research and Action
Submitted by: Francis Calpotura

Issue(s) you addressed?

Accountability of money transfer agencies to the development agenda of immigrants and their families who use the service. Immigrants in Sunset Park in Brooklyn send approximately $50 million a year to their families in Latin America. Most use the services of a money transfer agency in the neighborhood, and lose 8-20% of their income in fees and commissions.

What did you do to achieve results? (If applicable, you may want to mention partners here.)

Community organizing in the neighborhood, conducting street surveys and house meetings that culminated with an accountability session with Vigo Corporation. The goal of the organizing process was to build a Million Dollar Remitters Club in Sunset Park, thus consolidating the economic power of low-wage immigrant workers and their families. Vigo agreed to a process of community reinvestment.

TIGRA is relatively young, barely a year old on the ground. The main challenges have been: (a) organizing in at least 3 languages; (b) resource demands of doing transnational organizing; (c) the state of community organizations doesn't facilitate new agendas.

Building a Remitters Association that can account for at least $20 million in remittances by the Fall of 2006.

Respect for worker rights in Ecuador and the need for labor law reform. This is especially important for the banana sector since Ecuador is the world’s largest banana exporter. Ecuador’s low wages and poor benefits are driving a race to the bottom in the industry that affects hundreds of thousands of banana workers not only in Ecuador but also in Colombia and Central America.

What did you do to achieve results? (If applicable, you may want to mention partners here.)

Used advocacy and media to put sufficient pressure on the U.S. government to condition Ecuador's trade benefits and eligibility in the Andean free trade agreement on the government passing labor law reform. The policy work has been led primarily by Human Rights Watch, with whom we coordinate closely.

In response to this pressure, Ecuador has promised several times over to reform its labor code. However, it has not yet done so. This initiative is still "in process."

We’ve succeeded in establishing that Ecuador must reform its labor law to improve respect for basic worker rights. We anticipate that Ecuador will take some modest steps, although no doubt significantly less than our goal.

Triodos Bank
Submitted by: Frans de Clerck

Issue(s) you addressed?

1. From scratch (1980): bringing together 100,000 savers and investors in four countries to finance social development projects and businesses (currently about 3,500) in three sectors: (ecology, social development and culture); managing these assets of actually 2.5 billion US dollars and creating appropriate financial structures (mainly: Triodos Bank and specialised investment funds).

2. Investing about 80 million US dollars in 50 sustainable microfinance institutions in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe and transfer of know how about managing small private development banks.

3. After the Chernobil nuclear disaster (1986)creating Triodos Green Fund, a major private wind farm finance company in The Netherlands (assets of more than 500 million US dollars) .

What did you do to achieve results? (If applicable, you may want to mention partners here.)

1. Studying and reflecting on the priority needs of society. 2. Creating a new financial concept based on active partnering of small and bigger investors in development projects, based on transparency on the bank lending portfolio. 3. Creating special financing products involving savers and investors´ responsibility and ethical choices. 4. Spreading out and commercialising these activities in different European and developing countries. 5. Managing growth (20-30% a year) and profitability.

Challenges you faced and/or still face?

1. Introducing a new banking concept. 2. Capitalizing the bank at a substantial level to cope with growth (equity: currently 150 million US dollars). 3. Doing substantial IT, HR and branches-investments, while maintaining financial and social profitability.

Achievements--current and/or anticipated?

1. Continuing independent growth at a greater and international dimension/scale of operations responding to the big social needs and maintaining the original pioneering and entrepreneurship spirit. 2. Becoming the bank for people who want to take responsibility for their personal, social and economic impact. 3. Increasing the net profitability of the banking operations.

Ecologic Finance
Submitted by: William Foote

At the core of our work, EcoLogic Finance believes that with affordable access to capital comes the capability for entrepreneurship, jobs, and markets that can support the development of stable, healthy rural economies while promoting the preservation of endangered ecosystems. With this access to capital, previously marginalized groups can begin to capitalize on growing demand in buyer countries for goods and services that are compatible with environmental conservation.

What did you do to achieve results? (If applicable, you may want to mention partners here.)

We provide $25,000 to $500,000 loans to businesses that foster environmental conservation and community development. We give preference to businesses that (i) demonstrate the ability to provide meaningful employment and significant increases in household income to disadvantaged groups; (ii) are located in and around protected terrestrial, coastal, and marine habitats; (iii) show potential for self-determination through worker-owned and managed enterprises; and (iv) are unable to secure financing from conventional commercial sources due to their small size, lack of collateral and/or operating history, and the financial risks associated with the locale. By demonstrating the bankability of its borrower communities to domestic financial institutions, EcoLogic Finance is prompting conventional investors to follow in our footsteps and recognize eco-enterprises for what they are: good business partners.

The ultimate challenge is scaling our model so that commercial banks will adopt it. We have a three-pronged approach for systematically overcoming the primary obstacles to mainstreaming our model while advancing grassroots economic development and environmental stewardship, which includes: (i) Expanding our "green" lending activities; (ii)Launching a financial capacity building initiative; and, (iii)Developing impact indicators.

EcoLogic Finance is fortunate to have experienced encouraging progress in meeting pent-up demand for credit in the field. Since launching operations in late 2000, the organization has: Provided 160 loans with a gross value of over $30 million to businesses in sustainable agriculture, wild-harvested products, ecotourism and sustainable fisheries; Collected on 99% of our loans, thereby showing that these businesses are a good credit risk; Worked with tens of thousands of family farmers in seventeen countries; Protected ecosystems in and around the farms and other businesses that we finance; and, Enhanced long-term economic growth rather than short-term exploitation as the touchstone for ensuring ecosystem productivity and health for generations to come.

There is a lack of financing for land purchase available to the rural poor in developing countries.

What did you do to achieve results?
(If applicable, you may want to mention partners here.)

I consulted a non-profit financing organization (EcoLogic Finance) around financing for land purchase.