Where We Work

Freedom from Hunger is best known for our innovative and effective Credit with Education service—now operating in 15 of the world’s poorest countries. However, we are working with partners in three additional countries on strategies best suited to meet our partners’ needs and our opportunities for bringing effective programs to very poor women and their families.

| Bénin | Bolivia | Burkina Faso | Ecuador | Ghana | Guatemala | Haiti | Honduras | India | Madagascar | Mali | Mexico | Peru | The Philippines | Senegal | Togo |


Bénin

In 2000, Freedom from Hunger began a partnership with FECECAM (Federation of Agricultural Savings and Credit Unions) in Bénin. With Freedom from Hunger’s help, FECECAM is now offering Credit with Education to self-help groups of women in rural areas in the southern and central districts. Credit with Education has the potential for important impacts in Bénin, where the average income is a little over $1/day and life expectancy is just 55 years. Because only 35 percent of Bénin’s adult population can read and write, Freedom from Hunger’s approach to education, which uses stories, songs and conversation to introduce new information about health and nutrition, is especially appropriate.


Bolivia

Freedom from Hunger began working in Bolivia in 1990, first creating a local organization to deliver Credit with Education services and then helping it become independent a decade later. Now, CRECER (Crédito con Educación Rural), has become one of South America’s largest microfinance providers focusing on the rural poor. In September 2004, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) recognized CRECER as the best "unregulated" microfinance institution of the year. Working in a variety of regions, from the high Altiplano (around Lake Titicaca) to Cochabamba, Sucre and Potosi, CRECER is accomplishing what many said was not possible: sustainably providing microfinance and education to poor communities in rural — even remote — poor areas and doing it on an expanding basis. Learn more about Bolivia by visiting our Bolivia Virtual Tour.


Burkina Faso

The people of Burkina Faso face severe poverty and significant health challenges. And, as usual, children are the most vulnerable. In Burkina, 44 percent of children suffer from stunted or delayed growth as a result of malnutrition. Malaria is endemic, average income is about $1/day, and school enrollment—especially for girls—is very low. That’s why programs such as Freedom from Hunger’s Credit with Education are so important here. With its longtime partner, the FCPB (the Fédération des Caisses Populaires du Burkina), Freedom from Hunger is bringing Credit with Education to tens of thousands of women who meet regularly in self-help groups. Burkina was one of the first countries that benefitted from our malaria education module, and the FCPB was one of our first West African partners to introduce our HIV/AIDS prevention and management education module. This is especially critical, as the AIDS epidemic has already orphaned 120,000 children in Burkina. You can learn more about Burkina and our work there by visiting our Burkina Faso Virtual Tour.


Ecuador

Ecuador is often called “heaven on earth” because of its spectacular scenery. But in many areas, poverty is still common, especially for indigenous groups who live in rural communities. In July 2004, Freedom from Hunger established a strategic alliance with Fundación ESPOIR, an Ecuadorian NGO, to help deliver Credit with Education to women in rural areas of the country. This agreement has launched a significant expansion of Freedom from Hunger's services in Ecuador. Meet Nancy, a determined entrepreneur and mother who has transformed her life with loans and learning.


Ghana

Ghana was one of the pilot sites for Freedom from Hunger’s Credit with Education program. Ghana is also the site of one of the most significant studies on Credit with Education’s impacts on women and children. In that study, Credit with Education was shown to result in significant impacts—not just on women’s income and knowledge, but also on children’s nutrition and health status. You can learn more about that study by linking to Credit with Education Impact Review No. 3: Children's Nutritional Status. Ghana was also the site of our malaria pilot and subsequent study (learn more). Now, Ghana is the site of another innovative and high-potential pilot: MicroBusiness for Health. This new initiative is bringing health-protection products such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets and oral rehydration solutions to very poor, rural communities that are usually bypassed by health-product retailers and neglected by formal government distribution systems. The delivery method uses a strategy familiar to many Americans: enterprising neighborhood salesladies who offer low-cost products and consumer education about their inventories. Learn more about MicroBusiness for Health. You can learn more about Ghana by taking our virtual tour. Ghana Virtual Tour.


Guatemala

In 2000, Freedom from Hunger and FUNDAP (Fundación Para el Desarrollo Integral de Programas Socioeconómicos) partnered to bring Credit with Education to poor families in the Totonicapan region of Guatemala. FUNDAP is a Guatemalan nonprofit private development organization that runs a village banking program called Mujer y Trabajo ('Women and Work'). The partnership brought new health and business education materials to the Mujer y Trabajo microcredit program. FUNDAP is now moving forward with expansion independently and is an excellent example of Freedom from Hunger’s strategy to transfer skills, knowledge and resources to local organizations that can then expand services for the long term.


Haiti

In 2000, as part of the United Nations Development Program's MicroStart initiative, Freedom from Hunger introduced Credit with Education to two village banking programs in Haiti: ACLAM (Action Contre la Misère), located in Haiti's northwest region, and COD/EMH (Coordination des Programmes de Développment de l’Église Méthodiste Haütienne), a development program of the Methodist Church, located on the southwest tip of Haiti. Credit with Education is an especially effective strategy in places like Haiti because it puts cash credit directly into the hands of women working hard to improve their families’ prospects. Education modules such as business management, HIV/AIDS prevention and management, family planning and family health are also needed to meet the challenges of living in Haiti’s rural communities. You can learn more about Haiti by visiting our Haiti Virtual Tour.


Honduras

Nearly three-quarters of Honduras’ population is rural and 68 percent of those are considered to be living below Honduras’ poverty line. Freedom from Hunger began its work in Honduras in 1990 and Credit with Education is now being implemented independently by the Honduran organization, FAMA (Familia y Medio Ambiente). Based in Tegucigalpa, FAMA shares our commitment to serving rural areas.


India

In India, malnutrition affects nearly half of all children under the age of five. While this is a country of progress and potential, it is also a land of significant poverty. In fact, 380 million people live below India’s poverty line, a number equal to the entire population of the United States. Poverty in India is at its worst in the states where Freedom from Hunger is working: Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal (where we have our office in Kolkata). India was the pilot site for Freedom from Hunger’s innovative Learning Conversations—interactive, single-topic education sessions that self-help groups of women can use to explore vital topics, develop action plans, and make commitments to create change in their communities. India is also the site of a major effort funded by GlaxoSmithKline to extend HIV education to rural communities. Nike is funding Freedom from Hunger’s work to bring adolescent girls and their mothers newly developed education on women’s rights and skills training and, finally, India was the launching point for our breakthrough Reach initiative, an innovative approach to distributing more self-help services to more people. To learn more about India and our work there, take the virtual tour at India Virtual Tour.


Madagascar

In Madagascar, 48 percent of children suffer from some form of chronic hunger and more than 10 percent are acutely malnourished. Freedom from Hunger trained local organizations to deliver Credit with Education to rural communities in Madagascar in 1998, and it is now being implemented independently in the central and coastal regions. Learn more about this extraordinary country when you visit Madagascar in our Virtual ToursMadagascar Virtual Tour.


Mali

In the West African nation of Mali, chronic hunger and poverty are still common. In fact, 218 children per 1,000 die before the age of five (as compared with 7 per 1,000 in the U.S.). Freedom from Hunger has been working in Mali since 1990 to bring groups of women—especially mothers of young children—the resources they need to feed their children, safeguard their health and break free from poverty. Malaria is also a major threat in Mali. That’s why Freedom from Hunger added malaria education to its Credit with Education in 2005. This malaria education is reaching beyond Credit with Education programs to be adapted for self-formed groups of women who gather on a weekly basis to save a little money and work together for change. These "Saving for Change" groups learn to save for, purchase and use insecticide-treated mosquito nets for all pregnant women and children under the age of five. Learn more about Mali: Mali Virtual Tour.


Mexico

In 2005, Freedom from Hunger established Alcance Mexico (Reach Mexico), an independent Mexican organization to provide low-cost, high-quality training to local organizations that share our commitment to serving rural communities with microfinance and education. Mexico remains a country of significant poverty; 24 million Mexicans live in extreme poverty and the majority of those are in rural areas. At Alcance’s training center in Mexico City, community service organizations and microfinance institutions from around Mexico receive training and technical assistance to help them reach poorer, more rural women with education and group-based credit services. Freedom from Hunger has adapted its education series to the Mexican culture so that local organizations can quickly put the modules to use, confident of their relevance to the rural communities they serve.


Peru

Freedom from Hunger recently received a grant to launch Credit with Education in the departments of Junin and Huancavelica, where poverty is widespread but potential for improvements in economic standing, family food security and, especially, child nutrition are significant. The status of child poverty in Peru is of special concern. More than 60 percent of Peru’s children (approx. 6.5 million) live below the country’s poverty line. Local partner organizations that share our commitment to sustainably providing micro-financial services and critical health and nutrition education to rural communities are receiving Freedom from Hunger’s technical assistance and training. Our geographic focus is the high Andes communities, which tend to be bypassed by most organizations because of the cost of serving them and the difficulty in reaching them sustainably.


The Philippines

Freedom from Hunger brought Credit with Education to the Philippines in 1998, working first on the southern island of Mindanao with the World Council of Credit Unions. In 2000, Freedom from Hunger launched its second partnership with CARD (The Center for Agriculture and Rural Development), a nongovernmental organization whose mission is to build a sustainable financial institution owned, managed and controlled by landless rural women. CARD serves women on the northern island of Luzon. CARD has become one of Freedom from Hunger’s closest collaborators, not just in implementing Credit with Education but also as a partner in impact studies, innovation and a commitment to training other organizations how to implement the delivery of integrated microfinance and health education services to rural participants. You can learn more about the Philippines and our work there by taking a Virtual Tour: The Philippines Virtual Tour.


Sénégal

The average income in Senegal is less than $2/day, less than 40 percent of the adult population is literate, and 136 children per 1,000 will die before their fifth birthday. That’s why Freedom from Hunger is partnering with the UM-PAMECAS (L'union des Mutuelles du Partenariat pour la Mobilisation de l'Épargne et du Crédit au Sénégal) in the regions of Thiès, Louga and Saint-Louis. UM-PAMECAS is a credit union that was already providing microfinance to the poor when it approached Freedom from Hunger to help it integrate education into its microfinance programs. Freedom from Hunger is also helping UM-PAMECAS launch and manage new Credit with Education programs. With Freedom from Hunger's help, UM-PAMECAS has made a commitment to deliver sustainable, high-quality Credit with Education programs to more than 50,000 women in its first phase of expansion and to continue expansion beyond that number as it reaches full sustainability.


Togo

In Togo, the average income is less than $1/day…the equivalent of just $350 U.S. per year. Challenges facing women and children are especially high in terms of health, status and poverty, so Freedom from Hunger made a commitment to bring Credit with Education to Togo in 1996. Freedom from Hunger is providing technical assistance and training to its local partner, FUCEC (the Faîtière des Unions Coopératives d'Epargne et de Crédit), to bring Credit with Education to women in the central and southern regions. Rural communities in Togo are now receiving malaria, child health and nutrition, basic business management and other lifeskills training along with microfinance services.

(Our thanks to UNICEF, who provided the statistical information provided above.)